Trench note: the thumbnail's job is the gap, not the offer

Trench note: the thumbnail's job is the gap, not the offer
For native nutra, the image isn't there to show the product or even the result. It's there to open a loop the headline can't.
High-performing image logic:
— Show an object that makes no sense yet (a common kitchen item, a specific food, a household thing) — "why is THAT in a weight-loss ad?"
— Mid-action, not after — a hand doing something, not a finished result.
— Mildly amateur > studio-clean. Studio = ad = scroll past.
The headline answers "what," the image asks "wait, what?" If your image and headline say the same thing, you wasted the image.
Go test it.