[0:00] today on the Boost we're going to talk
[0:01] about the ab thumbnail testing and
[0:03] whether or not you should actually be
[0:04] using it is it hurting your views we'll
[0:07] talk about it here on the Boost by vid
[0:09] IQ all right J we just got a text
[0:10] message from one of our fans here let's
[0:12] take a look at what it says sup Travis
[0:14] and Jen I love you guys thank you for
[0:15] being awesome I was wondering what you
[0:17] guys think of the ab thumbnail testing
[0:19] feature on YouTube I'm currently using
[0:20] it on my new video and I'm afraid that
[0:22] it might be giving me less views and
[0:23] hurt my potential of the video going out
[0:25] should I just end it early and let it
[0:27] cook it's a good question Jen but do you
[0:30] think about this do we let it cook I
[0:32] have strong feelings about this actually
[0:34] because I think this came out and we all
[0:37] kind of ran with it because we were so
[0:40] happy and so excited that I don't know
[0:42] if we really set guidelines for
[0:45] ourselves as to when to use it and when
[0:47] not to use it cuz I do think there is
[0:51] 1,000% times where you should not use
[0:54] this one of the things is we've been
[0:55] testing this on the main channel for a
[0:56] while nine times out of 10 the
[1:00] percentages are so similar that it's
[1:02] like irrelevant right like it's pretty
[1:03] irrelevant if you go into making a video
[1:06] knowing in advance uh what your
[1:09] thumbnail title are going to be then
[1:10] they're probably going to connect pretty
[1:11] well and unless you're doing drastically
[1:14] different thumbnail Styles which by the
[1:15] way is kind of what AB testing is for
[1:18] then it's kind of pointless right like
[1:19] otherwise what's the point it's also
[1:21] pointless to not have two really good
[1:26] thumbnails like AB testing is not to
[1:28] have one really good thumbnail that
[1:30] you're like this is awesome and then
[1:31] just you know another thumbnail to throw
[1:34] in there no matter how different they
[1:36] are because you have to think about it
[1:38] that thumbnail is still going to be
[1:40] surfaced to people and you will lose
[1:42] that click if it's not a good thumbnail
[1:44] just because it's adding you know it's
[1:46] making the better thumbnail look better
[1:49] doesn't mean the worst option of the two
[1:51] is not still being shown to people and
[1:53] potentially losing that click cuz
[1:55] they're not going to get this video
[1:56] resurfaced you know most likely with the
[1:59] other thumbnail than shown yeah this
[2:01] actually came up a couple of weeks ago
[2:03] and I had to ask V Richie about like
[2:05] what happens if the losing thumbnail the
[2:07] people who did not click it uh will it
[2:10] get resurfaced and after the thumbnail
[2:13] is decided on on the winter and the
[2:14] answer is kind of no not necessarily
[2:17] like it could if it eventually does well
[2:19] it could get resurfaced to those people
[2:21] who didn't click on in the first place
[2:22] but it doesn't automatically get
[2:24] retested against those people despite
[2:26] the fact that the newer thumbnail might
[2:27] be better so does that mean you should
[2:29] not use it no I mean I think there's
[2:31] instances where you might have two
[2:33] really good thumbnail ideas and you're
[2:34] just not sure which one to go with
[2:36] that's a great opportunity for it do you
[2:38] need to use it on every single video no
[2:40] and especially if you're a smaller
[2:41] Creator a lot of times you'll get
[2:43] inconclusive results because you won't
[2:44] have enough Impressions it takes a lot
[2:46] of impressions for the process to even
[2:48] figure out which is quote better and the
[2:52] other thing is thumbnail testing doesn't
[2:54] end the first 48 or 72 hours after you
[2:57] do it the reality is you get different
[2:59] people coming to your channel over the
[3:00] course of weeks and months Jen uh speak
[3:03] to that if you want to really really get
[3:07] into AB testing then you need to have
[3:09] like three AB tests like set up you
[3:13] should have that initial Community test
[3:16] set up within those first like three
[3:18] days you should have it set again for
[3:21] when your casual audience the rest of
[3:23] your subscribers are seeing it within
[3:25] that you know the rest of the week and
[3:28] then a highly highly disc able option
[3:31] past that time of course this means the
[3:33] video has to be getting views that
[3:34] entire time and surfacing for that to
[3:37] actually make sense so we're probably
[3:38] talking about this with um larger
[3:41] channels not necessarily a strategy for
[3:43] smaller Channels cuz that first one
[3:45] probably still won't even be done but
[3:47] when we think about what makes a good
[3:49] discoverable thumbnail versus what makes
[3:50] a good Community thumbnail and when that
[3:52] video is being shown to both those
[3:54] thumbnails look entirely different so if
[3:56] you have a thumbnail that has your face
[3:58] on it and then you have a thumbnail that
[4:00] doesn't within those first three days
[4:02] most likely the thumbnail with your face
[4:04] on is going to win because your audience
[4:06] knows you and they're reacting to that
[4:09] thumbnail but that doesn't necessarily
[4:10] give us the answer that we maybe wanted
[4:13] for the you know longevity of the video
[4:17] if you will I love that that was that
[4:19] was really well explained and and again
[4:21] nothing is definitive just because the
[4:23] thumbnail works today doesn't mean it's
[4:25] going to work tomorrow to Jen's point it
[4:26] doesn't mean even that the thumbnail
[4:28] that YouTube tells you is the best one
[4:30] is actually the best one especially when
[4:32] you're thinking about the videos live on
[4:33] YouTube potentially forever majority of
[4:35] people who ever see that thumbnail are
[4:38] actually would maybe potentially connect
[4:40] more with the thumbnail you didn't end
[4:41] up even using which I think is probably
[4:43] the case more often than not but if you
[4:45] like questions like that and getting
[4:47] your answers from us Jen and Travis here
[4:49] at the Boost check the link in the
[4:51] description where you can check out the
[4:52] entire podcast and some other answers
[4:54] we've given see you next time