Design Matters
“Don’t Make Me Mad” is simply a homage to Steve Krug’s book, “Don’t Make Me Think.” In the same vein, I am applying the same principles that Steven teaches in his usability book.
Steven Krug’s book teaches you that you don’t want your customers or users to experience frustration with your website, such as being unable to find what they are looking for.
Poorly designed websites not only cause frustration for users but also extend to SaaS applications now. If designs are not self-evident, they can lead to user frustration, resulting in significant financial losses for your business, amounting to millions.
In the following section, I will walk you through a modern example of a poorly designed user experience versus a well-designed one. It essentially highlights the key differentiator, or “moat,” between two highly competitive platforms.
Netflix vs Prime Video
Why are people still paying for Netflix over Prime Video?
Besides comparing their Content, that is another blog post on competitive analysis. It comes to down to this difference, the user experience.
So to see what I am talking about and make comparisons on your own, I want you try this exercise.
1. Open up Netflix “Look for something to Watch” and just feel or pay attention to how you are moving through or “experiencing” Netflix.
2. Open up Prime Video “Look for something to Watch” and just feel or pay attention to how you are moving through or “experiencing” Prime Video.
3. Then Write down the difference.
The Difference?
Netflix: I scroll through, I find a video, I get excited, I click it, it plays! (Happy)
Prime Video: I scroll through, I find a video, I get excited, I click it, its a Pay Wall! (Frustrated)
You have to Rent a movie, or a Subscription Pay Wall! to another service? but I already pay for Prime? now I started thinking/slow down?
That small difference, is the difference of millions of dollars in ARR or monthly subscriptions between Netflix and Prime Video. There is huge reason why Netflix has double if not more streaming time than Prime Video.
You can read more at Nielsen.
Of course there are other factors, but the factor here that matters is user engagement, user retention, and whether or not I comeback. With my limited free time. I come back to Netflix more than Prime Video. I had no idea why but once I applied Steven Krug’s framework, I realize this the difference.
Because I can get to content easier (Ease of Use) on Netflix than Prime Video.
if I click play, Netflix will just play the content its is just easier to access content its (Accessibility).
For example I as a User or if you have perform usability testing users tend to Zig Zag back and forth searching with their eyes. We don’t fully read things on the screen.
Ok I am scanning Zig Zag Zig Zag
Oh! I see 65 on Prime Video, I am excited a new Adam Driver movie.
I don’t read the Rent or Buy because people don’t read when you are scanning or searching for a film.
Even then it slows down the experience, ugh is this worth it? Video Prime Rentals? $5.99? I end up not paying I am not that excited. I don’t know if its good its too much.
Netflix Designs are Headliners like one big Marquee above a Movie theater.
What is trending? What are people talking about? What will be discussed with my co-worker? Wow could they design the top 10 movies in the U.S. so I can stay in touch.
I click the movie, it plays, and then I am happy.
Netflix I pay I get content, Prime Video I pay monthly, and then I have to rent? See Netflix is a Lower Cost/Better Value deal while with Prime Video its like Why am paying for this?
Why would I pay $5.99 to rent a single movie on Video Prime when at $6.99 a month at Netflix gets me a month of this all access pass to content including this Movie “65”?
See again design matters when the header section of Prime Video is Clutter too many movies my eyes glaze over. I don’t even read “Operation Fortune”, “Women Talking” or “Mafia Mamma” because what are my eyes even suppose to pay attention too?
While if you notice Netflix’s Header Section Rotates with a single film. its special and they are designed in-house sometimes animation they stand out they are cool and it makes me engaged enough I have to check it out
if you are project manager or UX design you need to become with Obsessed over your users/customers experience. This the battlefield this what makes people use TikTok over Instagram right now.
Really Prime Video’s success is due to being part of Amazon’s prime benefits grandfathered in user base. If I could cut Prime Video to save money I would.
I only use Amazon Prime but Prime Video cannot stand alone as a service it has to be supplemented by locking away content people really want but now have to rent, or subscribe to another service. Which that content is of course popular but that becomes less culturally relevant overtime, and its like ok some people rent movies because they love it so much but I did that when Blockbuster existed.
Pay attention to your own experiences and the experiences of others that’s how we see real problems and then your product can make impact & value.
