Last year Snapchat redesigned their layout in the UK, Australia, and Canada to help monetize its service by adding in more advertising. However, the transition has proven that it did not go over well with users.
The social media platform rolled out its new look at the end of last year and the results are not what Snapchat was hoping for. 83% of reviews on the App Store were negative from their users. Many complained that their feeds weren’t in chronological order and that overall, it was downright confusing. Not exactly what you want to hear from your users.
User Tweets
Many users have actually tried to contact Snapchat on Twitter. They wanted to voice their concerns and frustrations and took it to Twitter since there is no way to contact them on the actual Snapchat app.
According to TechCrunch, only 17% gave the new design a three to a five-star review.
Why the change
The hopes were that the new redesign would boost Snapchat’s revenue. The channel has been dropping in popularity over the last year and fell short of Wall Street earnings expectations in Q3. That led to a $443 million loss. “The redesign mixes Stories, where Snapchat shows ads but which have seen stagnation in sharing rates amidst competition from Instagram Stories, into the more popular messaging inbox, where Snapchat’s ephemeral messaging is more differentiated and entrenched,” according to TechCrunch.
The redesign also stops users from being able to watch a lot of people’s Stories in a row. Instead, users do not have to tap a preview of the next person’s Story before you can watch it.
Snapchat’s Response
So what did Snapchat have to say in regard to the concerns users have? “Updates as big as this one can take a little getting used to, but we hope the community will enjoy it once they settle in.” So it looks like this new redesign might be here to stay, even if users aren’t a fan of it.
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