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by Matt Goldberg Posted:January 25th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
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For my money (and it does get my money), Netflix is far and away the best way to rent movies. Its “Watch Instantly” service is fantastic and their overall library contains so many movies that you can rent films that aren’t even available for sale like Ishtar and Mr. Frost. It’s a service that’s constantly trying to expand its availability as well as its digital distribution.
However, there are some frustrating problems that I think could be easily fixed with some programming tweaks and no need for major overhaul of their impressive navigation or recommendation system. After the jump, I’ve listed three ways that Netflix could be even better for customers and take another step ahead of its competitors. Keep reading for my suggestions on how Netflix can improve customer queue organization, provide information on demand for a title, and notifications of title expiration.
1. QUEUE CUSTOMIZATION
The Netflix queue system is where the company needs to drastically improve the user experience. It’s great to have hundreds of movies you know want to watch but it’s easy to get overwhelmed and forget there’s a movie you really wanted to see because it’s buried beneath hundreds of other movies that only rank higher because you chose to add them to your queue first. I add movies to my queue based on what catches my eye and as a reminder that I want to see the film some day.
The Fix: FOLDERS. Rather than just being able to rearrange your queue by rank of when you want to be sent the film (since you’re assuming what you’re going to want to watch days or weeks in advance using their rent-by-mail service), Netflix should offer users to create their own folders so they can organize their viewing preferences. Whether it’s by genre, movies you want to re-watch, or a series of films by a director, actor, etc. that you’re planning to marathon, it would make the queue more accessible than just having to scroll through hundreds of titles and trying to pick just one.
2. CUSTOMER DEMAND
It’s difficult to understand the demand of a particular title. Even the Netflix “Top 100″ doesn’t make it clear whether it’s measuring films by how often they’re sent our or by how queues they’re in. And if I click on Crash, the #1 title of the Top 100, I see it has “3,485,240″ ratings. But that doesn’t equal rentals. I saw the film in the theaters and rated it on Netflix without ever renting or adding it to my queue. And no matter what the title, I don’t know how many times it’s been rented out, how many customers have it in their queues, and how it would rank among its genre, director, or any other major category.
The Fix: MORE DATA. Obviously, Netflix needs to follow what Amazon does when listing a sales ranking. It’s not enough to have users rank a film on a one-to-five scale and then use that to demonstrate a title’s popularity. More data means customers can make a better decision on what to rent and they can help bring attention to a film that may be overlooked by the masses. It’s one thing to just rate a film, but if you see that it’s in a bunch of queues or has been rented loads of times, you may want to trust the wisdom of the mob and give the flick a shot.
3. NOTIFCATIONS
On December 31st, 2009 and January 1st, 2010, I lost a huge chunk of my “Watch Instantly” queue. I understand the reason for expiration since licenses expire, but I wouldn’t have even known about the expiration had I not checked my “Watch Instantly” queue on December 30th to see if there was a film I felt like watching in that instant. If I had known that I would be losing certain titles indefinitely in the near future, I would have re-arranged my queue to see these films before they were gone.
The Fix: USE THE ELECTRONIC MAIL. Netflix will notify you via e-mail about your account status and when they’ve sent and received films from your queue. How difficult would it be to send out an e-mail saying, “The following titles in your ‘Watch Instantly’ queue are set to expire in…” And then say when it’s one month out, two weeks out, one week out, two days out, one day out, and finally when it’s been moved to your ‘Saved’ queue.” You don’t know what you got until it’s gone, but it would be helpful to let people know when it’s about to go.
Do you have any other suggestions on how to make Netflix better? Let us know in the comments section.
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Also, the same cost for blu-ray as dvd would be nice
It would be nice, but they have to justify the extra expense. As a Blu-ray owner, I know going in that they cost more to purchase. Why would I expect to rent them for the same money?
I like alot of the logic here. I think alot of titles do get buried. It is ALOT easier to manage when you have a small queue.
Also, I'd love to see a reminder for when certain titles expire as well. Man, I really was shocked to see so many films in my “saved queue”.
Also like the idea of seeing what are popular RENTALS. As you suggested, perhaps alot of people missed out on a gem in theaters and are catching up through rental.
