Does A/B Thumbnail Testing HURT Your Channel?

[00:00] today on the Boost we're going to talk

[00:01] about the ab thumbnail testing and

[00:03] whether or not you should actually be

[00:04] using it is it hurting your views we'll

[00:07] talk about it here on the Boost by vid

[00:09] IQ all right J we just got a text

[00:10] message from one of our fans here let's

[00:12] take a look at what it says sup Travis

[00:14] and Jen I love you guys thank you for

[00:15] being awesome I was wondering what you

[00:17] guys think of the ab thumbnail testing

[00:19] feature on YouTube I'm currently using

[00:20] it on my new video and I'm afraid that

[00:22] it might be giving me less views and

[00:23] hurt my potential of the video going out

[00:25] should I just end it early and let it

[00:27] cook it's a good question Jen but do you

[00:30] think about this do we let it cook I

[00:32] have strong feelings about this actually

[00:34] because I think this came out and we all

[00:37] kind of ran with it because we were so

[00:40] happy and so excited that I don't know

[00:42] if we really set guidelines for

[00:45] ourselves as to when to use it and when

[00:47] not to use it cuz I do think there is

[00:51] 1,000% times where you should not use

[00:54] this one of the things is we've been

[00:55] testing this on the main channel for a

[00:56] while nine times out of 10 the

[01:00] percentages are so similar that it's

[01:02] like irrelevant right like it's pretty

[01:03] irrelevant if you go into making a video

[01:06] knowing in advance uh what your

[01:09] thumbnail title are going to be then

[01:10] they're probably going to connect pretty

[01:11] well and unless you're doing drastically

[01:14] different thumbnail Styles which by the

[01:15] way is kind of what AB testing is for

[01:18] then it's kind of pointless right like

[01:19] otherwise what's the point it's also

[01:21] pointless to not have two really good

[01:26] thumbnails like AB testing is not to

[01:28] have one really good thumbnail that

[01:30] you're like this is awesome and then

[01:31] just you know another thumbnail to throw

[01:34] in there no matter how different they

[01:36] are because you have to think about it

[01:38] that thumbnail is still going to be

[01:40] surfaced to people and you will lose

[01:42] that click if it's not a good thumbnail

[01:44] just because it's adding you know it's

[01:46] making the better thumbnail look better

[01:49] doesn't mean the worst option of the two

[01:51] is not still being shown to people and

[01:53] potentially losing that click cuz

[01:55] they're not going to get this video

[01:56] resurfaced you know most likely with the

[01:59] other thumbnail than shown yeah this

[02:01] actually came up a couple of weeks ago

[02:03] and I had to ask V Richie about like

[02:05] what happens if the losing thumbnail the

[02:07] people who did not click it uh will it

[02:10] get resurfaced and after the thumbnail

[02:13] is decided on on the winter and the

[02:14] answer is kind of no not necessarily

[02:17] like it could if it eventually does well

[02:19] it could get resurfaced to those people

[02:21] who didn't click on in the first place

[02:22] but it doesn't automatically get

[02:24] retested against those people despite

[02:26] the fact that the newer thumbnail might

[02:27] be better so does that mean you should

[02:29] not use it no I mean I think there's

[02:31] instances where you might have two

[02:33] really good thumbnail ideas and you're

[02:34] just not sure which one to go with

[02:36] that's a great opportunity for it do you

[02:38] need to use it on every single video no

[02:40] and especially if you're a smaller

[02:41] Creator a lot of times you'll get

[02:43] inconclusive results because you won't

[02:44] have enough Impressions it takes a lot

[02:46] of impressions for the process to even

[02:48] figure out which is quote better and the

[02:52] other thing is thumbnail testing doesn't

[02:54] end the first 48 or 72 hours after you

[02:57] do it the reality is you get different

[02:59] people coming to your channel over the

[03:00] course of weeks and months Jen uh speak

[03:03] to that if you want to really really get

[03:07] into AB testing then you need to have

[03:09] like three AB tests like set up you

[03:13] should have that initial Community test

[03:16] set up within those first like three

[03:18] days you should have it set again for

[03:21] when your casual audience the rest of

[03:23] your subscribers are seeing it within

[03:25] that you know the rest of the week and

[03:28] then a highly highly disc able option

[03:31] past that time of course this means the

[03:33] video has to be getting views that

[03:34] entire time and surfacing for that to

[03:37] actually make sense so we're probably

[03:38] talking about this with um larger

[03:41] channels not necessarily a strategy for

[03:43] smaller Channels cuz that first one

[03:45] probably still won't even be done but

[03:47] when we think about what makes a good

[03:49] discoverable thumbnail versus what makes

[03:50] a good Community thumbnail and when that

[03:52] video is being shown to both those

[03:54] thumbnails look entirely different so if

[03:56] you have a thumbnail that has your face

[03:58] on it and then you have a thumbnail that

[04:00] doesn't within those first three days

[04:02] most likely the thumbnail with your face

[04:04] on is going to win because your audience

[04:06] knows you and they're reacting to that

[04:09] thumbnail but that doesn't necessarily

[04:10] give us the answer that we maybe wanted

[04:13] for the you know longevity of the video

[04:17] if you will I love that that was that

[04:19] was really well explained and and again

[04:21] nothing is definitive just because the

[04:23] thumbnail works today doesn't mean it's

[04:25] going to work tomorrow to Jen's point it

[04:26] doesn't mean even that the thumbnail

[04:28] that YouTube tells you is the best one

[04:30] is actually the best one especially when

[04:32] you're thinking about the videos live on

[04:33] YouTube potentially forever majority of

[04:35] people who ever see that thumbnail are

[04:38] actually would maybe potentially connect

[04:40] more with the thumbnail you didn't end

[04:41] up even using which I think is probably

[04:43] the case more often than not but if you

[04:45] like questions like that and getting

[04:47] your answers from us Jen and Travis here

[04:49] at the Boost check the link in the

[04:51] description where you can check out the

[04:52] entire podcast and some other answers

[04:54] we've given see you next time