Update: my thumbnail click rate went from 3% to 9% after I changed one thing
I stopped putting my face in the corner of every thumbnail for my woodworking channel and started using a close up of the finished piece instead. Tested it on 14 videos in 5 weeks, and the average click rate went from 3.1% to 9.4%. Anyone else notice their face was actually hurting views, or is it just my ugly mug?