Netflix

Netflix is the leading streaming platform and it has thousands of shows to watch from. There shouldn’t be a problem for the average viewer to quickly choose a show. However, there is a thing called the Paradox of Choice, where you have too many options to choose from and you get overwhelmed and stressed out. Netflix tried to solve this by building an algorithm that recommends shows to their users. Despite their efforts, when I go on Netflix I still get overwhelmed by the options and I would browse through their movies for more than 15 minutes. Since I have invested much time on Netflix, I used my design skills and research to figure out if there is a better way to be satisfied with my show choice so I could enjoy my dinner.

Problem

Netflix has too many options when it comes to choosing something to watch. The Top 10 and Recommendations from Netflix could get boring and repetitive after a while. Users take too long looking for something to watch and sometimes they end up watching something mediocre.

Goals

• Add a feature or features that would improve the overall experience of Netflix

• A solution that would give recommendations that isn’t just from Netflix’s Recommendations

Solution

Netflix as a whole is a pretty awesome app. So when I decided to tackle this project, I was worried that there wasn’t much I could do. After researching and interviewing, I discovered that despite Netflix having such a large library, it caused the dilemma of not knowing what to watch. Thus, I designed features where your community could help you find something to watch. I was inspired from my experience how the video community helps me find something to play. Hopefully, this would reduce user’s search time.

Pre-Research

Before I did user research, I researched on the market for streaming platforms to understand how the industry works.

I created a research plan that guided me along the process.

Goals for the research

• Understand the market for the streaming platform; what drives the market and trends

• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors

• Identify what the users are currently struggling with on Netflix

Assumptions

• Users are bored with the Netflix Recommendations

• Users take a while to find something to watch

Market Research

From the market research, I was able to identify some of the trends for Netflix and issues it is having:

• Netflix is popular among millennials and less among the older population

• People spend at least 3 hours a day on Netflix

• People take 60-90 seconds to look for a show before they give up

• Average time to look for a show is 17-18 minutes

• 209 million subscribers in 2021 and made $7.3 billion

• Netflix recommendation is 80 percent of all the hours people spend on Netflix

• Netflix has more than 15,000 movies and tv series

• People spent 187 hours in a year looking for movies or tv series on Netflix

• 23 percent of US adults use Netflix daily

• More than 50 percent of US streaming subscribers use Netflix

Competitive Analysis

I analyzed the strengths of the competitors so I could look for ways to build upon it. I also identified their weaknesses.

Provisional Persona

I created these provisional personas for the ideal customers. These guided me as I recruited users to interview.

Survey

I created a survey to understand what is user’s experience with Netflix and some of the issues they encountered. It provided me with quantitative and qualitative data with their overall experience.

Some questions on the survey:

• How long does it take you to find a show on Netflix?

• How do you find shows to watch on Netflix?

• What feature or social feature do you wish Netflix had?

• What is your experience with the way Netflix is organized?

Insight

73.3% of 15 of participants want to see what their friends watch

66.7% of 15 participants take more than 5 minutes to find something to watch on Netflix

46% of 15 participants watch something their friends recommend

46% of 15 participants want to be able to interact with their friends

20% of 15 participants want to see the rating of the show

1:1 Interviews

I created an interview guide to help me conduct the user interviews.

Some questions I asked:

• How long does it take you to find a new show to watch?

• How many hours do you spend on Netflix?

• What would make you spend more time on Netflix?

• How do you find a new show to watch?

Empathy Map

I created an empathy map and separated each category into “Say, Think, Does, and Feel.” From the user interviews, I was able to synthesize the information.

Insight

• 3/5 participants take 10 minutes or more to find something to watch

• 4/5 participants watch something recommended from a friend

• 3/5 participants want a social feature where they could see what their friends are watching

• 3/5 participants think Netflix needs more content

Persona

From my research, I created a persona. This is Bradley; he helped me as I moved forward with my design decisions.

How Might We

With the research completed, it’s time to identify the problems. I brainstormed ideas by creating a How Might We (HMW) and understanding what users might have issues with.

Project Goals

After I synthesized the interview, I created a diagram with the Business, User, and Technical goals for the features. I focused on the goals that overlaps.

Feature Product Roadmap

With the goals established, I prioritized the features to add to Netflix. I made a feature product roadmap with what I wanted to prioritize: Must Have, Nice to Have, and Come Later.

Sitemap

Netflix sitemap was already established, so I just added my features to their sitemap.

Task Flow

I made a task flow for what Bradley could do on Netflix; see what his friends are watching and create his own playlist.

User Flow

For the user flow, it would be different scenarios that Bradley could do. He could explore the home feed to see what’s popular with his friends, go to his friends to see what they are watching, go on a friend’s page to see what their favorite shows and playlist, and create his playlists.

Wireframe

I made sketches before I created the wireframes. This is an early iteration of the features added to Netflix.

Branding

Netflix has a very simple brand. Their brand is recognized worldwide. They focused on:

Understanding their users and making the best user experience for them

Creating high quality content

Having a minimalistic design

Mid Fidelity Mockup

This is the mid fidelity of the features added to Netflix I used this to conduct my usability test.

Usability Test

With the completion of the mid fidelity mockups, I conducted usability tests in order to understand what could be improved in future iterations.

I made a usability guide to help me conduct the tests.

Participants: 5

Age: 20-30

Method:

• Remote Video Call

• Think Aloud

Objective:

• Understand the flow of the feature within Netflix

• Identify the pain points

• Identify visual issues

Task:

• See what your friends are watching and create your own playlist

Affinity Map

I created an affinity map after I synthesized the data I gathered from the usability tests. I divided it into different sections: What people liked, Visual issues, and Pain points. From here, I would make a final iteration of the app.

Insights

Revisions

These are the major revisions that I believed should be a priority before I continued with my final iteration.

Summary

This is my first project where I got to work on a tech brand. The task to add a feature was quite daunting. I had to keep in mind the scope and time frame. The biggest thing I learned was figuring out a way to add the feature without disrupting the system design Netflix already has. I wanted to add the feature where it felt natural to the rest of the app. Netflix is definitely a favorite app of mine and I really wanted to discover a way to improve its overall experience. Hopefully, by adding a friend feature and letting users make playlists I enhanced the users’ experience.