Snapchat is undergoing significant changes as it tests new features and updates aimed at boosting its platform’s usability and ad revenue.
CEO Evan Spiegel announced in a memo published on Snap’s website that the company is experimenting with a “simplified version of Snapchat.” This redesign seeks to improve accessibility and user experience, especially for older users who have traditionally found the app’s interface challenging to navigate.
The initiative comes during a difficult period for Snap, with the company’s stock price plummeting nearly 50% in 2024.
Spiegel’s letter acknowledges investor concerns regarding the company’s slow growth, which has fueled the push for these changes. The simplified version of Snapchat is being tested with the hope that it will attract a broader audience, particularly those who have previously struggled with the app’s design. Spiegel notes that early testing of the redesign has been “directionally positive,” though he emphasizes that any significant changes will be approached with caution.
This cautious approach likely stems from the company’s painful experience in 2018 when a major redesign aimed at making the app more intuitive backfired spectacularly.
Learning from Past Redesign Mistakes
The 2018 redesign, which inserted Stories between private messages and made other sweeping changes, was met with widespread backlash. The update frustrated users, leading to a Change.org petition that garnered 1.2 million signatures and public criticism from high-profile influencers like Kylie Jenner, Chrissy Teigen, and Marques Brownlee.
The redesign not only failed to attract the intended older audience but also alienated Snapchat’s core younger user base, resulting in a significant drop in ad views and revenue. By May 2018, Snap was forced to roll back several of the changes in an attempt to recover from the damage.
New Advertising Features to Boost Revenue
In addition to the simplified version of Snapchat, Spiegel’s memo introduces new advertising strategies to invigorate the company’s struggling ad division.
The company is testing “Sponsored Snaps,” a feature that allows advertisers to send branded messages directly to users’ chat inboxes. These messages will appear as unread in the app’s main Chat tab, ensuring that they remain visible until users interact with them.
This marks the first time Snap has integrated ads into the most frequently used part of its app. Spiegel assured employees that Sponsored Snaps would not trigger push notifications and that opening the messages would be optional, although details on how users can dismiss these ads without opening them remain unclear.
Additionally, Snap is rolling out “Promoted Places,” which lets advertisers pay to promote destinations on Snap Map, where users can view their friends’ locations. These initiatives are part of Snap’s broader effort to grow its digital advertising business, which remains small compared to competitors like Meta. Despite reaching over 850 million monthly users globally, Snap continues to struggle with profitability.
Spiegel’s memo also touched on Snap’s ambitions in the augmented reality (AR) space, specifically with its Spectacles AR glasses. He claimed that Snap is venturing into a market with no competitors, a statement that seemingly ignores the presence of Meta’s AR glasses, the Meta Ray-Bans.
