Smartphone apps are regularly updated and enhanced. However, design overhauls—that change the whole look of an app—are not expected to impact a user's behavior and, more specifically, continuance intentions. We reevaluate this claim based on the overwhelmingly negative feedback the social multimedia messaging app Snapchat received following a design overhaul released in February 2018. Following a mixed-method approach, we first analyze Snapchat's app ratings and their significant drop after the release of the update, using a Chow-test. Second, we use text mining to analyze a data set of 737,182 text reviews from the Google Play Store. We thereby provide empirical evidence that a design overhaul led to a significant decrease in app store ratings and started a social media firestorm among its users. Third, to theoretically explain the causes of the decrease in ratings, we conducted interviews with 26 Snapchat users. We contribute to the current discussion in IS research debates concerning whether perceived ease of use does play an essential role in the post-adoption context: We find evidence that substantial changes in an app design triggers a new adoption process and impacts the perceived ease of use, and thus, in particular, we contribute to the theoretical understanding of how users perceive design overhauls.
Today's smartphone apps are regularly updated and enhanced through software updates. The case at hand is the popular social multimedia messaging app Snapchat that released a design overhaul in February 2018. While the update neither changed any features nor caused any relevant bugs or crashes, it led to an uproar of Snapchat's users and significantly decreased its app store ratings and consequently revenue. As a result, Snap Inc., the company behind Snapchat, was forced to reverse design changes to appease their users. The initial adverse effects of the update were surprising; however, after using difference-indifference tests in combination with sentiment analysis, our results indicate that design updates can be perceived negatively by users. We contribute to IS literature by evaluating the effect of design changes and the role of perceived ease of use in the post-adoption stage.
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