With its new interface, Snapchat now allows companies to play ads between the user stories. By integrating ads within other user stories, the brands have a higher likelihood of making the user feel like the brand is part of their community. Until now, those ads consisted either of a game that eventually prompted you to go to the company’s website or an article that you could swipe up to read. Now, there are some ads that direct you straight to an app install page.
The other day, I noticed the ad pictured to the left within my Snapchat news story. It said “swipe up” so I did; I’m always curious to see what the new trends in advertising are. Much to my surprise, I was taken directly to an app download page. At first, I thought that I was taken to a page and that I had clicked on something without realizing it, thus sending me to this app download page. So, when I saw the ad the next time, I swiped up again. And, again, I was taken to an app download page. The third time, I noticed that it said “Install Now” at the bottom. This was a new feature that I had never seen before and was surprised that companies were trying ti out. Personally, this felt too direct. The image on the ad told me what the product did and then the link asked me to download the item right away. It felt like the company didn’t put any effort into trying to convince me that the product is worth it by showing me how it reaches the results that it’s claiming. While the app was free, downloading it would take phone storage space and would require time to download and to learn how to use. Since I didn’t have an emotional bond to the product and didn’t even really know how it worked, I was not interested in the least to download it. I was mostly annoyed that this ad had taken me away from my previous activity.
Would you have downloaded the app right away or would you have wanted some more information beforehand?