0:01 Today we're talking about thumbnails. If
0:03 you want more views on YouTube, you have
0:06 to make better thumbnails. This is such
0:08 a critical piece that most people
0:10 overlook. Because here's the truth that
0:11 will really shock you. The game of
0:13 YouTube, it's not about who can make the
0:15 best videos. It's really about who can
0:17 get the most people to click on their
0:20 thumbnails and then watch a great video.
0:22 It seems trivial, but it's actually the
0:24 thumbnails that can make or break a
0:25 channel. Now, I've been studying the
0:27 biggest YouTube channels in the world,
0:29 and it turns out they're all using the
0:31 exact same thumbnail strategy. So, in
0:33 this video, I'm going to break the whole
0:35 thing down. This is the five-step
0:36 playbook for making irresistible
0:38 thumbnails that will supercharge your
0:40 views. And by the way, I'm Callaway. I
0:42 have a million followers. I've done
0:44 billions of views, and content is all I
0:45 do all day long. All right. Now, before
0:47 we get into it, let me just quickly say,
0:48 if you don't think thumbnails are that
0:51 important, look at this. This is my best
0:53 performing video of all time. 1.2 2
0:55 million views and that's the thumbnail.
0:57 Well, it turns out I actually made that
0:59 video 6 months before and posted it on a
1:01 different channel with this thumbnail.
1:04 And on that channel, it capped out at
1:07 1,700 views. Same exact video. The only
1:09 difference was the channel and a
1:11 different thumbnail. And this single
1:13 thumbnail change has been responsible
1:15 for six figures in revenue for my
1:16 business. That's how important
1:18 thumbnails are. All right. Now, before
1:20 we get into the five tactical steps for
1:21 how to make a thumbnail, it's super
1:23 helpful to understand the psychology of
1:26 viewer behavior on YouTube. And when I
1:27 say psychology, what I really mean is
1:29 the process a viewer goes through to
1:31 decide which video to click on. Now,
1:33 you'd think the viewer psychology would
1:35 be pretty straightforward. They see a
1:36 picture, they click a picture, they
1:38 watch the video, they're happy. But
1:40 that's not exactly how it works. The
1:42 psychology flow for viewers on YouTube
1:44 happens in three steps. The first thing
1:46 that happens is what I call the visual
1:49 stun gun. A viewer is scrolling the
1:51 explore feed or browsing the sidebar and
1:53 they see something visual that catches
1:55 their eye and this freezes their passive
1:58 scanning brain and engages a more active
2:00 target lock. Essentially, they switch
2:02 into a comprehension mode and they're
2:03 actively trying to figure out what it is
2:05 that grabbed their attention. So, step
2:07 one is that visual stun gun. You need to
2:09 make the thumbnail compelling enough to
2:12 visually trigger that stun gun effect.
2:13 And there's actually seven different
2:15 things you can do in the thumbnail
2:17 design to give yourself the best chance
2:19 to create that stun gun reaction. And
2:20 I'm going to walk through those in a
2:22 minute. But step one is that visual
2:24 stun. Now, once the viewer is locked on
2:26 and they've switched from a passive
2:28 scrolling to an active comprehension
2:31 mode, their interest is peaked. So then
2:33 all they want to do is fully understand
2:35 what the video could be about and what's
2:37 in it for them. And here's a critical
2:39 piece in the psychology flow. Typically,
2:41 the viewer is not able to gather a full
2:43 understanding of what the video is about
2:45 from just the thumbnail alone. It may
2:48 peak a ton of curiosity, but the image
2:50 alone will not get them to click. And
2:52 so, this is where step two happens,
2:53 where they shift their attention from
2:56 the image down to the title. And they do
2:58 this because words are easier to
3:00 concretely understand than images.
3:02 Images give us more data, but they're
3:04 often up to interpretation. Words are
3:06 much clearer and more specific. So, in
3:08 step two, the viewer then reads the
3:10 title to get a more direct sense of what
3:12 the video is going to be about. And I
3:15 call step two title value hunting. The
3:16 viewer is essentially looking at the
3:18 title to understand if they should opt
3:19 into watching because it's going to
3:22 offer some value for them. This is why
3:24 the title and thumbnail together are
3:26 often referred to as YouTube packaging.
