How to make VIRAL THUMBNAILS for your faceless channel (YouTube automation 2024)

Summary

This video explores the art of crafting irresistible thumbnails for faceless YouTube channels. After analyzing thousands of viral videos, the creator reveals a five-ingredient recipe for thumbnail success: simplicity, familiarity, bold claims, curiosity gaps, and immediate payoffs. The insights aim to boost click-through rates and potentially catapult videos to virality, offering practical tips for boosting channel visibility on YouTube's homepage and browse features.

Takeaways

• 🔍 The importance of creating a thumbnail that stands out on the YouTube homepage to capture viewer attention and increase click-through rates.
• 📈 High-performing videos on YouTube often get most of their views from being recommended on the homepage or browse features due to high click-through rates.
• 🎨 The simplicity of a thumbnail design is crucial; cluttered thumbnails can increase cognitive load and cause viewers to keep scrolling past.
• 👤 Familiarity is key in thumbnail design; viewers are more likely to click on thumbnails featuring recognizable faces or themes.
• 🌟 A bold claim in the video idea and its representation in the thumbnail can make it more compelling and encourage clicks from viewers.
• 🤔 The curiosity gap in a thumbnail should pique viewer interest, making them want to click to learn more about the video's content.
• 🚀 An immediate payoff upon clicking the video, such as seeing the subject or action from the thumbnail right away, can keep viewers watching.
• 📚 The script suggests a five-ingredient recipe for creating effective thumbnails: simple design, familiarity, bold claim, curiosity gap, and immediate payoff.
• 🤖 The use of an AI avatar or consistent characters can build familiarity for faceless YouTube channels over time.
• 📉 Even high-quality thumbnails with all the 'right' elements can fail if the video idea isn't strong or clickable enough.
• 📹 The video idea should be so compelling that it can be easily represented in a thumbnail, as suggested by YouTube strategy expert Patty Galloway.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video script?

The main focus of the video script is to provide insights on how to create an effective thumbnail for a faceless YouTube channel that can potentially go viral.

Why is the homepage important for YouTube videos?

The homepage is important because it is where viewers are immediately presented with numerous video options, and the goal is to make them stop and click on your video thumbnail.

What are the three sources of impressions mentioned in the script that contribute to a video's virality?

The three sources of impressions mentioned are YouTube's homepage, browse features, and watch history.

Why is having a high click-through rate on the homepage important?

A high click-through rate on the homepage is important because YouTube assumes there's high interest in the video topic and will push it to more viewers' homepages, increasing its visibility.

What is cognitive load theory and how does it relate to thumbnail design?

Cognitive load theory suggests that humans have a limited capacity for processing information at any given time. A cluttered thumbnail increases cognitive load, making it difficult for viewers to quickly understand and assess the thumbnail, which can lead to them scrolling past it.

What is the three-step framework for creating simple thumbnails?

The three-step framework for creating simple thumbnails is: one clear subject, two bold text, and three strategic highlighting.

What is 'familiarity hijacking' and how can it be used in thumbnails?

Familiarity hijacking involves using well-known personalities or recognizable elements in thumbnails to capture viewers' attention by leveraging their existing familiarity with those elements.

What is the significance of a bold claim in a video thumbnail?

A bold claim in a video thumbnail is significant because it grabs viewers' attention and motivates them to click on the video to learn more about the claim.

What is the 'curiosity gap' and how does it affect viewers' behavior?

The curiosity gap is the distance between what a viewer currently knows and what they are curious to learn. It motivates them to click and watch the video to fill that gap.

What does 'immediate payoff' mean in the context of video thumbnails?

Immediate payoff refers to the gratification viewers receive when the video delivers on the promise made by the thumbnail right from the start, which encourages them to continue watching.

What are the five ingredients of the perfect thumbnail recipe mentioned in the script?

