Case Study
Adding a Feature
Netflix
A feature within Netflix that will let you view your friends recommendation
Background
Netflix is a subscription-based streaming service that allows the members to watch TV shows and movies without commercials on an internet-connected device. It allows the user to watch movies and television shows whenever you want and as often as you want. As of June 30, 2022, Netflix had 220.7 million subscribers worldwide. It is the world’s largest streaming service.
However, Netflix in the second quarter of 2022 lost 1.3 million subscribers in the United States and Canada, according to new data shared today during the company's earnings call. Netflix had 73.28 million paid memberships during the quarter, down from 74.58 million in the first quarter of 2022.
According to The Wrap, a new study by Reelgood and Learndipity Data Insights found Netflix users spend on average 18 minutes on a given day deciding what to watch, or twice as much as cable television viewers. Notably, the same study found viewers become more trustworthy of friends’ recommendations when on Netflix (30 percent value a recommendation over 19 percent for cable).
Focus
The focus of my project is to add a feature that will help Netflix users decide what to watch by connecting with social media. Since the viewers value friends’ recommendation when deciding what to watch, I’d like to make it easier for the users to connect and interact with their friends.
Key Features
View what your friends are watching
View friends’ recommendation
Give recommendation to friends
Business Goals
Increase number of subscribers
Make it easier for the users to decide on what to watch (Reduce deciding time of 18 minutes)
The Problem
How can we connect Netflix users with social media platform?
The Process
Research
Prioritization
Design
Evaluate & Iterate
1 Research
Problem
Netflix is losing subscribers and one of the areas of improvement could be members spending less time browsing to figure out what to watch. Study have shown that 30% Netflix members will rely on friends’ recommendations. However, on Netflix platform, there isn’t a feature where members can share recommendations to other members.
Reach Goal
Find out if added feature such as connecting to social media will be helpful to the current users
Research Objective
To understand Netflix users and what their pain points are
Methodologies
Conduct a survey of Netflix members
Perform competitor’s analysis to see how the competitor’s are integrating social media into their platform
Conduct interviews
Perform secondary research
Participants
Current Netflix members (3-5 people)
Assumption
Netflix members are always searching for something to watch
Survey
To understand people’s behavior towards online streaming services, I conducted a survey. There were 10 participants to the survey.
All participants used online streaming services and most participants used Netflix and YouTube as their means to watch online. When asked if they were satisfied with the platform’s recommended list, 66.7% said No. 80% of the participants said adding friend’s recommendation would be helpful to find what to watch because 90% of the participants relied more on their friend’s recommendation than platforms suggestions.
Here is a detailed result of the survey that was conducted by 10 participants:
Then, I conducted user interviews to find out more about online streaming users.
One to One User Interviews
For my user interview, 7 people participated: 6 females and 1 male ages ranging from 35 to 44 years old.
From the interview, I learned that Netflix seem to be one of the favorite streaming services among the participants. All participants use Netflix landing page options to help them search for what to watch. They scroll to see Top 10 Movies in the U.S. Today, Top Picks for you, Trending Now, etc.
Although these options are helpful they are still scrolling on and on to find something to watch. Some participants want to know what their friends are watching to be in the loop. Therefore, they suggested adding a feature that would allow their friends to recommend shows from Netflix.
Here is a summary of the interview findings:
Competitive Analysis
Now that I had better understanding of the users, I wanted to research on its competitors.
Netflix offers a wide variety of network shows and more original series, films, documentaries and specials than any of its competitors. It also includes categories for kids, anime, and foreign language title from all over the globe.
Based on my research, the users like Netflix for its simple interface that’s easy to navigate, easy to browse recommendation system, and abundant catalog of licensed movies, shows and originals compared to its competitors.
Now that I developed good understanding of the market and the users, I developed a persona based on what I learned
Persona
This is Jackie Williams. She is a big fan of Netflix, but gets frustrated to find something to watch. She spends countless amount of time scrolling to see what to watch. She wants to know what her friends are watching and also find more customized recommendation list to save her scrolling time.
Prioritization
After conducting and analyzing the users, I was able to identify what new feature should be added on to Netflix. But to help implement the added feature, I decided to map out the current site map.
Now that I know where the new feature will be added, I mapped out user and task flows of adding a friend to your profile.
To implement added feature, you would first go under profile and find your friend and connect with that friend before sharing
Design
Now that I had better idea of where the new feature will be added and the steps that the user would go through to complete this process, I made some sketches
Low- Fidelity Wireframe
High-Fidelity Wireframe
After making several iterations, I designed hi-fi wireframes.
In this added feature, you will see Recommended by Friends in the home screen of the Netflix page.
This feature will make the process of what to watch easier.
Evaluate & Iterate
Now that design was completed, it is now time to test the new added features. I created a prototype for usability test.
After analyzing the usability test, I studied pain points and how it can be improved.
Home Page
Changed some wordings around the new feature to make it more friendly (Recommended by friends to among friends)
Under the new feature, it also shows friends who gave thumbs up (shows friends profile pictures)
Before: Recommended by Friends - wording was rigid
After: Popular Among Friends - more inviting and aligned with other title headings within Netflix
Before : Recommended by Friends shows were just show cased
After: Popular Among Friends shows are showcased and there is icon at the top right corner to let you know friends who have liked the show. Also, if you hover over it, it will show you a list of profile pictures of your friends who have liked it
Show Details Page
I updated the page to emphasize the percent of friends who watched it already
Before: 97% Friends Likes - It did didn’t have much weight therefore, this information could be overlooked
After: The 97% information has its own section which makes it easier for the user to see why they might like this show. I also. used red color to highlight the percentage to be consistent with Netflix primary color, red.
Key Takeaway
Working with existing application makes you really study the app. It forces you to understand why certain things are there and the possible reasoning. By adding a feature to a current application, I learned how to seamlessly integrate my new feature to the existing application. I also learned that adding a feature needs to be carefully thought out with the decision makers. I can design a feature, but I also need to communicate with the team if that can be done technically and financially.
Next Steps
Explore building a community within Netflix for the users to engage
Develop Send a Note feature where friends can send you a note of why they think you will like certain shows
Create Comments for shows where you and your friends are freely talk about the show
Create Share Watch feature where you can plan to watch shows with your friends
Continue developing and testing with users to refine the added feature