3:27 You really can't win without optimizing
3:30 for both and the viewer consumes both at
3:31 the same time. Now, I'll explain in a
3:33 minute how to optimize the clarity and
3:35 clickability of the title, but just to
3:37 reframe where we're at so far in the
3:39 psychology flow. So far, the viewer
3:41 started paying attention from the visual
3:43 stun gun and then gut check the
3:45 relevance of the video for them in the
3:47 title value hunting. Now, here is where
3:49 things get interesting. After value
3:51 hunting the title, they still won't
3:53 click because step three is when the
3:55 viewer goes back up to the thumbnail to
3:57 more deeply comprehend what's in it. And
4:00 this is called visual validation. Now
4:01 that the viewer has a firmer grasp of
4:03 the topic and the promise made in the
4:06 title, they can anchor when visually
4:07 trying to comprehend what's going on in
4:09 the thumbnail. If the thumbnail does a
4:11 good job of supporting the value
4:13 promised by the title, and the viewer
4:14 wants that value, they're going to
4:16 click. So, the psychology flow is
4:19 thumbnail to title back to thumbnail.
4:20 That's how a viewer consumes the
4:22 information and decides to click. It's
4:25 visual stun gun to title value hunting,
4:27 back to visual validation. And
4:29 understanding this flow is so important
4:31 because it explains why certain YouTube
4:33 packaging works better than others. If
4:35 you have a thumbnail design that's easy
4:36 to understand, but it doesn't pop
4:38 visually, then you'll never pass the
4:40 visual stun gun phase. If you have a
4:42 thumbnail that visually grabs attention,
4:44 but the title promise is weak, then it's
4:46 going to get somebody to look at it, but
4:47 they won't click because the promise
4:49 isn't compelling. If you have a strong
4:51 title and a visually interesting image,
4:52 but the elements in the thumbnail
4:54 themselves don't support that title
4:56 promise, then the viewer is not going to
4:58 click because they'll be confused. When
4:59 you make your thumbnails, you want to
5:01 gut check through all three phases in
5:03 the flow. And if you don't believe me
5:05 that this works, go ahead and glance
5:07 down at the sidebar right now. The first
5:09 thing you did was look at one of those
5:11 thumbnail visuals. I guarantee you did
5:13 not read the titles first. Now, based on
5:14 that first look, you probably didn't
5:16 fully absorb what the video was going to
5:18 be about. you just saw bright colors or
5:21 a big face. So then before you click,
5:22 you'd actually have to look at the title
5:24 to try to figure out what's going to
5:25 happen in the video. And after that,
5:27 you'd look back up at the thumbnail to
5:30 gauge if the elements indicated trust
5:31 that the promise communicated in the
5:33 title would be delivered. It's not a
5:35 magic trick. This is how the brain
5:38 comprehends video options on YouTube.
5:39 And all of that that I just described
5:42 typically happens in 1 to two seconds
5:44 for the viewer. What a fun game. All
5:45 right. All right. Now, I promised I'd
5:47 give you some tactical ways to improve
5:49 your successes at each of those three
5:50 psychology steps. So, here's what's on
5:52 deck for the rest of this video. First,
5:54 I'm going to break down the tactical
5:56 enhancements that you can make at each
5:57 of the three steps in the psychology
5:59 flow that we just walked through. The
6:01 visual stun gun, the title value hunt,
6:02 and the visual validation. Then, I'm
6:04 going to give you the full five-step
6:06 formula for how to actually create a
6:08 winning thumbnail for every single
6:09 video. This will become your thumbnail
6:11 playbook. Think of it like a checklist
6:12 for how to approach making thumbnails.
6:14 And then finally, at the end, I'm going
6:16 to rapid fire a bunch of nonobvious but
6:18 tactical lessons that I've picked up
6:20 over the last couple months as we've
6:21 grown on YouTube. All right, let's dive into
6:22 into
6:25 it. So, to revisit the three psychology
6:26 steps that we just went through, visual
6:29 stun gun, title value hunting, visual
6:31 validation. Let's start with the visual
6:33 stun gun. What can we do in the
6:35 thumbnail to create this visual stun gun
6:38 effect? Now, by definition, you need the
6:39 thumbnail to grab the viewers's
6:41 attention immediately. And like I said,
6:42 they're not going to comprehend the full
6:44 thing at this stage, but we just need
6:46 something to pop to turn that passive
6:48 scanning into active comprehension
6:50 seeking. This is the red berries and the
6:51 green leaf effect. Something visual has
6:53 to grab their attention. Now, as I
6:54 mentioned, there's seven categories of
6:56 things that you could put in your
6:58 thumbnail to increase your chances that
7:00 this effect occurs. The first one is to
7:02 use specific color science to create
7:04 visual contrast in the thumbnail. Now,
7:05 this means you can either use
7:07 contrasting colors within your thumbnail
7:10 or make your entire thumbnail a color
7:12 that contrasts with other competitor
7:14 videos in your niche. Doing this within
7:16 your thumbnail would be using vivid or
7:18 bright colors that pop against the
7:19 background. And this could be orange
7:21 elements against a blue background or
7:23 white elements against a dark background
7:25 or vice versa. The best example of this
7:27 is Ryan Tran's thumbnail from this video
7:29 here. That orange jumpsuit pops against
7:32 a black and white background so well.