The five ingredients of the perfect thumbnail recipe are: simple design, familiarity, bold claim, curiosity gap, and immediate payoff.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 The Art of Crafting the Perfect Thumbnail

This paragraph delves into the strategy behind creating a compelling thumbnail for a faceless YouTube channel. The author studied over 1,000 viral thumbnails and analyzed analytics to understand what makes a thumbnail irresistible. The focus is on capturing viewer attention on the homepage, leveraging YouTube's recommendation algorithms to increase impressions. The importance of a high click-through rate is emphasized, as it influences YouTube's decision to promote content. The author also discusses the common pitfalls of overcomplicated thumbnails and introduces cognitive load theory, which suggests that simplicity is key to quick viewer comprehension and engagement.

05:00

👤 Harnessing Familiarity in Thumbnails

The second paragraph explores the concept of familiarity and its impact on viewer engagement. It explains how people are drawn to what they know and trust, which can be applied to thumbnails by using recognizable faces or themes. The author introduces two approaches to incorporate familiarity: 'familiarity hijacking', which uses well-known figures to grab attention, and 'familiarity building', which establishes consistent characters or styles to create a brand identity over time. Examples of successful channels using these strategies are provided, highlighting the importance of leveraging viewer familiarity to increase click-through rates.

10:02

📣 The Power of Bold Claims and Curiosity Gaps

This paragraph discusses the importance of making a bold claim in video content and representing it effectively in the thumbnail. The author emphasizes that a bold claim alone isn't enough; it must be presented in a way that piques curiosity. Three video constructs that inherently contain bold claims are suggested: questioning the value of common practices, presenting the 'world's most' scenarios, and offering comprehensive knowledge on a topic of interest. The concept of the 'curiosity gap' is introduced as a tool to motivate viewers to click and watch the video to satisfy their curiosity. The author provides examples of how to transform a mundane video idea into an intriguing one by leveraging the curiosity gap in the thumbnail.

🍻 The Immediate Payoff in Video Thumbnails

The final paragraph emphasizes the importance of providing an immediate payoff in videos to retain viewer interest. It contrasts the disappointment of clicking on a thumbnail with a promising title, only to be met with unrelated or delayed content, versus the satisfaction of an immediate payoff that aligns with the thumbnail's promise. The author uses an example of a video featuring a policeman and a cow to illustrate how an immediate payoff can significantly increase viewer retention and contribute to a video's success, as evidenced by high view counts. The paragraph concludes with a summary of the perfect thumbnail recipe, combining simplicity, familiarity, bold claims, curiosity gaps, and immediate payoffs, and encourages viewers to subscribe for more insights on faceless YouTube channels.

Keywords

💡Viral Videos

Viral videos are those that spread rapidly across the internet, gaining significant views and shares. In the context of the video, the creator studied thumbnails of viral videos to understand what makes them successful. The script mentions 'over 1,000 viral faceless YouTube videos that got over a 100 million views combined', highlighting the importance of virality in the success of a YouTube channel.

💡Thumbnail

A thumbnail is a small, clickable image representation of a video, used to attract viewers on platforms like YouTube. The video's theme revolves around creating effective thumbnails to increase click-through rates. The script emphasizes the role of thumbnails in 'stopping a viewer on the homepage' and making them want to watch the video.

💡Cognitive Load Theory

Cognitive Load Theory suggests that people have a limited capacity for processing information. In the script, it is mentioned to explain why simple thumbnails are more effective, as cluttered thumbnails increase cognitive load and can deter viewers from clicking. The video advocates for a 'simple design' in thumbnails to reduce this load.

💡Familiarity

Familiarity refers to the preference humans have for things they know and trust. The video discusses using familiarity in thumbnails to increase clicks, either by 'familiarity hijacking' with recognizable faces or building familiarity with consistent characters or styles. The script gives examples like Charisma on Command using celebrities' faces to capture attention.

💡Bold Claim

A bold claim is a strong, attention-grabbing statement that entices viewers to click on a video. The script emphasizes the importance of making a bold claim in the video idea and representing it in the thumbnail to 'stop their scroll'. It suggests video constructs that inherently contain bold claims, such as 'world's most' or 'everything you need to know'.

💡Curiosity Gap

The curiosity gap is the difference between what the viewer knows and what they want to learn, which motivates them to click and watch a video. The script explains that the thumbnail should create a curiosity gap to make viewers click, using the example of changing a mundane title to something intriguing, like 'I walked my dog today and it turned into an adventure'.

