YouTube's New A/B Testing Feature

^{Today's Focus: YouTube’s A/B Testing Feature}

Happy Thursday Y’all! We are so close to the 9th month of this year, time flies!!

Most people who watch videos on YouTube decide which one to watch based on the thumbnail and title—in that order. Recognizing this, YouTube rolled out a powerful new feature in June 2024, “Thumbnail Test & Compare”.

This feature is now available to all creators.

Before we dive in,

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Now, let’s dive in!

Why is this so special?

Previously, if creators wanted to understand which thumbnails worked best, they had to use third-party tools or even worse manually change the thumbnail, which rarely provided accurate insights.

This feature allows the creator to upload multiple thumbnails for a single video and test them with real viewers. YouTube provides data based on CTR but also which video has the most views based on which thumbnail they clicked.

Key Findings:

This introduction is backed by research that highlights the impact of effective and engaging thumbnails on video performance. For instance:

a. Faces perform well: The human brain is wired to recognize and be drawn to faces, any thumbnail with the right information and the right expressive face seemed to work well.

b. Text clarity: The thumbnail should immediately convey why the viewer should spend time watching the video. Thumbnails with clear, bold, and aesthetically pleasing text seem to perform better.

c. Contrast: YouTube's home feed is filled with thumbnails of videos, how are you going to stand out? Colors, fonts, and balance.

I have been trying this out on The Marketing Woman Podcast’s YouTube Page and has been working pretty well so far! As YouTube continues to evolve, our strategies should also keep up with it. This tool allows for data-driven decision-making.

Did you know about this ?

‘Share your thoughts by replying to this email or comment and get the conversation started!

Until Sunday,

Anusha Kannan

THIS WEEK on The Marketing Woman Podcast

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