7:34 Now, color contrast against your
7:35 category would be doing something like
7:37 making a lighter thumbnail when all of
7:39 your competitors use dark themes. And
7:40 that's what we've done on my channel,
7:43 which is why our thumbnails pop so well.
7:44 Essentially, this tactic would be to use
7:47 color to create some visual pop. Now,
7:48 the second way to trigger the visual
7:51 stun gun is to use a large face on the
7:53 image. And this can either be a
7:55 recognizable face like a celebrity or a
7:57 famous creator or a non-recognizable
8:00 face with a recognizable emotion. The
8:01 truth is, when you're starting out on
8:02 your own channel, you're a relative
8:04 nobody. And so, the recognizability
8:06 factor of your own face is extremely
8:08 low. And so, using yourself when you're
8:10 small doesn't really help you. In fact,
8:12 it may hurt you if people don't trust
8:13 that you can fulfill the promise based
8:15 on the way you look. But creating the
8:17 right emotion on your face, typically
8:19 shock or surprise, can supersede the
8:21 fact that nobody recognizes who you are.
8:23 Now, the third option for creating this
8:25 visual stud effect would be to use some
8:28 visually compelling graphic. essentially
8:30 some visual that draws attention because
8:31 of the bright colors or the way it's
8:33 designed. For example, this video on my
8:35 channel about psychology, we used a
8:37 phone graphic, but we put that optical
8:39 illusion pattern to immediately draw
8:40 your attention. The fourth thing you
8:42 could add would be large text, big
8:45 numbers, or dollars in huge font on the
8:47 screen. And this works because people's
8:49 brains are like magnets to words,
8:50 especially if they're big, round
8:52 numbers. And of course, I use this
8:54 tactic all the time in my thumbnails.
8:55 And you can see a couple examples of
8:57 that here and here. Now, fifth would be
8:59 to use red circles or red arrows to
9:00 literally aim someone's attention for
9:02 where you want them to look. Sixth would
9:04 be using aesthetic imagery, something
9:07 cinematic or super soothing to look at,
9:09 symmetrical or with balanced colors. I
9:10 don't typically do this style on my
9:12 channel, but this guy right here is a
9:14 master at this type of thumbnail. And
9:15 seventh would be to use some sort of
9:18 designbased collage, either words or
9:20 numbers all around the subject to create
9:22 that kind of collage effect. And you can
9:24 see an example of us doing this on our
9:25 channel where it worked really well.
9:26 Now, in a second, I'm going to give you
9:28 a lot more tips about how many of those
9:30 elements you should use, where you
9:31 should place them, and how to go about
9:32 actually designing the thumbnail. But
9:34 just remember, in step one, all you
9:36 really need is to create that initial
9:38 visual stun effect so that they look
9:40 down at the title. All right, let's keep
9:42 going. Okay, so step two in the
9:44 psychology flow is title value hunting.
9:46 And this is when the viewer goes from
9:48 the thumbnail down to the title to
9:49 actively comprehend and try to figure
9:51 out if this video is going to be
9:52 valuable for them. Now, I'm not going to
9:54 go all the way down the rabbit hole into
9:56 titles in this video because it would
9:57 just be way too long. But the secret to
9:59 writing a great title is that you want
10:02 to create a perceived value loop. A
10:04 perceived value loop is when the viewer
10:05 has clarity on the value they will
10:08 receive if they click and watch. For
10:10 educational videos, I call this a desire
10:11 loop. And for entertainment videos, I
10:13 call this an interest loop. A desire
10:15 loop is when you use words to trigger a
10:17 pain point that's preventing a desire
10:20 they want. Maybe it's money, growth, or
10:22 followers. An interest loop is when you
10:24 use words to trigger their curiosity
10:26 around a question that they have that's
10:28 unanswered. And this could be broader.
10:29 What happens next? How might this end?
