YouTube thumbnails can seem pretty confusing to those of you who want to get into creating videos. But you shouldn’t neglect them; they are a big part of why people initially click on your video and help build your brand. You also shouldn’t treat them as an afterthought, as without a good thumbnail and title, no one would click on your video. This article will explain reasons why thumbnails are so important for your YouTube video.
Like mentioned above, your thumbnail and title are the very first thing people see. It doesn’t matter how good your video is if people aren’t willing to click on it. This is why you should put a big emphasis on your title and thumbnail. Thumbnails are arguably more important than titles, as you have more freedom to do what you want with thumbnails. Also, thumbnails are bigger, so naturally a viewer will likely see your thumbnail before your title. However, if your video is bad, even if people click on it, they will lose interest. A combination of a good video, title, and thumbnail is pretty much guaranteed to at least do decently well.
If you create a similar style of thumbnails for each video you make, your thumbnails can help build your brand. Let's say a viewer sees one of your thumbnails, clicks on your video, enjoys it, then carries on with their day. Now, let's say another one of your videos comes across viewers' homepages and that you are using a similar style of thumbnails. That viewer will be way more likely to click on the video as they one: recognize your thumbnail and two: have enjoyed previous videos of yours. In this way, creating a similar style of thumbnails can help your brand recognition and get more views on your YouTube video.
Custom thumbnails typically have a higher CTR (click-through rate) than default thumbnails. This means more people would click on your video, ultimately boosting the video's performance.
Making a good thumbnail for your YouTube video can seem like a pain, but it is very beneficial. Not only are your thumbnail and title the first thing people see, but they help with your brand and boost CTR. If you want to reduce the pain of this process and create quality thumbnails quickly, check our thumbnail editor out.