NETFLIX: MY LISTS feature
Brand:
Netflix
Overview:
A two week design sprint during which we enhanced Netflix’s “My List” feature by giving users power to organize content into curated lists within the feature. We also gave users the ability to further connect with their friends and family through sharing these lists and individual titles with other Netflix users.
My Role:
As UX Research Lead, I was tasked with ideating solutions to challenges by conducting research into other interfaces solving similar problems. I also tested the validity of our solutions through user testing and assisted in the building of our prototype.
Responsibilities:
Competitive research, feature inventory, affinity mapping, prototyping, user testing and UI wire framing & prototyping
The Problem
Netflix users love being able to add unlimited amounts of content to their “My List” to save their favorite content, but when users add a large amount of titles to this page there is no way to find a specific title quickly, resulting in scrolling down a seemingly endless page of titles.
By giving users the ability to organize their favorite content in curated lists, users would be able to find content faster and be able to share content in a new way.
Research Methods
We conducted interviews with the goal of finding out how users interacted with the “My List” feature and through the process discovered that a significant amount of people would also benefit from having a way to share their recommendations with their family and friends in the Netflix app.
In addition to media streaming services including Hulu and Youtube, we explored the sharing features of music steaming services like Spotify and Tidal to get an idea for the conventions around in-app media sharing.
User Personas
Synthesizing our user research helped us identify two types of users who would use each feature which helped us develop the two distinct but intertwined features:
The Film Enthusiast
“I want to be able to organize movies I like into categories because I don’t like Netflix’s organization system.”
“I want to create top ten lists of my favorite content and share the whole list with my friends and family with one link.”
The Social Butterfly
“I use word of mouth and texting to share and discover new content but I want to be able to do it all within the app.”
“I am always forgetting movies that people are telling me to watch. It would be easier if they could send me a link.”
Prototyping and testing
AB Testing
The first round of user testing involved AB testing the “My List” page. Version A had a users friends list on a different tab that was accessible at the top of the page. Version B had both the users and their friends lists on the same page and denoted by profile ownership next to the list’s title.
Our results found that users thought it easier to have both on the same page. It was at this point we decided to change the wording of the feature from “My List” to “My Lists” to communicate this update that involved multiple types of saved collections.
Version A: Friend’s Lists on Seperate Page
Version B: Friend’s Lists Same Page
Adding Titles to Lists
Users add titles to a list through a plus icon on the each title’s information card
List Sharing & Editing
Next to the list’s title are icons that allow users to edit and share the list with other Netflix users
Importing Lists
Users can add lists from other users to their own collection to watch any time. While users can’t edit lists owned by others, the list will update on their page along with the owner’s edits
Testing Insights
As the fidelity of our prototype evolved, user feedback led us to add more confirmation messages when action were completed and more responsive UI on CTAs to aide users in completing the desired tasks.
Challenges
Keep It Simple
We had some other ideas that we thought would further improve the Netflix lists experience (such as more social connectivity and reviews) however our user testing proved otherwise.
In the end the most important thing was to keep the scope small and put energy into the primary feature that we wanted to hear feedback on. It was good to hear this before we put a lot of time into these ideas but perhaps further testing could prove them useful.
Lessons
Teamwork Makes the Dreamwork
I love collaborating with other designers and this project allowed me to really get in the zone. While we all had our respective focuses on lead roles, we all had a role in every part of the process from research to prototyping. With good communication and organization; the sky is the limit.