10:31 What might this character do? So, let's
10:33 look at my YouTube script writing video,
10:35 which has 150,000 views, and kind of
10:37 break down what we did to create this
10:40 desire loop. The title for this was how
10:41 to write a killer script that keeps
10:43 viewers hooked. And of course, my
10:44 content is educational, so I'm working
10:46 with a desire loop instead of an
10:47 interest loop here. And the desire I'm
10:49 trying to trigger with this title is
10:51 reminding you that you want your viewers
10:53 to watch your stuff for longer. And the
10:55 title directly triggers that desire by
10:57 saying the words that keeps viewers
10:59 hooked. Now, to make sure that I open
11:02 that desire loop in your mind, I also
11:03 reference the pain point you have,
11:06 writing bad scripts, by suggesting a
11:07 solution that I have, writing killer
11:09 scripts. And at this point, if the
11:11 viewer has that desire, getting people
11:13 to watch and stay watching, and the pain
11:15 point their scripts aren't that good,
11:16 they're going to be extremely eager to
11:18 want to click. And this is just base
11:20 psychology at the most fundamental
11:22 level. This whole thumbnail game is just
11:25 a cat-and- mouse game of desire and
11:27 trust. Does the viewer desire what
11:29 you're saying or showing in the title
11:31 thumbnail? And then, do they trust that
11:32 you're going to be the one to deliver it
11:34 based on what you show in the thumbnail?
11:35 So tactically, if you're trying to
11:37 increase the chances that the viewer
11:38 goes from the title back up to the
11:40 thumbnail and clicks, you need to make
11:42 sure that title triggers the desire loop
11:44 that you want to trigger. And we'll dive
11:46 much deeper into that on a future video
11:48 on titles specifically. All right. Now,
11:50 the third step in this psychology flow,
11:52 visual validation, is really where the
11:55 thumbnail design really comes into play.
11:56 Because at this point, the viewer is
11:58 ready to opt in and they have that
12:00 written clarity on what the title is
12:02 saying. So now they're going back to the
12:04 thumbnail to try to confirm the
12:06 comprehension of what the image is
12:07 showing. And this is where we're going
12:09 to focus on which elements to include,
12:11 how many you should include, and why.
12:12 Now, at this point, you'll realize you
12:14 don't want the thumbnail to repeat what
12:16 the title is saying directly. And this
12:17 is because you want to think of the
12:20 thumbnail as an additional surface that
12:22 you can add trust and clarity for when
12:24 they click that they'll get the promise
12:25 made in the title. So, in this case with
12:27 my script writing video, I use that
12:29 squiggly storyline in the background and
12:31 then the words basically cheating to
12:33 reinforce the perception that yes, I
12:35 have a script writing method that feels
12:37 like cheating that will solve your pain
12:39 point of writing bad scripts and fulfill
12:41 the desire you have, which is to keep
12:43 viewers watching. Now, let's break down
12:44 the action steps and general guidelines
12:46 for what you should include in your
12:47 thumbnail so that you can increase this
12:49 comprehension moment and get people to
12:51 click. The first rule is that you want
12:52 three elements max in the design.
12:54 There's seven categories, but you only
12:56 want to use three of them. And this is
12:58 because thumbnails are actually pretty
12:59 small when people look at them,
13:01 especially on mobile. If you use too
13:02 many small elements, they're not
13:04 actually going to be able to see or
13:05 comprehend what they're showing. Now,
13:07 for me, in my thumbnails, we typically
13:10 use a picture of me, some text, and then
13:12 some graphic element. If you're using a
13:14 face, make sure the emotion on the face
13:16 matches the emotion that a viewer should
13:18 feel when they watch the video. This is
13:20 why the Mr. Beast shock face is so
13:22 popular. He's trying to subconsciously
13:24 trigger that you will be shocked if you
13:26 click and watch. Now, if you use big
13:28 text on the screen, you need it to
13:30 complement and reinforce the promise
13:31 made in the title. And again, for this
13:33 script writing example, I use the words
13:34 basically cheating. We could have
13:36 written something like scriptw writing
13:37 masterclass, but that would have been
13:39 redundant to what was communicated
13:41 already in the title. It's always more
13:43 powerful to describe the silent feeling
13:44 or action that someone's going to have
13:46 versus the redundant descriptor of
13:49 what's going to go on. This title text
13:51 plus thumbnail text needs to increase
13:53 comprehension and trust, not be neutral
13:55 or decrease it. And then lastly, if you
13:57 use some graphic or visual element, it
13:59 needs to be clear what this actually
14:01 represents. For example, in this
14:02 thumbnail, we knew the video was going
14:04 to be about editing, and so we use this
14:06 arc version of the timeline to represent
14:08 that visually. All right. Now, before I
14:09 go on to break down the tactical
14:10 five-step formula, I just wanted to
14:12 mention if you're trying to get better
14:14 with content and you're not currently a
14:16 member of Wavy World, you definitely
14:17 should be. Wavy World is my content
14:19 community with over 19,000
14:21 entrepreneurs, creators, and business
14:23 owners that are all working together to
14:25 improve their content, and it's
14:27 completely free to join. I've got an
14:28 invite link for you in the description.