💡Immediate Payoff

An immediate payoff is the instant gratification or reward the viewer receives upon clicking the video, which keeps them engaged. The script contrasts videos that start with an unrelated introduction versus those that deliver on the promise of the thumbnail right away, like showing a policeman walking a cow with a beer in hand, which aligns with the thumbnail and keeps viewers watching.

💡Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Click-through rate (CTR) is the ratio of users who click on a specific link to the number of total users who view a page, email, or advertisement. The video discusses how a high CTR on YouTube's homepage or browse features signals to YouTube that there's interest in the video topic, leading to more impressions and potential views.

💡Homepage

In the context of YouTube, the homepage is the first page a user sees when they visit the site, featuring recommended videos. The script notes that most views for top-performing videos come from YouTube recommending them on the homepage, emphasizing the importance of thumbnails that can capture attention on this page.

💡YouTube Strategy

YouTube strategy refers to the methods and tactics used to grow a channel on the platform. The video discusses various strategies, such as creating irresistible thumbnails and leveraging the homepage for maximum exposure. Patty Galloway, mentioned in the script, is known as 'the king of YouTube strategy', indicating the significance of strategic planning.

💡Faceless YouTube Channel

A faceless YouTube channel is one where the creator's face or identity is not shown in the videos. The entire script is centered around optimizing thumbnails for such channels, where the thumbnail's design and content are crucial since the creator's personal brand or face is not a factor in attracting viewers.

Highlights

The study of 1,000 viral faceless YouTube thumbnails to understand what makes a thumbnail successful.

The importance of capturing viewer attention on the YouTube homepage for high click-through rates.

Analytics reveal most views come from YouTube's homepage or browse features.

The 'perfect thumbnail recipe' consisting of five key ingredients for success.

The simplicity of thumbnail design reduces cognitive load, making it more appealing to viewers.

A three-step framework for creating simple thumbnails: clear subject, bold text, strategic highlighting.

Familiarity in thumbnails leverages viewer preference for recognizable elements.

Two approaches to incorporating familiarity: hijacking and building over time.

Bold claims in video ideas and thumbnails to grab viewer attention.

Three video constructs that naturally include bold claims for faceless channels.

The concept of the 'Curiosity Gap' to motivate viewers to click and watch the video.

Creating thumbnails that peak curiosity without giving away the entire story.

The necessity of an immediate payoff in videos to retain viewer interest from the start.

Combining all five ingredients for the most clickable faceless YouTube thumbnail.

A series of videos on faceless YouTube channels covering creation, growth, and monetization.

A call to action for viewers to subscribe for more insights on faceless YouTube channels.

