A few years ago, I made some unsolicited suggestions to RedBox about upselling.
The suggestions were pretty well received.
Now, I’ve got a suggestion for NetFlix… it’s not about upselling, but it’s about ease of use, and a feature that I’d personally really appreciate.
Bear in mind, I haven’t done any research, so I don’t know if I’m a representative use case, or if I’m an edge case.
My NetFlix queue is really long. Sometimes, so long I don’t even scroll all the way around to the beginning again.
But I know what my mood is, and so I’m sitting there on the couch with my largely patient spouse trying to decide what to watch.
You know how the conversation goes…
ME: “What are you in the mood for? Comedy? Drama? Action?”
HER: “Comedy. Make me laugh, NetFlix.”
ME: “Okay…” (scrolling past drama and action titles) “Here’s one that’s supposed to be good. Lowbrow potty humor, but a great cast.”
HER: “Maybe.”
ME: (scrolling past family films and horror) “Okay, there’s this. We like her in her TV show.”
HER: “That looks okay…”
ME: (still scrolling past other genres coz I’m never sure I’ve chosen the best option….) “Or this one. It got great reviews. Remember? We saw the trailer at the theater when it came out.”
HER: “I don’t remember that.”
ME: (scroll scroll scroll) “Then there’s this one. We saw the first one, this is the sequel.”
HER: “That could be good. It’s up to you, whichever one you want.”
ME: “I can’t remember which four we just discussed, and now I have to scroll backwards and try to find them all again to make a decision.”
Okay, NetFlix… here’s your tip:
Why don’t I have a COMPARE feature?
You know, that technology that virtually every online retailer of any merit has already figured out?
Tick a box and “Add To Compare” so I can compile a shortlist of titles I’m interested in tonight?
Then I can just click “View Compare List” and we can choose from the four we’ve narrowed it down to.
Hell, you don’t even have to retain my compare list… go ahead and dump it when I end my session (but keep it around for my session, just in case the one we choose actually sucks.)
Just for fun, I mocked up what it might look like… You’re welcome. (click to embiggen)
SPECIAL BONUS FEATURE
How about at least being able to filter my queue by genre?
If I’m only interested in seeing horror, for instance. Since every title is tagged already, how hard could that be?
Thanks in advance, NetFlix!
PS: Otherwise, you’re pretty awesome, just FYI.