14:29 All right, now that we've done a full
14:31 deep dive on the psychology, I want to
14:33 break down the tactical five-step
14:35 playbook for how to actually make
14:37 thumbnails. Hopefully, this will become
14:38 a checklist and guide every time you
14:41 make a video. Okay, now step one is the
14:43 approach. You need to approach making
14:45 your thumbnail as if it's the most
14:47 important part of the video. And that's
14:49 because it is. And Mr. Beast is famous
14:51 for saying this. If they don't click,
14:52 they don't watch. And if they don't
14:54 watch, there's really no point in even
14:56 making the video in the first place. So,
14:58 this means you need to be taking a
15:00 professional approach to making
15:01 thumbnails. Now, if you're like me and
15:03 you're a business owner that's trying to
15:04 take YouTube seriously, that means you
15:06 should be outsourcing thumbnails
15:08 immediately. As soon as I realized just
15:10 how important thumbnails were to winning
15:12 on YouTube, I hired a pro as fast as I
15:14 could. If you want the intro to my
15:16 preferred thumbnail agency, I've got the
15:18 link below in the description. You could
15:19 also try to find and hire thumbnail
15:22 designers directly using sites like
15:25 onlinejob.ph or ytjob.co or you could go
15:27 to Upwork. We also have a bunch of
15:29 thumbnail designers in Wavyworld that
15:30 are always looking to partner with
15:32 different creators. But I will say all
15:34 of those other routes require a bunch of
15:35 leg work because you have to sort
15:37 through applications. But regardless of
15:38 who you find or where you find them, I
15:40 recommend hiring a thumbnail designer
15:42 immediately. Now, don't worry if you
15:44 can't afford to outsource this yet. I've
15:45 got the full playbook coming right here.
15:47 All right, so let's move on to step two,
15:49 the curiosity gap, desire loops,
15:51 painoint, and solutions. Before you
15:53 actually break ground on designing the
15:55 image, you want to ask yourself, what is
15:57 the desire or interest loop that I'm
15:59 trying to create with this packaging?
16:00 Now, for the rest of this video, I'm
16:01 going to be talking about the playbook
16:03 from an educational point of view, but
16:04 the same thing works for entertainment.
16:06 So, if I was going through this process,
16:08 I would ask myself, what is the desire
16:10 loop for this video? And typically for
16:12 educational content, the core desire is
16:14 going to be making money, saving time,
16:16 or getting healthy. And each of these
16:18 obviously can be achieved in different
16:20 ways. For my content personally, I'm
16:22 laser focused on helping business owners
16:23 improve their content to grow their
16:26 businesses. And so, the desire loop in
16:29 my videos is helping people grow faster
16:31 or make better content. So from there,
16:32 once you have the desire loop, you then
16:34 need to identify the specific pain point
16:37 and solution that makes sense for this
16:39 specific video. So let's take one of my
16:40 recent videos as an example to break
16:42 down this formula. This is a video where
16:44 I talk about how I went from zero to
16:46 100K on YouTube in just 5 months. Now,
16:48 the pain point I'm targeting for the
16:50 viewer is I'm growing too slow on
16:51 YouTube and I want to grow faster. And
16:54 the solution is I have ways and methods
16:56 that I use to grow faster that I can
16:57 share with you. Now, the curiosity loop
16:59 that I'm trying to build in your brain
17:01 from this specific packaging is if I
17:03 click on this video, will I be able to
17:05 grow faster on YouTube? And of course,
17:06 the desire loop again is I want to grow
17:08 faster on YouTube. So, before you
17:10 actually break ground on the thumbnail
17:12 and title, you kind of need to have this
17:14 dialed in your head. And now we can move
17:16 on to step three, which is concepting
17:18 the elements and composition of the
17:20 thumbnail design. Okay, so in step
17:21 three, we're going to start figuring out
17:23 the exact elements we want to use and
17:25 the composition of the image. And now I
17:27 already talked about those seven core
17:28 elements and the fact that really you
17:30 should only use three maxs in your
17:32 design. And as a reminder, these are the
17:34 core elements. Faces with emotion,
17:37 visually compelling graphics, large text
17:40 numbers or dollars, aesthetic imagery,
17:43 or maximalist design collages. We also
17:45 mentioned red circles and arrows and
17:47 color contrast. But those two things can
17:49 kind of be used in conjunction with the
17:50 first five elements because they're more
17:52 complimentary. So, when you're coming up
17:53 with a concept for your thumbnails, I
17:55 recommend coming up with the elements
17:56 first and then you can figure out the
17:58 composition for layout in a minute. Now,
18:00 I'll explain more specific tactics on
18:02 how to make each of those better in a
18:04 second. But just at this stage in step
18:06 three, you're just concepting and
18:08 sketching to try to get a sense for what
18:10 those elements could be. This is the
18:12 measure twice, cut once of the design
18:14 process. What we like to do is make a
18:16 list of the full graphic items or text
18:18 phrases that we might be able to use
18:20 just so we have options to pull from.
