Netflix
Netflix.com (2008)
Some years ago, before Netflix grew into a streaming empire. The service consisted of an eCommerce style website that fulfilled with a DVD by mail. Thus UX focused on how to present titles in various ways to entice selection.
Products
Signup
Website
Recommendations
Metrics
Service Duration: 10 years (2002-2012)
User Base: 5+ Million Customers
Revenue: 8+ Million Dollars
Wireframes & Mockups
A wide range of artifacts was necessary to create a product, from rough wireframes to mockups that impersonated a final design. Every stage required it’s own level of detail. Thus a designer needed to be proficient throughout the development cycle.
Workflows
While relatively straightforward given market expectations, someone had the difficult task of creating a User Experience that met the needs of users, business owners, and development capabilities. It was a skill, though perhaps not as dazzling…
Asset Production
Not only were designs created, but ultimately image assets had to be produced and handed over to development. That was a task that fell to UX Design.
Netlix.com
Design
Web/Responsive
Contribution
Information Design
Component Design
Asset Production
Story
Netflix gains access to hundreds and thousands of movie and tv titles each week. Thus users needed to be able to be presented with such titles on the website. The solution revolved around the relationship between prediction accuracy and user-provided movie ratings. Therefore, the bulk of the design was to create opportunities to rate movies and then to spotlight predicted titles.
Recommendations
Design
Application UX Design
Contribution
Information Design
High Fidelity Wireframes
Image Production
Story
In the background, Netflix has one of most robust systems for recommending new movies and TV Shows. While the calculation and prediction functionality did not require UX design. A key part involved gathering input from users based on how titles were rated. The process of rating, as well as a bulk rating experience was designed.
Signup
Design
Web/Responsive
Contribution
Information Design
High Fidelity Wireframes
Image Production
Story
Part of the process to begin the subscription, a signup and registration is required. The various screens necessary to complete this flow was designed and developed.
We Love Movies
That Red Envelope
For its service before streaming became viable, a customer would browse and select titles from the Netflix web product and then receive said titles by mail. Always in an identifiable red envelope. While UX design was not necessary for the packaging, the website used to select titles was, and so much of the time spent improving upon Netflix customer experience revolved around presenting and processing movie titles.
A Fresh Start
Another web UX product involved the process in which prospective customers would signup and register for the service. Again, while there were already market expectations on how subscriptions were started, its best practices had to be folded into business and development requirements—that required UX Design.
Cancellation Conundrum
Ironically, one of the most profitable efforts for UX Design was also the least delightful products to design. That is, to facilitate the cancellation of the service. A major goal was unpleasant; there were actually multiple reasons why customers would cancel. Thus finding ways to thread common reasons into solutions that could reduce cancellation was the mission. A reduction even by a small percentage affected the forfeiture of millions of dollars
Usability
Weekly User Testing
10,000+ User A/B Testing
Performance Metrics
Design Team
Senior UX Designers (2)
Business Team
Product Managers (3)
Development SMEs