There are three variables that affect the CTR:
Thumbnails
Titles
First 10 seconds
We’ll focus more on the thumbnails and titles, and showcase some of the best examples. However, it is important to remember that while scrolling through their YouTube feed, the auto-play starts just 1 second after pausing the cursor on your video.
Your first 10 seconds should be hooky and work well together with the thumbnail and the title. More on the first 10 seconds you will find in this article.
I. THUMBNAILS
Depending on your topic, style and target audience, your thumbnails might differ. These are some of the basic principles, you might want to use when creating or choosing your thumbnail.
Screaming a.k.a. Open mouth
If you have one distinct main character in your video, a good idea is to use a screaming emotion, or at least with an open mouth. A lot of successful bloggers use this trick, and place their faces in the top right corner.
Mystery
If possible, try to plant a seed of mystery on your thumbnail, almost like telling a story.
It can be done either with a combination of emotions, captions, and characters.
Or can be achieved with composition and colour.
Simplicity
Depending on your niche, a simpler thumbnail might work better. Something on a white background, a catchy caption and a clear emotion.
It can be especially useful for animation channels and comedy.
However, if you can catch the viewer’s eye with sheer emotion, and the viewer will get all the context, there is no need for any other “noise” on your thumbnail.
Conflict
If you have two conflicting ideas on your video, it’s a good idea to show that as well on your thumbnail.
These ideas can literary clash.
Or the conflict can be more subtle.
Emotional action
A situational thumbnail that depicts action, should evoke a strong and clear emotion. For this approach quality does not matter that much. You’re going after transmitting that strong emotion to the viewer at first glance.
It can be a cute or happy emotion.
Or something more controversial, radical and taboo.
What?!! Effect a.k.a. Clickbait
Some of the best thumbnails are inviting the viewer to click on the video. To get that clickbait feel the thumbnail should have:
Exaggerated emotion
Short and scandalous caption.
Smartly used visual elements, like arrows, circles and crosses.
There is nothing bad with classy clickbait, just make sure your thumbnail doesn’t mislead.
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Don’t forget that there is no one healing pill. And you will only know the results by testing. It is thus important to prepare several variations of your thumbnails and test to find out which performs best. |
II. TITLES
Now, let’s talk titles. There are a few reasons why one should not forget about titles:
It’s there
The way the viewer decides to click on your video: First the thumbnail catches their attention, then the viewer reads the title.
As the video starts to play in the feed, the title stay, becoming the last reason for the person to click on the video after they began watching it.
It is because of these reasons it is important for the title to work well together with the thumbnail as well as the theme of the video as well, especially in the beginning. And again, depending on your topic, style, and target audience, — whatever floats your Channel.
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Curiosity One of the main hooks of the title is to spark curiosity in the viewer’s mind. This can be achieved in different ways. |
Curiosity Gap
Start the story in the title, and keep it open-ended, don’t give the answer the right way. Starting the title with “why”, “how”, and “what” — is one way of doing this.
Shorter — not always better
The best titles are around 60-70 characters and display fully on most devices. While concise and short titles are easier to read, you should focus on how to spark curiosity first and foremost.
Some utilise “…” in long titles, to create the feeling of the unknown.
Some, divide the title into two parts with a dot.
Feel of urgency
To make people feel they have to watch the video, a title might be more useful than a thumbnail. You can emphasise the urgency by capitalising the right word. Just don’t make it clickbait, YouTube won’t like it.
Think how you can surprise the vier with counterintuitive formulations. Simply saying YOU MUST WATCH THIS isn’t gonna work.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be related to anything newsworthy. What’s more important is that the viewer should think that it’s important for them to watch the video now.
Unveiling a secret
First, you need to find a controversial topic that is familiar to your audience, and then try to “unveil a secret.”
Make it weird
Making your title weird is one of the ways to spark curiosity. What’s important here is to stay close to the topic and be relevant for your audience, or this “weirdness” should be part of your style. Because weird just for the sake of weird isn’t gonna work: that’s just weird.
WOW information
If you want to give surprising information in the title, it should go hand in hand with the thumbnail.
Keywords
When you’re making a video about a searchable topic, or a how-to video, it is vital for you to use keywords in the title. Check for the relevant keywords for your video.
Add emotive words to your title
After glancing at your thumbnail, the viewer will read the title, and the title should speak to the same emotion and emphasise it. Here are more examples of emotive words and they are mostly easy and well-known adjectives:
Profitable
Luxurious
Helpful
Secret
Fierce
Easy
Daring
Competitive
Best-selling