Watch the following video, in which Snap CEO Evan Spiegel [1] talks about the Snapchat update, then read on below and follow the instructions to complete the exercise.
Snapchat case study
In 2017, Snap, the parent organisation of Snapchat, went public [2] and nine months later, CEO Evan Spiegel, announced that Snapchat would undergo a significant redesign. Among the many changes, the redesign entailed separating celebrity content from one’s friends and close connections. It also entailed several updates to make the app easier to use.
However, Snapchat users did not receive the changes well and so, after continued and growing criticism, Snapchat eventually rolled back some of the updates. This redesign cost Snapchat many of its customers and Snapchat has since seen a steady decline in customers.
In response to the product’s alleged redesign failure, Spiegel acknowledged that users were frustrated over the updates and revealed that the design felt rushed. [2] While the update solved one problem, it subsequently created many others. He further acknowledged that the product improvement plan was also complicated by the fact that Snap had gone public. In other words, going public had meant more stakeholders to manage, align, and get buy-in from. Since the redesign, many of Snap’s executive-level employees, such as its chief strategy officer, left after the public disapproval of the redesign.
However, Spiegel claims that ‘innovation really is about taking risks. It’s about doing things that are different’. [2] He explains that this thinking is encouraged at Snap so that employees can take risks each day and not feel at risk of being judged. He goes on to say that they make time for employees to connect in small groups and share their ideas. Through this type of thinking and these practices, Snap makes continuous improvements over time.
Instructions: Key lessons from Snapchat
- Post a brief reflective paragraph in the discussion below that answers the following question: What key lessons can we take away from this real-world example? Make sure you cover topics such as:
- What mistakes did Snapchat make with regards to its product improvements?
- How should communication have been handled?
References
- The New Snapchat in 60 Seconds [Video]. Snapchat; 2017 Nov 30. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx1R-eHSkfM
- Yurieff K. Snapchat always proved critics wrong. Then Evan Spiegel pushed for a redesign – CNN [Article]. Edition; 2019. Available from: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/10/tech/snap-ceo-evan-spiegel-profile/index.html
snapchat didn’t put consideration to their customers feedback and there was no good communication among the management team
The following are key lessons we can take away from the Snapchat’s launch failure:
First, the company went public without considering how this can impact the decision making process of the company. This was a major contributing factor to the failure that followed.
Second, the redesign project was not well researched. The product’s subsequent rejection by the customers proved they were not well informed and carried along with the project. Also, when a redesign is so extreme that a product doesn’t feel the same to the customer, a considerable share of the market may be lost as was the case in this regard.
Third, the response time to customer’s feedback was too slow – it took them too long a time to roll back the updates. The company shouldn’t have lost this much of her customers if response and effective changes were quick and apt.
Lastly, communication with customers was not well conducted. Customers should have been carried along every point and so know what to expect from the redesign. But it looked like they were ambushed and the shock could not be contained and resulted in outright rejection of the product.
I believe the mistake Snapchat made in product improvement is lack of proper communication. It’s essential that your users understand the value of the product before the it’s launched or improved on.
In my Opinion, Snapchat didn’t utilize appropriate feedback mechanism before launching the update. Snapchat overlooked the role of its user. A product improvement must be customer-centric and not just the choice of the company/organization.
One key lesson from Snapchat’s experience is the importance of balancing innovation with user feedback and transparent communication should have been taken seriously with its users
Snapchat changes is too sudden and drastic, changed would be been gradual process.
Snapchat would have bring up their suggestions on online forum to get the opinion of their customers.
Customer interview, survey and focus group would be the basis of their feedback
Snap chat neglected the role of customer feedback and that resulted to the backlash and loss of customers they had. they didn’t pay attention to what the customers want rather they did what they perceive the customer wants, and all so did not incorporate the feedback in other to improve it the way the customers may want it to be.
Communication: the idea of the change in the snap chat should have been told to the stakeholders first and the team in order to seen their reaction then probably a prototype or a soft launch of these new features would have be put in place in order to also get immediate and in-depth info for the customers about the new update.
For me, Snap made a hasty decision without getting enough customer Feedback. They also failed to make good use of analytics which would have helped in their decision taking.
The mistake Snap made was not effectively seeking feedbacks from its customers on what value is necessary to base its product updates before adopting.
Snap should have adopted methods like SOCIAL MONITORING AND Analytics, online forums, Survey, interviews ,CUSTOMERS support and sales etc , to elicit and analyze feedbacks that would have led to valued product improvements.
Feedback and review from customers or users is very important and needs to use to improve futher but snap didn’t take all this into consideration.