Transcripts

over the past month I studied the

thumbnails of over 1,000 viral faceless

YouTube videos that got over a 100

million views combined all of this was

in an effort to answer one question how

do you create a killer thumbnail that

can blow up your faceless YouTube

channel see when a viewer comes to

YouTube they immediately get hit with a

bajillion video options your goal is to

get them to stop immediately on the

homepage and think wow I got to watch

this video and then click your thumbnail

why the homepage you might ask well I

not only looked at 1,000 thumbnails but

I also dove into the analytics and the

most viral videos on this channel that

you're watching right now and when

looking at the top performing videos I

noticed the majority of the views came

from YouTube recommending them on the

homepage or browse features which

basically are the homepage watch History

subscriptions anything on the first page

that you land on when you go to YouTube

If a video has a high click-through rate

on these Pages YouTube assumes there's a

high interest in the video topic and

will then keep trying to get more and

more Impressions to that video by

pushing it to more viewers homepages you

can see here the percentage contribution

of Impressions all three of these videos

got from homepage versus the rest of the

sources combined without these the

remaining Impressions would mainly come

from search and notifications which are

significantly more limited so that is

why having a thumbnail that stops a

viewer on the homepage and gives them no

other option but to click is so

important so my goal by the end of this

video is to give you the perfect recipe

for creating the most irresistible

thumbnails for for your faceless YouTube

channel you would think making a

thumbnail is simple for example look at

these thumbnails they're high quality

they have contrasting colors they have a

face in the thumbnail showing em motion

they have everything we're told a

thumbnail should have so why did these

videos all get less than a, views most

advice out there would make you believe

that these thumbnails are perfect

hypothetically the views should be

pouring in right but they're not it was

this lack of depth that brought me down

this 100 plus hour Rabbit Hole of

looking at thumbnails watching

interviews of successful YouTubers

giving thumbnail tips and all of that

allowed me to come up with one perfect

thumbnail recipe the recipe is made up

of five ingredients but before we get

into the ingredients we have to talk

about the video idea itself here's what

Patty Galloway the king of YouTube

strategy has to say about video ideas

and I get this all the time you know

I've got this amazing idea it's gonna be

so funny I just can't think of way to

thumbnail that and I'm like well then

it's not a good it's not a good YouTube

idea unfortunately it needs to take that

box it needs to be a great idea it needs

to be very clickable we need to be able

to make a clear thumb that around it so

if you can't think of a thumbnail like

Patty says the video idea just is not

good enough but don't worry I created an

entire video on how you can find outlier

video ideas for your channel no matter

what your Niche is so if you haven't

watched that video already go ahead

watch that video somewhere up here and

then come back and watch this video now

the first first ingredient in our

perfect thumbnail recipe is simple

design here's two thumbnails both have

the same video idea in title don't start

a YouTube channel in 2024 the video on

the left got less than 100 views the

video on the right got over a million

views the thumbnail on the left has a

lot and I mean a lot that we're looking

at multiple layers of text with three

arrows pointing at different things so

it's unclear what we should focus on

Graphics just thrown everywhere in the

thumbnail it's confusing it's cluttered

and overall visually unappealing so

people didn't click the thumbnail on the

right is simple one subject centered in

the image holding a sign with concise

text so it's clear what the viewer

should focus on and it's clear what the

video is about so a lot of people

clicked on this thumbnail there's a

concept in Psychology called cognitive

load Theory this Theory suggests that

humans have a limited capacity for

processing information at any given time

when a thumbnail is cluttered with too

many elements it increases the cognitive

load on the viewer making it more

difficult for them to quickly understand

and assess the thumbnail so rather than

sitting there and trying to figure out

what's going on in the thumbnail the

viewer is just going to keep scrolling

combine this with the fact that you

might only have one or two seconds to

grab their attention while they're

scrolling and it becomes extremely

apparent how important Simplicity is

when it comes to thumbnail design so how

can you create simple thumbnails that

still get the point of your video across

to your viewer well a simple three-step

framework is one clear subject two bold

text three strategic highlighting let's

look at some examples clear subject bold

text strategic highlighting clear

subject bold text strategic highlighting

clear subject bold text strategic

highlighting the second ingredient in

the perfect thumbnail recipe is

familiarity as humans we tend to have a

preference for things that we're

familiar with that's why on average we

eat the same five to eight meals every

single week they're familiar we can

trust them they're comfortable it's

probably why if you see a video released

by a handful of YouTubers you will

always click no matter the video subject

you are familiar with them you know that

they create good videos and you know

that they provide value to you for those

same reasons if a person comes across a

thumbnail that has a recognizable face

like a celebrity or themes that they're

familiar with they're more likely to

click so to incorporate at familiarity

into your thumbnails for faceless

YouTube channels there are two

approaches the first approach is

familiarity hijacking this involves

using well-known personalities or

recognizable elements in your thumbnails