18:22 Now, once you have that list and kind of
18:23 a sense for what those elements could
18:24 be, the next thing you want to figure
18:26 out is the composition of those elements
18:28 on the page. And again, we haven't
18:29 designed them yet. This is just a
18:31 lowquality sketch with pencil that takes
18:33 a few seconds, but just to try to lay it
18:35 out in your head for what it might look
18:37 like. Now, for composition inspiration,
18:38 essentially what the image could look
18:40 like, it's usually helpful to look at
18:41 other competition in your niche that has
18:43 done well. And you can do that with one
18:45 of 10 or Vid IQ. There are typically
18:47 three main types of composition. The
18:49 first one is symmetrical where the main
18:51 subject is in the middle and then either
18:52 side is relatively the same. The second
18:54 is asymmetrical where based on the rule
18:56 of thirds the main subject is either a
18:58 third on the left or right and then you
19:00 fill out the remainder of the image. And
19:02 the third composition is AB where the
19:04 screen is actually split into two and
19:06 you're showing a transformation from A
19:08 to B. And I've had success with all
19:09 three composition types on my channel.
19:11 It just depends on what the specific
19:12 design calls for and what we're trying
19:14 to get across. Okay, so that was step
19:16 three. You've brainstormed and ideulated
19:18 what some of the right elements and text
19:20 items could be. You've sketched the
19:22 composition and you have a general sense
19:24 for what the image should look like. All
19:26 right. Now, step four is to actually
19:28 design the full image. And I'm not a pro
19:29 graphic designer. That's why I partnered
19:31 with a thumbnail expert. But here are
19:33 some specific tips for how to increase
19:35 the effectiveness of your thumbnail
19:36 design. Overall, you want all of the
19:38 graphic elements as high quality as you
19:40 can possibly get them. You want the text
19:42 easy to read and everything well spaced
19:44 so it doesn't look too crowded. Make
19:46 sure to apply saturation or color
19:47 adjustments so that things look brighter
19:49 versus duller. If you need to upscale an
19:51 image because it's too grainy at the
19:53 size you're dragging it, I like to use
19:55 magnific.ai. Now, if you're using a
19:57 visual graphic as one of your three
19:58 elements, you want it to be something
20:01 that immediately represents the desire
20:03 loop. And the desire loop is basically
20:05 the transformation that somebody wants.
20:07 So, there are four simple ways you can
20:09 think about what that graphic could be.
