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Vittoria Pretlow

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Aug 1, 2024, 11:53:29 PM8/1/24

to dorlararo

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Rumors are getting stronger that Netflix is "cracking down" on password sharing, so if you're currently password sharing and don't own the account, you might soon need to go through Netflix's new user experience; where you register your account, and then some more stuff happens, too. It has been covered extensively elsewhere how attractive it is for Netflix to address password sharing, so here instead I will be covering the new user experience.

That new user experience (NUX) is a driver of retention, which in turn is a key metric for subscription businesses like Netflix (see here). It's also an area where product and marketing intersect, a favourite of mine. Plus, it's timely and useful inspiration for the SVOD products that I work on. Therefore, I got curious after the NUX's of Streamers.

So I decided to dive in and sign up for Netflix, and record the experience. In the near future I plan to review more streamer NUX's, but it makes sense to start with the experience of the Streamer that pretty much defined SVOD; Netflix.

Time-to-value: about 3 minutes. This is the time it takes between Googling for 'netflix' and viewing the first video on Netflix
There are two parts to the NUX, chapters if you will; "For The Business" and "For The Viewer". "For The Business" is basically about the streamer getting paid. "For The Viewer" is about gathering information to improve the Netflix experience for the newly subscribed user, mostly by enabling personalization
There's a minor 'blooper' in "For The Business", where Netflix indicates that there are 3 steps. However, Step 2 never appears. Instead, there are two steps that are both called Step 1, and Step 2 is skipped
Both "For The Business" and "For The Viewer" are designed as separate set of steps. This may lead you to believe that you are done signing up after the three steps of "For The Business", but then the next set of steps presents itself. It might be that "For The Viewer" is optional, meaning that you're able to login to Netflix if you drop out of that flow. But it's not presented as such. I also wonder whether separate teams maintain both sets of steps
In "For The Viewer", Netflix explains well why you should bother providing the requested information to them, with the goal of audio and subtitles in the desired language(s) and setting up personal profiles to enable recommendations tailored to each profile. Netflix asks the user to invest time NOW, to make your experience with Netflix better LATER. I think that in each case, the benefit outweighs the investment, however do note that it lengthens TTV
When you consider adding something to the NUX that lengthens TTV, ask if you can get that info at a later stage. Asking too much upfront, might result in the user second-guessing if it's worth effort. Convince of value first, then get to invest some more, to get some more value next time, in a value-investment spiral upwards

The NUX is a driver of retention, which in turn is a key metric for subscription businesses (see here). Netflix and other businesses have learned that giving the new user a smart start into the product, an on-ramp if you will, can improve their (early) retention rate. Such product on-ramps can take many different forms, but they have in common that they improve the first interactions that users have with a product new to them.

Airbnb's TTV is one click: search a location and see the listings. For a streaming service, TTV is how long it takes for a new user to start viewing. I will literally time how long it takes before the video is showing and the shorter the better.

There are many ways to get to an SVOD-service like Netflix. You could for example assume that their app sits in the App Store and go there directly. In this research however, I will follow what I believe is the most common user journey; running a Google search for the name of the SVOD service on my smartphone (an Android, in my case).

In half of all cases that people are looking for a company they will do a 'navigational search' and type in the brand name into Google, rather than use the companies' URL (source). It's just easier.

I am on a mobile device as this is the primary device to access the web and I want to use it to watch my first video after signing up for the service. That first video view concludes the experience.

Caveats: the experience I encounter may not be representative for the user experience in other regions, such as the UK or the US. Experiences may vary further based on whether or not you and I are part of an A/B/X experiment.