Thinking out side the box here are some things I would like to see:
Streaming over wifi to the iphone
RSS feed to your queue for fast view from a browser
I would love to see a better sort for moves i.e. Show all Blu-ray, comedy, 4.0 or higher rating produced in 2009. (Or any combination various selections) I feel this help with searching out those truly have to see movies. All too often I find myself looking through lots of movies to find what I want to rent. They do offer a way to kind of get to this but you are only given one field to sort on i.e. Year, Maturity, or Rating.
I agree with Corey Blu-Ray rental kept at the same price as DVD.
I think Blu-ray will eventually come down to the same cost. If you look at DVD and Blu-ray prices right now, the Blu-ray version of a movie falls fast in price.
I've been a Netflixer since 2000 and am am a huge fan of them (the thought of going to a Blockbuster utterly repulses me to the core). They used to have a link to request a title, but I no longer see that (maybe it moved?). I would love to have that back since there are some obscure titles I'd love to rent before I buy. They also need to be getting more copies of newer titles as I've fallen into the “very long wait” trap on many of them lately.
“FOLDERS. Rather than just being able to rearrange your queue by rank of when you want to be sent the film (since you’re assuming what you’re going to want to watch days or weeks in advance using their rent-by-mail service), Netflix should offer users to create their own folders so they can organize their viewing preferences. Whether it’s by genre, movies you want to re-watch, or a series of films by a director, actor, etc. that you’re planning to marathon, it would make the queue more accessible than just having to scroll through hundreds of titles and trying to pick just one.”
I do love the idea that Matt has brought to the table. I'd also like to add, they should do the same for the XBOX 360 feature. I've found that I've been adding lots of movies to the instant que and when I got to watch one I have to search through lots of movies to select which one I would like to watch. The folders idea is a great way to cut down on searching through the dreadful que.
The “Folders” idea is interesting, but I think it adds a number of complications that aren't brought up here. In particular, you're still going to have to decide the order you want your discs shipped. Which “folder” is your next disc going to ship from?
My only real problem is when I go to watch a movie on Netflix Instant and its non-anamorphic. Most of the time I stop watching and add it to my regular rent queue.
They should also include their own pre-built movie packs. Like Top 100 Horror Films of All Time, Oscar Winners, etc.
More data would be awesome I like learning facts about movies, seeing how many are watching them, or under-appreciated films as well.
I was thinking this applied more to Watch Instantly, but that's a good question regarding the general queue.
that bugs me sometimes, but I really could careless. If it is a good film, it will overcome that shortfall.
being able to browse all the watch instantly titles
old titles don't appear when you are browsing its not they have expired either
I've been very disappointed with Netflix lately. I have not received a movie rated above 4th in my queue for months. I called their customer service line and was advised to limit my queue to just those top 3-4 movies. I did this and they have not sent me anything for almost 2 days. I downgraded my membership to 1 movie at a time instead of 3. It's not the money but the frustration of the service. I've been a Netflix subscriber for over 4 years. I'm guessing I'm not the only one who is frustrated by this poor service.
Expanding NETFLIX into other markets might be an idea. There's a huge potential market in the UK that is left largely untapped. Still no love over here…
What gives? Are they still having licensing concerns? After all this time?
Lazy, sloppy… and frankly quite worthless.
A big improvement for me would be getting Blu-Rays that actually play. I'm on a run of 15 out of 16 movies where at least the first two copies they sent to me had cracks in them. They blame my local post office, but then put the onus on ME to fix the problem with THEIR shipments. The on-demand stuff is nice, though.
Add a notes field where you can keep a list of titles not in the database but ones you want to keep checking for. It does not have to do anything but just be a free form place to store movie names within Netflix.
Get more newly released movies, the long waits are something that would have me going to their competitors, depending on how long it took to finally get those movie and make them available.
Have the mainstream movies that have just come out be listed highest to lowest rated and separate from the obscure stuff for the instant movies.
for physical discs, this feature already exists in the form of profiles … along with the solution, you simply define shipping preferences within the profile particulars.
All that needs to happen to address the cumbersome queue length (which I'm merely re-iterating from comments I've seen elsewhere online) is to allow each profile tied to an account a Watch Instantly folder on the Roku and other interfaces for Watch Instantly.
