WHAT WORKS
PERSONALIZATION
A great and unique feature of Netflix is how the home page is so intricately catered to the user. When I log onto my Netflix, everything I am offered has a purpose. This encourages me to watch things that I didn’t even know I wanted to, and discover new content. There’s a reason why this site is the ultimate tool for procrastination.
INTUITION
The mannerisms and functions of Netflix feel very natural and welcoming. Interacting with Netflix is reminiscent of interacting with another person; the site uses information that you provide to create a personal experience, and the better it gets to know you, the more it’s able to help. When searching for a title, I don’t need to know the title. Netflix can find it based on people, genres, or keywords.
LAYOUT
It’s not easy compiling a list movie and tv show titles as long as Netflix’s inventory. Showing each movie poster either takes up too much space, or is so shrunken down that the user isn’t able to see. Listing the movie titles is confusing, and won’t always allow the user to recognize the movie or show. The portrait style gallery that Netflix presents is a great way for me to see the titles, and is scaled so that the thumbnails are stackable on the web page.
WHAT DOESN'T
SELECTIVE BROWSING
It’s nice how Netflix presents all of their genres in the Browsing tab, but searching by genre can be a bit of a headache. When I try to browse genres, they don’t show all of the movies that they have under that genre. Some of the titles can only be found when I search for it by title.
SOLUTION:
Present all of the movie that are sorted under the genres. It may create a long list, so it might be beneficial to sort by alphabet, release date, or rating. This way, a user can see all of their options and also avoid being overwhelmed.
MY LIST
A feature that Netflix has is a user’s list. The way this works is that if I see a movie or tv show that I’d like to watch, I can add it in my list and watch it later. However, these titles are too often taken off of Netflix before I get the chance to watch them.
SOLUTION:
It’s understandable that Netflix can’t keep movies forever. A way to help the user can be notifications for when a title in their list is about to be taken off. That way, I can prioritize the movies and tv shows in my list.
CHOICES
It’s a great thing that Netflix has so many options available in their service, but it’s a lot to choose from. Even with all of their efforts in sorting genres and subgenres, sometimes it’s hard to decide what to watch.
SOLUTION:
A simple addition that I believe would make a significant improvement to Netflix’s user experience is the inclusion of a “Most Popular” section. It seems obvious, and it is. It’s a lot easier to decide what to watch if I know what other people have watched before and enjoyed, and I’m not bound to a specific genre.