to capture viewers attention by

leveraging their existing familiarity

this can be seen with Charisma on

command a faceless YouTube channel that

has grown to over 6.6 million

subscribers using this principle in all

of their thumbnails using the faces of

familiar celebrities and personalities

they get people to stop scrolling and

think oh I know them and then click the

video to find out more the second

approach is familiarity building which

involves starting from scratch and

consistently incorporating specific

characters or Styles into your

thumbnails to build familiarity over

time see with consistency this strategy

will allow your audience to become

familiar with your content just by

seeing your thumbnail this is the

approach that 10x income or digital

income project take there are two

faceless YouTube channels that use the

same AI Avatar in all of their

thumbnails and videos so they've built

that famili arity With Their audience

ingredient number three is a bold claim

this one has less to do with the design

of the thumbnail itself and more to do

with the video idea and how it's

represented within the thumbnail for

instance I could create a video of me

walking my dog even if I created the

most perfect thumbnail to exist on

YouTube the video would just be too

boring to get clicks that's because

there's no bold claim that's grabbing

viewers attention and so they just keep

scrolling to stop their scroll your

claim needs to be bold enough that the

viewer has no choice but to click on the

video so before even recording your

video think about the Bold claim that

you're making in the video but make sure

that it's the right kind of bold claim

for example I could come up with a video

idea of me going out and picking up a

million rocks I don't know about you but

if I saw someone release a video on them

picking up a million rocks I'm not going

to sit there and watch that it is a bold

claim though that they could actually go

out there and do it but the video idea

is awful so how can you come up with the

right kind of bold claims for your

faceless YouTube videos well here are

three video constructs that have bold

claims built into them and work well for

faceless YouTube channels number one is

something of Interest actually worth it

is college worth it in 2024 would be an

example is it worth going to University

would be another way to spin it the

second video construct is world's most

adjective object world's most amazing

skills and talent ever 15 most extreme

roads in the world would be another way

to structure it the third video

construct is topic of Interest

everything you need to know Toy Story 5

everything you need to know Friday Night

at Freddy's everything you need to know

so now you have a couple easy ways to

come up with bold claims but the claim

on its own is not good enough it needs

to be presented in your thumbnail in a

way that's going to Peak the viewer's

Curiosity this is where ingredient

number four in the perfect thumbnail

recipe comes in and that's the Curiosity

Gap the Curiosity Gap is the distance

between what your viewer currently knows

and what they are curious to learn this

Gap is what motivates them to click and

watch your video so your goal is to have

your thumbnail make them so curious that

they have absolutely no other choice but

to click using the example from before

if I make a slight change to the dog

walking video My Title might go from I

walked my dog today to I walked my dog

today and it turned into an adventure

the Bold claim my walk was interesting

enough to become an adventure the

thumbnail me walking my dog but with an

unexpected scene around us this would

cause viewers to wonder about the story

behind it they'll think what happened

how did it become an adventure and that

Curiosity Gap is what makes them click

to find the answer by successfully

incorporating a curiosity Gap you not

only get the click but you incentivize

your viewer to watch until the end to

find out what happens here's an example

of a curiosity Gap done really well so

the title is why don't we shoot nuclear

waste into space it gets the viewer

thinking and then you look at the

thumbnail which suggest suest that it's

the best idea ever but the title

suggests we're not doing it so why don't

we do it so that Curiosity Gap makes the

viewer click this brings us to the last

ingredient in the perfect thumbnail

recipe the immediate payoff so imagine

you click on a video with an incredible

thumbnail titled the funniest dog videos

of all time you click and the video

starts with hey guys it's Trevor today

was a good day I went for a walk what

are you going to do you're going to

click off the video as fast as possible

why because there was no immediate

payoff now imagine you're scrolling and

you see this video the thumbnail has the

subject a policeman and a cow and in the

first second of the video we immediately

see the subject from the thumbnail

walking a cow with a beer in his hand

this is an immediate payoff for the

audience the thumbnail first made them

curious and then when they click they

get an immediate payoff which keeps them

watching the video this is proven by the

video's 6 million views so it to put

everything together simple design plus

familiarity plus bold claim plus

curiosity Gap plus immediate payoff

equals the best possible most clickable

thumbnail for your faceless YouTube

video and by using this recipe you will

make thumbnails that have a much much

much higher potential of going viral

thank you for watching I hope you got a

lot of value out of this video this is

the fourth video of a series of videos

that we're making on faceless YouTube

channels by the end of the series you'll

know everything that there is to know

about faceless YouTube channels from

starting to Growing to monetizing and

Beyond so make sure to hit that

subscribe button so that you don't miss

out on any more uploads if you are

interested in this video and if you

haven't seen any of the videos in the

series yet I recommend you start with

this video right here why 99% of

faceless channels fail so go ahead watch

that and I'll see you in the next one