20:10 And I'm going to show you each one using
20:13 a thumbnail from Ali Abdal. The first
20:15 option is to show the end state of what
20:17 someone wants. This could be like a
20:19 PayPal screenshot showing the dollars
20:20 earned in their account. The second
20:22 option is to show some visual from a
20:25 process or visualize the full process
20:26 that they would go through in the
20:28 transformation. The third option is to
20:29 literally show the before and after. And
20:30 this works really well with the split
20:32 screen or an arrow from one to the
20:34 other. And then the fourth option would
20:36 be to use a graphic to show the
20:38 anti-transformation state or the pain
20:39 point. Remind them of the pain that
20:41 you're helping them solve. So that's for
20:43 the graphic. Now, when it comes to
20:44 selecting the text that goes on the
20:46 screen with the graphic, you want the
20:48 person to read the text and immediately
20:50 remember either the pain that they feel
20:53 or the solution that they'll solve after
20:55 they watch. And these are basically two
20:57 sides of the same psychology coin. So,
20:58 for this thumbnail I just showed you,
21:00 Ali uses the word alone to re-trigger
21:02 the pain that it feels like when you're
21:04 lonely. But for this one, he references
21:06 the 108010 rule, which is a specific
21:08 solution for managing your time. So,
21:10 that's the text on the screen. Now, when
21:11 it comes to picking an image or a
21:14 person, try this. If your video actually
21:16 talks about some celebrity or personal
21:17 brand, consider using them in the
21:19 thumbnail. And this is because known
21:21 figures with personal brands have words
21:24 or terms that are already attached when
21:26 you see their faces. It's like increased
21:28 comprehension when you see them. But
21:29 don't use someone that doesn't represent
21:31 the desire loop you're communicating in
21:33 the title, or it may backfire. Now, if
21:35 your video doesn't really reference
21:36 anyone in your category, you could
21:38 consider using yourself as the subject
21:40 or face in the thumbnail. However, like
21:42 I said before, if nobody knows you, this
21:44 could backfire as a risk because they'll
21:46 decide they don't trust you because they
21:48 don't know you. Often times, if you're
21:50 newer, it could be better not to use a
21:52 face than to use one that's pretty
21:53 unknown. Of course, the design part of
21:56 this process takes a long time and a lot
21:57 of reps get good at, which is why
21:59 outsourcing to a professional is
22:00 recommended. Now, just to give you one
22:02 more example of my own videos breaking
22:04 down the final design, here's what we
22:05 were thinking through when we made the
22:07 thumbnail for this video. Again, this is
22:09 the one about my YouTube growth. So, for
22:11 this one, the elements we used were a
22:13 picture of me smiling, the YouTube
22:15 plaque, and then text that said, "I did
22:17 it in 5 months." Now, the reason we used
22:19 me smiling in the photo is because we
22:21 wanted to symbolize the feeling that a
22:22 viewer would feel if they got their
22:24 channel to grow faster, happy. And the
22:26 text is pretty basic, but we underlined
22:28 the number five to emphasize how fast
22:30 the speed was. And then we included the
22:32 YouTube plaque because that plaque is a
22:35 representation for success on YouTube.
22:36 All these elements were selected
22:39 intentionally to trigger the desire loop
22:40 of someone wanting to grow faster on
22:42 YouTube. All right. Now, step five, the
22:45 last step in the process is testing.
22:46 Once you have the thumbnail designed,
22:48 you should use something like
22:50 clickpilot.app to see how it'll look in
22:53 the explore feed or in the sidebar. This
22:55 software also lets you pick specific
22:56 channels that you want to test your
22:58 thumbnails against that are often
22:59 competitors that will come up in other
23:02 viewers feeds. And lastly, and this is
23:03 super important, you should not leave
23:05 your video's performance up to chance
23:07 with just a single thumbnail. And I know
23:08 it's going to sound crazy after all the
23:10 work you just did, but you really should
23:12 be testing with at least three
23:13 thumbnails. The biggest channels in the
23:15 world run dozens of thumbnails against
23:17 each other for every single video.
23:19 Steven Bartlett apparently tests a
23:20 hundred different thumbnails for every
23:22 video of Diver CEO that he puts out. And
23:24 just to be transparent about what
23:25 actually goes on behind the scenes, for
23:28 this video, zero to 100K on YouTube, we
23:29 made seven different thumbnail designs,
23:32 and we ABC tested the best three. We
23:34 like to use YouTube's native ABC test
23:36 tool, but if you want to get crazier
23:37 with more options and title
23:39 combinations, you can use
23:41 thumbnailest.com to do that. Because the
23:42 truth is, even though we were pretty
23:44 sure we knew what would work in the
23:45 thumbnail, we didn't want to leave it up
23:47 to chance. And so that's why we pick
23:49 three options and let the market decide.
