Brief
Netflix has a large selection of movies and shows with an endless amount of recommendations generated by the viewing algorithms of users. Yet a lot of users report not knowing what to watch among the overwhelming scrolls of titles. Most users get their recommendations from friends and colleagues, some use Reddit or Tiktok to find unique movies that align with their interests. In order to streamline this, I have created a playlist feature in Netflix, created by users themselves.
Challenge & Objective
Netflix is the world’s leading streaming platform with loyal users. Adding a new feature requires designing brand new functions while maintaining their branding and usability. This feature needs to be intuitive to Netflix’s current experience, provide taste-tailored recommendations, and introduce a social aspect to movie streaming without overwhelming loyal users.
The Purpose
The purpose of this feature is to integrate a reimagined playlist feature created by users on the platform, to increase retention by introducing a social aspect and removing the step of resorting to another platform for recommendations. Whether it’s for personal use (private) or shared (public), this feature would allow users to connect with their community within the platform. It becomes a platform to showcase one’s taste in movies and shows.
Empathize
Research
In order to test the needs assessment of this feature, 17 people from ages 21-37 were surveyed a series of 10 questions regarding their needs on recommendations, knowledge of playlist feature, and the level of social aspect they would want in this feature.
79% of participants reported that they would regularly use this feature.
57% of participants reported they do not want to interact with other users beyond following.
Needs Assessment
For this feature, the following additions needed to be made:
Section addition to landing page
Playlist navigation and page
Sample playlist page
User (creator) page
Search results page
Additional buttons like “follow, like, and add to playlist” etc,.
Overview
Team: Individual
Timeline: 3 weeks
Role: UX designer and Researcher
Tools: Figma and Maze (survey)
Netflix has changed the game in how we watch TV since it’s launch. Instant streaming from a large source of movies and shows falls in line with our current trend of social media. We like to make minimal effort decisions in the content we consume. Here’s how Netflix maintains its reign among other competitors.
People are the answer
From the data collected by unmetric, Netflix is far ahead of Hulu and Amazon Prime video in terms of engagement.
We can see that social engagement is very important in growth of these sites. And social media is undeniably intertwined with Netflix as Netflix has worked with tons of content creators and celebrities to create Netflix exclusive documentaries and shows.
Netflix’s engagement with users on Twitter is one of their best strategies for brand recognition. With humor and wit, Netflix establishes themselves as relatable and “live” by using wit and humor in their social media engagement. Rather than professional and ‘disconnected’ marketing that large brands follow, Netflix connects with its users as a user themselves.
So we get it, social media is important. How can we use this as a feature?
With 92% growth accumulated from Instagram in a year, and unknown amount of traffic coming from recommendation accounts on TikTok or other social media sources like Reddit, it might cut few steps for users to have recommendations by users on Netflix platform itself.
For example, popular creators on other social media networks could create a playlist on Netflix, allowing users to follow them on Netflix. This feature would allow users to stream recommendations by user taste. Spotify utilizes this feature with their playslists, allowing likes and follow for playlist makers.
This adds a social feature to Netflix, creating more engagement on their platform and user advertising on other social media networks. Importantly, it cuts the step for users to travel through multiple social media platforms to find recommendations.
“When you don’t know what to watch, what do you do?”
The responses from my survey of 19 people showed that most users scroll through their current home page and exit if they can’t find something interesting, ask friends, or seek recommendations from others (Google, Youtube, Reddit). What this tells me is that when users are not getting the titles they are interested in, they abandon the app or resort to another platform to search. My goal is user retention by removing the step of resorting to another platform.
Persona
According to a survey of over half a million Americans from June - September 2021, 68% of Netflix users don't have a bachelor's degree, comparable to the 69% of US adults that also don't. 15% of Americans have an income exceeding $100,000 — 17% of Netflix users are in the same economic position as reported in the Census data.
I surveyed 19 individuals, ranging from ages 20-39, regarding their Netflix usage habits and the need for this playlist feature.
Based on the demographics from the Netflix user base as well as data from my research, two personas were created with variety in needs and habits. The objective was to design this feature to meet the needs of both personas.
