Case Study: What’s the disconnect between Indian users and Netflix?

OVERVIEW:

Recently I took on a UX hackathon project for UXhack.co. It involved solving a challenge for Netflix in regards to user acquisition in India. FYI this project was not sponsored by Netflix. I solved this challenge with my own coin.

To get started, Netflix has recently been investing heavily in user acquisition to grow its market size in India. They have launched a 4th plan that is priced less than their previous plans to attract more paying users. They even went as far as giving users their first three months for free. But there was still a disconnect because they were not acquiring the users they wanted. Netflix is the top revenue-generating streaming service in India, but they only obtain a small portion of the market share. Simply put, Netflix is only getting a small bite of a big pie. Now, why is that? Multiple reasons. So I took on this challenge to find out why the top streaming service in the world is having this problem.

The hackathon only allowed for 7 days to find a solution, so what does a UX designer do when they’re on a time crunch. We run a sprint! I used this challenge to apply the book Design Sprint — How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days. If you haven’t read the book I strongly advise you to pick it up, it’s a quick read with a lot of visuals. The book is broken down into what teams should be doing to expedite the problem-solving process from Monday to Friday.

CHALLENGE:
Since Netflix holds a small share of the market in India, discover a strategy that will drive user acquisition

PROCESS:
So I did exactly what the book advised each day. I’m going to break down what I did each day.

Monday involves starting at the end by identifying the long term goal, then identifying questions that need to be answered throughout the sprint, mapping out the challenge, asking the experts, and picking a target. So I started at the end with understanding the challenge and the long term goal. The challenge is coming up with a strategy to change the product in order to improve user acquisition. The long term goal is Netflix being the top streaming service in India. The questions that need to be answered during this sprint include: Does Netflix need to change their content to connect with various users?

Tuesday is all about remixing and improving which means grabbing inspiration from other places. It doesn’t have to be the same business industry, it doesn’t even have to be a business. It can be anything that you like and you think can be applied to solving the challenge.

I gathered all the raw material I had at this point which included the problem, long term goal, the map, notes from watching the experts talk about Netflix and their current content strategy, and sprint questions. I also gathered inspiration from other websites like Hulu, HotStar, Vimeo, and even video game websites to remix and apply towards the goal. Also, I collected data from participants in a survey.

Based on the user research, 40% of participants labeled price as being a reason why they picked one streaming service over another and 74.5% labeled content as being the reason. Also, 74.5% of participants said that having content related to their culture was slightly important to very important. When asked what could be improved about their service, there were pattern responses regarding more Indian content, adding Hindi to American movies, and adding high-quality Bollywood content. These responses were collected from 55 participants. This data-fueled my ideas for solutions.

I brainstormed ideas from the notes and responses I’ve collected and thought of strategies to build a strong user acquisition process that focused on the target (new users and ads).

Netflix’s current user acquisition is Content → Users → New Content. The responses from the user survey were very content-driven, but besides creating new content. I wanted to change the product in a way that would make users want to engage right after viewing the ad. To change the product itself, I wanted the download process to involve some type of gamification. The gamification process was inspired by viewing popular video game websites that specialize in creating content for user engagement. My idea is to get users engaged early on which would help them become more invested in the product. My idea is to get users engaged early on which would help them become more invested in the product. The last activity of the day included setting a time for 8 minutes also called Crazy 8’s and sketching out the best ideation of the solution.

Wednesday is about making a decision and developing the final solution. Though Netflix is not the most used streaming service in India, it is one of the top used and considered a premium service. But is it considered premium because it’s an American service, the price, the content or the established credibility?

Solution: It could be the combination, but whatever is it, my idea is to combine that perception with content that is well known in India along with the proven content that has increased users in the U.S. i.e. Black Mirror Bandersnatch. I took an old, well known Indian movie (Kama Sutra made in 1996) and applied a new age concept (interaction). People like to feel included, so I created a goal of 10,000 users to be apart of “The Tribe” aka the first 10,000 users to interact with the series. Though the number is small, it is good to sample to see if it would be well received.

I finished Wednesday by finishing up the solution sketches. I sketched out how Netflix would have to change their product to adjust their normal sign up process specifically for this new interactive series.

Thursday: After developing my solution sketches that are based on survey responses and business goals. It’s time to create in hi-fi mockups and rapid prototyping. Being that this project was a 1-week sprint, the best thing would be to make the prototype look as real as possible to better the user testing. The entire day consisted of creating for user testing.

Though it was I was on a strict time constraint, I did get it tested from 5 ideal users. These are some of my observations:

• User is slightly confused about the content meaning ie. in what ways is it interactive (this thought can be change when user views “trailer”
• The goal of the hitting 10,000 users is clear
• The sign-up process is clear and easy
• Showing how close you are from to the end was enjoyed and the player number you are

CONCLUSION

Though I chose to focus on one part of the acquisition process, I know there are other routes I could have gone. The good thing about doing a one-week sprint is that you can quickly test ideas. A quote that I try to apply to my work is to fail fast, fail forward, and fail cheap. Another problem Netflix has is with the users that drop-out after the free trial. Based on my research 40% of participants regarded cost as being one of the top priorities when determining their satisfaction with a streaming service.

To go a bit deeper into my idea of having “The Tribe”, I could have added rewards that become unlocked after the 10,000 user threshold is surpassed. For example, a 10% discount for the second month after the free trial. This could add to Netflix’s user retention and decrease dropouts, especially if users are enjoying the content which will ultimately behoove the long term goal.

Working on this project was great because I learned how to conduct a design sprint in a short period. It also aligns with my ideology of finding ways to make products inclusive.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

I’ve learned that no matter how complex the problem may be, I have to simplify it enough to communicate my solution, understand the experience, and concentrate on a specific moment. When I targeted a moment and user it allowed me to see if this solution can have an impact in a short time frame.

Though this was a solo project, it allowed me to learn that having a team is essential. When I researched videos of some people that work at Netflix this allowed me to view the process in a different light. Everyone has a special contribution based on their expertise that is vital to the solution.