The #1 mistake you're making with your thumbnails

The problem isn't your video.

It's your thumbnail.

Here's why:

You can spend hours editing the perfect video, with awesome storytelling, and engaging effects…

But if you can't get them to click on the video in the first place, it's all for nothing.

That's why it drives me insane when creators treat thumbnails as an afterthought.

The truth?

Your thumbnails are what you should be spending the most time on.

And there's one mistake I see creators make over and over again.

A mistake that is killing their views.

So today, I'm going to show you how to fix it.

Let's do this.

You're not creating a curiosity gap

I can hear what you're saying:

"What on Earth is a curiosity gap?"

Let me explain:

The curiosity gap is the space between what viewers understand from your thumbnail, and what they want to know.

When people are scrolling on YouTube, they're not looking for answers.

They're looking for intrigue.

Here is an example:

How to create a curiosity gap

It's simple:

Give away enough information so they understand what the video is about.

Withhold the information they want to know the most.

Our goal is to make the viewer ask questions.

Questions that can only be answered by clicking.

For each video, there should be a major event or payoff that occurs, which is the reason for the viewer to click.

Your goal with the thumbnail is to hint at that event or payoff without revealing the full picture.

Let's look at this example:

Easy, right?

Now, I understand what you're saying.

"I don't want to be jumping off ramps for a video!"

Me neither.

But I can guarantee that with every video you upload, you can create a curiosity gap.

If you disagree, it's because you don't know what that curiosity gap is.

Which is why you need to be practicing every single day.

Analyse top creators in your niche and outside your niche, making notes of how they create curiosity gaps. Implement what you learn into your own thumbnails.

There are two common mistakes I see creators make when they try to create a curiosity gap:

1. They withhold too much information, confusing the viewer.

2. They give away too much information, which makes the viewer bored.

You need to be finding the balance between the two.

Would your Mum watch?

Another mistake I see many creators make with their thumbnails is that they're so complicated that it's difficult to understand what the video is about.

They think that the more complicated the thumbnail, the bigger audience they will attract because it makes them look like they know what they're talking about.

But it has the opposite effect.

Remember, you have less than a second to grab the viewer's attention.

If it takes more than a second for the viewer to process your thumbnail, you've already lost them.

So, there's a simple test to find out if you've created a good curiosity gap:

Ask your Mum if she would watch.

I'm being serious, ask her!

Because if it's simple and intriguing enough that your Mum would click, there's a good chance your audience will click as well.

If she has to ask questions about what the video is about, you need to improve your curiosity gap.

How to deliver on a curiosity gap

Congratulations!

You made a thumbnail so good that the viewer clicked.

Now we are onto the next step:

How do we prevent them from clicking off in the first 15 seconds?

It's easy.

You confirm that the video will give them the answer to the curiosity gap that made them click in the first place.

And you do it in the first 10 seconds of the video.

Watch the video I broke down earlier:

In the first second, you see the boat from the thumbnail.

At 9 seconds, you see the clip of him about to hit the ramp in the boat.

But, most importantly, the outcome of what happened was not revealed.

Which leads us onto the next step:

How do you make them stay for the whole video?

It's by withholding the answer to the curiosity gap until towards the end of the video.

Taking a look at the same example:

He doesn't hit the ramp until 13:55 in the video.

Which is over half-way in.

Meaning that the viewer has, most likely, watched all the way up until that point.

Which improves the Audience Viewer Duration (AVD), meaning YouTube pushes the video out to a wider audience.

Aka, more views.

(If I'm being honest, they could have improved the video by pushing the outcome until even later).

So, not only have you learnt how to create a curiosity gap, you've also learnt how to deliver on it.

You have learnt the skill that the best YouTubers in the world use to make you click.

Now, implement what you've learnt to your own channel.

And let me know how it goes by sending me a DM of your thumbnails to @rorymarles on Instagram.

Would love to see what you guys create and give some tips.

Thanks for reading.

See you next Sunday,

Rory