I start by searching for 'netflix' on Google and click on what I recognize as Netflix. I land on a page where the main call-to-action is: submit your email address. Note: this isn't shown in the video, as I had already completed this step prior to recording - oops!

plan select
payment method select, including an external flow handled by the financial institution. Note: not shown in this video, as this is outside of the scope of the user journey that the Streamer controls
set up automatic billing using selected payment method including acceptance of the Streamer's T&C's and Privacy Policy

Welcome to Netflix page: this is a "thank you"-transition page between For The Business and For The Viewer. Here, you have the option to enter your phone number for the purposes of getting access to your account when you forget your password

Devices: with which devices are you going to watch?
Profiles: who watches Netflix? This input is used to provide each user (profile) on the subscription their own product experience, such as "personal" recommendations
Children: are children watching? This input is used to show age-appropriate content
Languages: in which languages do you like to watch films and series? This input is used to pre-set relevant audio and subtitles
Recommendation: pick 3 titles that you like

It takes about 3 minutes to sign-up for Netflix, excluding some time spend in the payment method app. The TTV is the time it takes between Googling for 'netflix' and viewing the first video on Netflix.

There are two parts to the NUX, chapters if you will; "For The Business" and "For The Viewer". "For The Business" is basically about the streamer getting paid. "For The Viewer" is about gathering information to improve the Netflix experience for the newly subscribed user, mostly by enabling personalization.

There's a minor 'blooper' in "For The Business", where Netflix indicates that there are 3 steps. However, Step 2 never appears. Instead, there are two steps that are both called Step 1, and Step 2 is skipped.

Both "For The Business" and "For The Viewer" are designed as separate set of steps. This may lead you to believe that you are done signing up after the three steps of "For The Business", but then the next set of steps presents itself. It might be that "For The Viewer" is optional, meaning that you're able to login to Netflix if you drop out of that flow. But it's not presented as such. I also wonder whether separate teams maintain both sets of steps

Netflix asks the user to invest time NOW, to make your experience with Netflix better LATER. Although I believe that Netflix explains well why they survey you for certain information, and in each case the benefit outweighs the investment, for example setting audio and subtitles in the desired language(s) and setting up personal profiles to enable recommendations tailored to each profile - it does lengthen the TTV.

When you consider adding something to the NUX that lengthens TTV, ask if you can get that info at a later stage. Asking too much upfront might result in the user second-guessing if it's worth effort. They should be convinced of the value first, and then invest some more, to get some more value next time, in a value-investment spiral upwards.

Such investment by the user can be put to work as an anti-churn measure, making use of the sunk-cost bias, such as making the user aware of the personal investment they have made into the product right in the moment when they are looking to cancel. This has made me reconsider my churn motives several times.

0:00 - 0:17: here you see me run a Google search search for Netflix. Interestingly, HBO Max is the top ranking result. HBO Max has just launched in the Netherlands and they are advertising on the keyword 'netflix'. This is allowed by Google, provided that they don't use the trademarked word 'Netflix' in the ad itself (source).

I land on the Netflix homepage. I click on "finish registration". It says that because I went to Netflix before recording the video, and created an account by submitting my email address (and dropped out after that). Normally the first step on the homepage is to submit your email address.

0:24: Step 1 of 3: Choose the plan that suits you. This step is again called step 1 (of 3) although it's the next screen. Again 3 benefits, but different ones from the screen before. Again using red check marks. Below the 3 benefits, 3 plans are shown next to each other; Basic, Standard and Premium. The plans are differentiated visually by 4 lines; Price, Image Quality, Resolution and the Devices You Can Watch On. Interestingly, the last one (Devices) does not differ per plan. I wonder why show such a dimension that is shared equally by all plans?

With TV's capable of FullHD and more being dominant in markets such as The Netherlands, I can't imagine choosing the Basic plan to save 4 EUR/month compared to Standard. Then again, Standard is 50% more expensive than Basic.

I have not seen the video quality (resolution) of the stream offered under the Basic plan, which in Plan Select are advertised as 480p. The Basic plan is actually "less than 720p", but at least 480p, which allows for the possibility of eg 576p for SD shows from the UK (source). I wonder how "bad" it is on a FullHD-capable device, compared to the quality offered on Standard.