Streaming-services_amazon_netflix_december2019

The case of Amazon.com and Netflix.com: 4 lessons for marketers, product managers & owners

In December 2018, 300 American consumers oriented themselves on a streaming service. Netflix.com and Amazon.com both ranked first, the first in terms of Digital Sales and the latter was better in themes considering the customer experience. This article will let you, as a marketer, in on the successes of Netflix.com and Amazon.com.

1. The first impression counts: keep it simple

In the first phase of our study, customers are asked to quickly orient themselves on the website that appealed to them most while looking for a streaming service. Both Netflix.com and Amazon.com provide good first impressions. This is mainly because of the short and simple customer journey.

2. No strings attached when subscribing for a streaming service

Netflix.com website shows clearly what you can expect from the service: Watch anytime, anywhere. Users can watch series and movies anywhere they’d like, on a device of their choice. No download required! This is clearly about giving users full control over content and how and where they want to watch. Furthermore, the streaming service offers the option to step out at any time, displayed on the homepage is: Cancel anytime. The level of commitment required is very low as users can cancel at any time, they get their first month for free, and no download is required. A low barrier for consumers wanting to try out the streaming service because there is hardly any commitment.

3. Amazon’s takes a different approach: focus on offer is great but a bit overwhelming

Where Netflix concentrates heavily on its service and the benefits of their offer, Amazon.com sells its proposition to potential streamers from a different perspective. The Amazon Prime video streaming service greatly emphasizes its product offer.: From the content list, Prime allows visitors to easily watch a trailer or see other streaming options that are offered by Prime Video. Furthermore, Amazon Prime is more than just video streaming, this makes it a bit harder for Amazon to promote their product as it entails a lot more than just video’s.

The big downside to Amazons Prime Video page is that the focus on the product offers makes for a very busy page. The eye doesn’t land on visually outstanding parts and sees just the offer. User’s don’t know where to start, something Netflix.com is better at as we can see by looking at questions like I immediately felt like I would be able to find a product here that meets my requirement. Netflix ranks slightly higher than Amazon does on that point. There is a but here though, Netflix offers a clean landing page, but it is hard to find the product offer. The best of both worlds would be the solution here: give a customer a glimpse into what you offer and put the main focus on the service.

4. Backed by a strong brand: Prime Video is trusted because it is a part of Amazon

The great product offer fits well with what parent company Amazon does: offer a place to get everything from shopping to streaming. Having a wide variety of products plus being a trusted brand makes customers more appreciative of Prime Video: “Backed by Amazon, I feel that it would be okay to try”. Or as another customer puts it: “Amazon has everything from shopping to great digital services”. Exactly the reason why Amazon.com ranks first in the CX-ranking; customers trust a big brand like Amazon and they a wide variety of shows and movies to choose from.

Keep it Short and Simple

Amazon.com and Netflix.com both show that KISS is still as relevant as ever. Keeping it Short and Simple is, among other things, what made customers choose Netflix.com and Amazon.com over other providers like Hulu.com and Sling.com. In this case, the offer of both companies is straight forward (e.g. streaming services), something that might not be the same for an insurance company or a financial institute who might offer more than one service. It does, however, give you an idea as to how to make information easily available to your customers.

What you can learn from Amazon.com and Netflix.com

  • Keep it short and simple: Netflix.com outperforms the competition in overall preference because of the simple and clean homepage, in three steps the customer gets all the information he or she needs.
  • Low barrier: Netflix.com and Amazon.com are not looking ahead that much. Still, they make sure to give out all the information that is needed, they need to create high lifetime value for customers. With a 30-day trial period, subscribing to one of the streaming service companies feels like no strings attached: “They immediately say what you can do: watch on any device, download and no contracts. Also, say you can join free for 1 month and I like that”.
  • Focus on offer: Amazon.com clearly displays her offer, something study participants appreciate. A participant says he/she likes the: “Options of new and previously aired shows as well as just for Amazon products.”
  • Make being a trustworthy brand a priority. For example, Youtube isn’t a streaming service brand like Netflix and Amazon are. Being trustworthy is not easily achieved, but with a strong focus on premium service and a high-quality product, you might be able to play along with the big boys.

To sum it up: promoting a service or product is kind of like dating. Make a good first impression, don’t overshare, KISS, make sure you don’t talk about the future that much and allow the other person to be in control of the future of the relationship as well.

Want to learn from the best?

By learning from high performers like Netflix.com or Amazon.com you can improve your website today. To this end, a free summary of the full report into the Streaming Services market is available to download. This will help you with insights into this market, so you know where you stand relative to consumer-expectations and experience of others in the market. Our full report shows what your major improvements and highest priorities for conversion optimization are. Interested in another industry? Get in touch!

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