Three things Netflix can do right now to improve CX

The debut of House of Cards back in 2013 seems like an age ago now, and for Netflix, it was. The service was then in its relative infancy, or perhaps adolescence, emerging from their more traditional role, provider of hard copy movies via post (how quaint that sounds now!). The entity in 2017 is truly global (in more than 130 countries with over 80m subscribers [April 2016]) and has commissioned myriad original content, including the popular Stranger Things.

That new content comes with a $6bn price tag though, and low margins.

Fortunately, there is much more to be done though. Here are 3 quick things that Netflix can do quickly to dramatically improve the Customer Experience.

1. Zeitgeist has been wondering for months why Netflix had not been supporting the ability for offline downloading and viewing. Yes, there are piracy concerns such a new approach would bring, but piracy is pretty pervasive anyway. Presumably there are contractual arrangements to be made / re-negotiated with content partners to allow viewing in a different mode. As it is, before we could post, Netflix sagely announced at the end of November that offline viewing would be a thing, though only available on Apple and Android mobile and tablet devices for now. Reassuringly, their public statement for doing so was due to customer demand, not anything regarding retention efforts or value chain management (i.e. shareholder-facing spiel). Titles not currently available for download include, unsurprisingly, content from Disney, which is trying to build its own walled garden with Disney Life.
2. Transparency forms a key part of the next two points. Netflix needs to be much more upfront about what content is going to be available when. This is in a studio’s interest too. A filmgoer might want to see a film again after seeing it at the cinema. But why risk buying it as a single copy when Netflix might have it in their library soon thereafter? Why not keep the Netflix subscriber base more informed about films that are being considered, or better yet, allow people to have a say. If I search for a title not in the Netflix library, then let me submit it to be bought. Once a certain number of vote are received, they could, like HM Government, establish a threshold that would then commit them to considering it.
3. Lastly, in a more niche way, Zeitgeist, in travelling in 2015 in France, Canada and the Middle East shone a light on the remarkably different stable of content each Netflix library holds. From an internal, local market strategy point of view, each region has different tastes and different priorities. But from a subscriber point of view, the presence of – for example – West Wing in North American libraries but not in European ones seems arbitrary at best. The problem exists even within markets. In one country, you can stream Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 but only order the first film through the mail. It borders on Kafka-esque, and Netflix needs to do a better job of explaining why this is the case.

This is an important time for Netflix. Series like The Crown have helped further solidify its reputation as the go-to innovative player in the market, the new HBO. It must tread carefully though. Nomura reported last year that the service’s price hikes could have created a churn of 500,000 customers in the US alone. Netflix must ensure it communicates the value of what people are paying for. Otherwise, the stellar package of content, paid for like you pay a utility bill may risk becoming similarly commoditised.

Selling ‘Toy Story 3’

Orson Welles once said “If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story”. Many pundits thought that a third iteration of the popular ‘Toy Story’ franchise would be a step too far; could a film released eleven years after its predecessor still pull in the crowds? Any such questions were swiftly forgotten about when the film grossed a record-breaking $110+m in its opening weekend in the US, and held it’s number one spot this weekend just passed as well.

Apart from the enduring popularity of the series, as well as studio Pixar’s seemingly unending run of stellar films, the film (which has yet to be released in the UK to avoid clashing with the World Cup) surely owes some of its success to an excellent marketing campaign. As well as simple things like the teaser trailer, which handily features the ‘Toy Story 3’ logo in the middle of the clip (the image YouTube then uses as a thumbnail), and releasing apps for the iPhone et al., there are three examples in particular that Zeitgeist will be focussing on in this article.

The first example was intended to build some viral buzz around the film by releasing various videos on YouTube. These videos were commercials that featured old toys from the ’80s that appear in ‘Toy Story 3′, such as the Lots-o’-Huggin’ bear. The catch is that these commercials are fake, because the product itself exists purely in the film. The video however is so realistic, from the VHS-like video quality to the ’80s music, voiceover and clothing, it blurs the boundaries between fiction and reality, and takes you into the ‘Toy Story’ universe. As Mashable writes, “Thus far, Disney and Pixar have heavily marketed the film across different demographics, but there has a been a strong viral push to grab the attention of people in their mid-to-late twenties. For that reason, creating an ’80s-esque toy commercial makes a lot of sense, because we’re a generation that is obsessed with recollecting our past and relishing what once was.”

SEO has been under the microscope as well, to great effect thanks to Google and Twitter. eConsultancy ran an article on the film’s promoted Twitter presence, saying “the placement is great branding for the Toy Story franchise”. It’s presence was on the Promoted Trends slot, which brands have to “win” to be lucky enough to feature on. The article continues, “media mentions of its Twitter purchase are also working out to its benefit.” For Google’s part, the film jumped on the Search Stories bandwagon, creating a fun video of what results the user (in this case characters from the ‘Toy Story’ films) get when they type in certain words on the search engine.

Lastly and most impressively (because it is such a simple thought), there was the fantastic idea of allowing people to buy tickets to the film through Facebook. This is a first, and a great step. For too long, generic thinking has operated along the lines of “We’ll put together a site, make some great content, make it really engaging, and people will come to visit the site.” This example represents a shift to thinking more along the lines of “Let’s bring this content and functionality to where they already are.” It’s just a simple and superb idea, no doubt the first in a long line of such promotions from all the studios. One marketing head from a rival studio told Zeitgeist they were “all over Facebook now”.

Overall, great thinking and great execution have led to several promotions that not only make the consumer feel closer to the brand, but also, as with the latter example, help lead to direct monetisation.