Another issue that needs to be addressed related to these ideas, but not clearly articulated, is the general queue management interface and it's constant knack for hanging up – literally for minutes at a time. It takes too damned long for the display to load and to update after queue changes. There needs to be a more bare-bones option for viewing that would allow more timely completion a of a few basic manipulations to the queue — it should be a more progressive interface, Netflix is too old to still be subjecting it's users to such sluggish software. I can't fathom that an iPhone app exists to allow users to do queue maintenance on the fly, but I need to endure a twenty minute session most visits to make a few simple tweaks to my desired titles or the order in which they are listed.
Netflix has been around for YEARS and seem to make very little effort to address such a basic issue that realistically must impact the majority if its users. That the problem is universal from one computer to the next, without regard to the browser I use on any given day tells me that the blame rests entirely in Netflix's lap. Users shouldn't be punished in this way simply for wanting to maintain large “wish-lists” – which is what our queues ultimately represent. We should instead be encouraged to add many more titles to our queues: job-security for these folks, after all, is our continued interest in what they have to offer, no?
for physical discs, this feature already exists in the form of profiles … along with the solution, you simply define shipping preferences within the profile particulars.
All that needs to happen to address the cumbersome queue length (which I'm merely re-iterating from comments I've seen elsewhere online) is to allow each profile tied to an account a Watch Instantly folder on the Roku and other interfaces for Watch Instantly.
Another issue that needs to be addressed related to these ideas, but not clearly articulated, is the general queue management interface and it's constant knack for hanging up – literally for minutes at a time. It takes too damned long for the display to load and to update after queue changes. There needs to be a more bare-bones option for viewing that would allow more timely completion a of a few basic manipulations to the queue — it should be a more progressive interface, Netflix is too old to still be subjecting it's users to such sluggish software. I can't fathom that an iPhone app exists to allow users to do queue maintenance on the fly, but I need to endure a twenty minute session most visits to make a few simple tweaks to my desired titles or the order in which they are listed.
Netflix has been around for YEARS and seem to make very little effort to address such a basic issue that realistically must impact the majority if its users. That the problem is universal from one computer to the next, without regard to the browser I use on any given day tells me that the blame rests entirely in Netflix's lap. Users shouldn't be punished in this way simply for wanting to maintain large “wish-lists” – which is what our queues ultimately represent. We should instead be encouraged to add many more titles to our queues: job-security for these folks, after all, is our continued interest in what they have to offer, no?
This article is a bit too whiny. It's a good service, just deal with it. You make it sound like life or death if Netflix doesn't email you something from your queue will expire. They have the warnings up there whenever you check, you need an email too? And folders? Makes no sense to me; just put the movies in the order you want it to be. There's a Move to top of list options. You can rearrange it all you want. You really need your hand held in making a decision on what movie to rent?
HOWE DO YOU SEND THE MOVIE OVER WEE.
Folders would be nice, but tags would be nicer. Imagine if you could tag a specific film with your own categories and then sort by any tag (or multiple tags). For example, you could show all movies that were tagged Dad, Sci-Fi, and Never Seen.
Also, for the expirations, they should just make it more evident on the site (and optionally an e-mail). If I could click a button to arrange my queue by expiration date, that would be good enough. But if they integrated expiration dates with the tag solution I mentioned before, then you could sort your list to show you things that were expiring in the next 7 days, next 14 days, and so on.
How about a change where one can receive a DVD quicker.
instead of waiting days (48 hoiurs), how about the next day after sending a DVD back? You would let them know you are mailing it back today and they would mail another one today. All that needs to be worked out is a level of trust and accountability from the user. I don’t know what would work so Netflix can count on that DVD being returned.
My overall #1 complaint is that when I go to watch a movie I like to stumble upon hidden gems or old movies that I may have forgotten about, case in point, I watched Tremors the other day with my girlfriend and I said to her hey I miss this movie I want to watch part 2. Onto Netflix I went, couldnt find it under horror in any category or scifi so Im like oh they dont have it. So I did a search and they have all 4 of the movies to be streamed instantly. Why does Netflix have so many hidden instant streaming items that I wont ever know they have if I dont specifically search for it? How many movies do they have that I dont remember watching from when I was a kid or that I have yet to see? I should have access to browse the entire instant library with an intuitive filter feature by century and rating so forth like they do for setting up your suggestions.