Snapchat innovates ahead of Q1 earnings (SNAP)

Snapchat has added several new features to its app, giving users new ways to create, edit, send, and watch Snaps, The Verge reports, including:

Snap said in its S-1 that its growth will depend on its ability to innovate faster than its rivals. It’s clear that one area Snap is focused on is developing Snapchat’s creative tools — to give its users more freedom to express themselves than in its rivals’ apps. And the further Snapchat stays ahead of its rivals, the better it looks. Conversely, its rivals look like unimaginative runner-ups every time they copy Snap.

Rapidly launching new and original products, therefore, has big brand benefits for Snapchat. This will be a key asset moving forward, particularly for retention and growing average revenue per user. TechCrunch has already found that Snapchat users are staying loyal to the app. These loyal users are unlikely to be tempted to switch or defect to other platforms that, in their eyes, look like hackneyed Snapchat copycats.

Mobile-app makers and content creators are vying for consumer attention in a crowded and noisy market.

Even if an app can stand out enough to prompt a consumer to download it from among a list of millions, it then faces the challenge of enticing him or her to use it enough times to recuperate development, maintenance, and marketing costs. To make matters worse, those marketing costs have hit record-high levels over the past year as discoverability has become more challenging.

And while consumers are spending more time in apps, most of that time is spent in a few favorites. Consumers spend almost three-quarters of their total smartphone app time in just their three favorite apps, according to comScore.

But it's not all doom and gloom: There are numerous tools at a publisher's disposal to engage and re-engage consumers, and there are new products and solutions coming to market that can help alleviate some of the issues around this app engagement crisis.

Jessica Smith, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on app engagement that explores the current state of the app market, the issues around engaging consumers, and the tools at a publisher's disposal. It also identifies best practices for the implementation of some app engagement tools, and presents the pitfalls that some publishers fall into in this pursuit.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

In full, the report:

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

Snapchat innovates ahead of Q1 earnings (SNAP)

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