Mapping
The mapping process of where the playlist feature would live on each page was done with the assumption of it already being an established feature of Netflix. I wanted to focus on how the feature would look as a native product of Netflix.
Considering that “continue watching” is the top priority for users to be at the top as well as Netflix’s new titles and some recommendations based on user preference behavior, I placed the playlist toward the bottom. In the ideal scenario with research team and onboarding of the new feature, it would be designed at the top with special announcement like “Now featuring: Playlists”.
I took the “My List” page and made it the new “Playlists” page. More on that below.
The other pages that were necessary to design were a sample playlist, user page, and search page.
Wireframes
Wire-framing was done by following Netflix’s current guides. Some of the additional features and sectioned were designed close to Netflix as possible.
Current Netflix with Additional Feature Design
Current Netflix My List Page
Netflix currently has a “My List” page where users can add movies/shows. However, it is not grouped in any way, it’s just a huge bucket of anything that is dropped in there. As you can see on the left, it has no structure or organization, no filtering system yet. This is the place we are going to revamp as the home of the playlist feature.
This is the current order process:
My List is automatically ordered to bring the most relevant titles to the front. Some considerations:
If you added the title to My List recently.
If a new season of a show in My List becomes available.
If a title will expire soon and no longer be available.
Reimagined Netflix My List Page
Sections Added:
”My playlists” section is what the user created themselves. It gives them ability to play or edit the list. Users can create private or public playlists.
”Playlists I liked” is more a storage for people to refer back to their favorites. “more info” button would lead to the page of the playlist that shows the entire list of movies in the list. “Play” button would automatically start playing the first title of the list.
”People I’m following” was created for users to connect with others and be able to see new playlists created by a user. The survey conducted showed that about 70% of the individuals would not want a social aspect (chat, comments, etc) on Netflix platform. The username, number of playlists and followers allow for minimal social exposure while still creating an incentive for users to create their own playlists and showcase their taste.
”Popular playlists” section follows the Netflix recommendation system, creating exposure to the playlist feature.
Playlist Sample
Playlist title would be named by the user. In this sample, ‘Best horror movies of all time’ is created by Horrorfanaticz with 7,945 user likes. The title and likes help personalize each playlist and help others see which playlist were popular to weed from many others.
The Like feature allows users to add this playlist in their playlist page. This could later be changed to “add to playlist” with further iterations and verbiage/feature considerations of Netflix.
The comment section is below the playlist and is not a primary feature per research, 42% of users did not want too much socialization in this feature.
This feature adds a list of titles that would automatically play the next in order. Or the user can choose where to start.
This way, creators can organize a playlist in any order they would like and viewers can see the entire list of titles and skip ones they’ve already seen by starting elsewhere.
The recommended section has a list of playlists by the same creator, titles similar to ones in playlist, and other similar playlists.
Creator Page
Currently, Netflix does not have a creator page or a comprehensive user page.
In this feature, a creator page would have a simple numerical bio, follow function, and report function for safety/regulations.
Once a user follows a creator, they can access creators they’re following in their own profile and the playlist page.
Current Netflix search function when typed “friends”, you get a list of titles related to the keyword.
”Explore titles related to:” selections suggest different titles and genres.
Reimagined search function with new feature considerations
In the upper left side, where “explore titles related to:” selection resides, I added “search in titles”, “search in playlist”, and “search in accounts” options for users to toggle between their specific search needs.
Prototype
Each pages were designed to reflect Netflix’s current UI/UX design while adding the necessary sections and buttons for this feature. See it all together in this prototype.
Usability Test
I conducted a usability test among my peers who responded to my survey. I aimed to keep my usability testing as less guided as possible to test if my design was intuitive.
91% of participants performed the usability test with expected paths with misclick rate of 8%.
87% of participants responded that they would regularly use this feature after performing the usability test.
On a scale of 1 being difficult and 10 being extremely easy, participants rated this prototype at an ease level of 8.5.
Next Steps
If I had the opportunity to expand further on this project, I would create a user profile page with account settings for privacy. I would also develop the full function of adding to playlists, editing playlists, and explore options for feature promotion on Netflix. With more time and budget, the usability testing and iterations could solidify this feature to completion.