23:50 All right, so there you have it. That is
23:52 the five-step tactical playbook for how
23:55 to actually make thumbnails. Step one is
23:57 the approach. Step two is to define what
23:59 that desire loop is. Step three is
24:01 concepting. Step four is the design. And
24:03 then step five is testing. Now, before I
24:05 end this video, I just want to rapid
24:07 fire a bunch of non-obvious and tactical
24:09 learnings that we've picked up over the
24:11 last couple months really honing in our
24:13 thumbnail process. Number one is to use
24:16 green and red as colors to explain good
24:18 and bad. Any other colors are not going
24:19 to be as helpful because the
24:20 comprehension is not baked in
24:23 automatically. Number two, do not use a
24:25 design element that gets covered up in
24:26 the bottom right corner. If you look at
24:28 your channel, you'll see the timestamp
24:30 of all the videos overlaid here. And if
24:32 that blocks a certain word, like it's
24:34 doing on this video, it can be harder to
24:36 understand what's going on in the
24:37 thumbnail. Number three, if you want to
24:38 make it easier for your thumbnail
24:40 designer to make a ton of variations
24:42 with high quality imagery, you should
24:45 have one photo shoot session, take your
24:48 camera on 4K or record a video at 4K 60
24:50 frames per second and make a ton of
24:52 different poses. Here's what I
24:55 recommend. Varying emotions, happy, sad,
24:57 surprised, shocked, pointing up with the
24:59 right hand, up with the left hand, down
25:00 with the right hand, down with the left
25:03 hand, open hand, closed hand, a bunch of
25:05 different poses. It'll look crazy and
25:07 seem insane for 5 to 10 minutes. Do this
25:09 and then give them that file. All of a
25:11 sudden, they'll have tons of different
25:12 pictures to choose from and you'll never
25:14 have to photoshoot again. Number four,
25:15 I've mentioned a bunch of times in this
25:16 video, but just to reiterate, the
25:19 emotion on the face in the thumbnail is
25:21 actually a great way to subconsciously
25:24 skew what the promise will be to the
25:26 viewer. So, make sure you're using the
25:27 right emotion and you're taking enough
25:29 photos to give your thumbnail designer
25:31 options. Number five, don't use design
25:32 elements that are too small. Imagine
25:35 your thumbnail shown as 1/16th on a
25:38 iPhone 6 screen. This tiny little
25:40 screen, tiny little image, don't make
25:41 design elements too small. Make sure
25:43 they're big and only include three in
25:44 the frame. Number six, if you're
25:46 struggling to create separation between
25:48 you as your face and the background or
25:50 text in the background, use shadows.
25:52 Shadows and shading are a great way to
25:54 create visual separation. Number seven
25:56 is about clickbait. Everybody says you
25:57 don't want to clickbait. That's
26:00 completely false. You 100% want to bait
26:01 the click. That is your job with the
26:03 thumbnail. But clickbait is only
26:05 clickbait when the content doesn't match
26:07 the promise. If the content is good,
26:09 then baiting the click is simply
26:11 required to get people to watch. Number
26:13 eight is about building a thumbnail
26:15 swipe file. A good way to dial in your
26:17 style over time is to just have a folder
26:18 on your computer where anytime you see
26:20 an interesting thumbnail, screenshot and
26:22 dump it in. You can share that folder
26:23 with your thumbnail designer and they
26:26 can use that as a starter for ideas. You
26:28 can also go on one of 10 and Vid IQ and
26:29 use their thumbnail features to save
26:31 these as well. And the last tip, and
26:32 I'll say it again because it's so
26:34 important, do not wait until the last
26:36 hour to rush and try to throw together a
26:38 thumbnail before you post a video.
26:40 You're doing things in the wrong order.
26:42 If people don't click, they won't watch.
26:43 And then making the video is really
26:45 worthless if you can't get them to
26:47 click. This means you either need to
26:49 start your process making the thumbnail
26:50 or at least have a really good idea for
26:53 it or hire a professional to do this for
26:54 you. Like I said, the way I do this on
26:55 my channel to make it completely stress
26:58 free is I have an ideas team that comes
26:59 up with the ideas, comes up with the
27:00 titles, comes up with a thumbnail
27:02 design, and then I hand that dock to my
27:05 thumbnail designer who will design seven
27:07 options, and we can pressure test three.
27:09 If you want intros to both of those
27:10 parties, I've got links below. All
27:12 right, guys, that is all I've got for
27:14 this video, and we covered a ton of
27:15 ground. As a summary, first, we went
27:17 through the psychology flow of a viewer
27:19 on YouTube and how they decide which
27:21 video to click on. We also broke down
27:23 the seven different visual elements that
27:25 you can use to create that visual stun
27:27 gun effect. Then we walked through the
27:29 five-step tactical thumbnail playbook
27:30 that you can use as a checklist and a
27:32 guide moving forward for every video.
27:35 And lastly, we covered nine non-obvious
27:37 tactical tips, little things here and
27:38 there that would just boost your
27:40 performance over time. As always, I try
27:42 to put everything I have into making the
27:43 best videos in the content creation
27:45 space. So, if you like this, please
27:47 like, subscribe, leave a comment, and
27:48 let me know what you want to watch next.
27:50 And also in the description, I have so
27:52 many other free resources and guides. I
27:54 really just want to see more people win.
27:56 So check those out and we will see you
