{"id":62822,"date":"2019-03-06T09:34:16","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T17:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adespresso.com\/?p=62822"},"modified":"2019-03-06T12:40:42","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T20:40:42","slug":"facebook-video-thumbnail-impact-experiment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adespresso.com\/blog\/facebook-video-thumbnail-impact-experiment\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook Video Thumbnail: Is it Essential for the Success of Your Ads? (a $1,000 Experiment)"},"content":{"rendered":"

At AdEspresso our mantra is \u201ctest everything,\u201d and as we heavily use Facebook video ads, we\u2019re always looking for different ways to maximize their performance.<\/p>\n

Recently we tested what Facebook video ad format works best<\/a> and also how video performance varies by platform<\/a>.\u00a0But that was not enough to slake our unquenchable\u00a0thirst for knowledge (and for “scientific” data that help you maximize your digital marketing and ROAS).<\/p>\n

So we turned our attention to one little detail that many marketers neglect: the Facebook video thumbnail<\/strong>, that custom image or frame from your video advert that viewers see first.<\/p>\n

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As we’ve seen working with thousands of customers, more often than not marketers willy-nilly take one frame from the video <\/strong>and use it as their Facebook video ad thumbnail.<\/p>\n

But that’s wrong!<\/p>\n

Your Facebook Video thumbnail<\/strong>\u00a0is especially important when users have autoplay turned off <\/strong>for Facebook videos, and picking the wrong image\u00a0could seriously jeopardize the outcome of your Facebook video ad campaigns<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

To prove it, we decided to invest $1,000 and run an experiment.<\/p>\n

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We\u2019re huge fans of Wistia<\/a> and have used their platform to host videos for years, so their new One, Ten One Hundred<\/a>\u00a0video series<\/strong> immediately got our attention.<\/p>\n

Never heard about it?<\/p>\n

Wistia challenged Sandwich Video to make three video adverts <\/strong>for their Soapbox app<\/a> (a Chrome extension that enables anyone to record,\u00a0edit, share, and measure presentation videos)\u00a0at three very different price points<\/strong> \u2014 one for $1,000, one for $10,000, and one for $100,000<\/strong>. (If you\u2019d like to see how the ads were made, check out <\/em>the\u00a0behind the scenes documentary series<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Once the videos had been produced, Wistia embarked on a $60,000 series of tests to find out which version performed best across Youtube and Facebook<\/strong> for Soapbox app installs.<\/p>\n

They tested direct response, carousel and sequential ads.<\/strong> (You can <\/em>read about the experiment setup and download the results here<\/a>)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

One thing that wasn\u2019t tested was the thumbnail image used for each video.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

As Wistia launched their own Thumbnail Editor<\/a> late last year, this was the perfect opportunity to run an experiment to see how essential thumbnails are for Facebook ads performance. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Facebook Video Thumbnail: Experiment Setup<\/h2>\n

For this campaign we selected the video that had performed best in previous rounds of testing<\/strong>, which was the $10,000 version:<\/strong><\/p>\n