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Netflix changes their mind: Profiles NOT going away!
blog.netflix.com — "For users of Profiles, I have good news to report: we will keep the feature with no plans to discontinue it. We were persuaded by the well-reasoned, sincere responses of loyal members who very much value this feature. Existing users will be able to continue their use, uninterrupted."
seanm- 1423 diggs
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- arthritix, on 06/30/2008, -4/+46This is awesome!!!!
- birch25, on 06/30/2008, -0/+8very awesome. this is the reason netflix is so successful. they listen to their customers much more than pretty much any company i can think of. customer satisfaction is a high priority at netflix and it is the reason they have maintained such a good reputation over the years. i love netflix!
- yazheirx, on 06/30/2008, -0/+169FTA: "We were persuaded by the well-reasoned, sincere responses of loyal members who very much value this feature"
Proof that there is still room in today's age for reason and civility.- aspec, on 06/30/2008, -4/+8Really? That sentence suggested to me that thousands of people emailed and called saying, "If you don't bring back profiles, we will switch to Blockbuster. Really... we mean it this time. Stop laughing."
- aplardi, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2I did switch to blockbuster, I figure it's only fair I try it anyway. I'll probably go back to Netflix again though. Both have been good so far. Just different envelopes lol.
- PxCxG, on 07/01/2008, -2/+21well-reasoned? sincere?....must not have read the emails from diggers...
- jpop, on 07/01/2008, -0/+3My take on it is that someone did the math, and the "few percent" of the users added up to quite a rabid number of people. :)
Personally, I've never used profiles. Not because I didn't understand them, but because I never knew about them (nice promotionthere). Now that I know, I'm going to be setting them up. A lot of people had good ideas on managing their queues with them.
- aspec, on 06/30/2008, -4/+8Really? That sentence suggested to me that thousands of people emailed and called saying, "If you don't bring back profiles, we will switch to Blockbuster. Really... we mean it this time. Stop laughing."
- boerseun, on 06/30/2008, -4/+7I am very happy they changed their minds. I was waiting to see what will happen since I am looking at getting the Roku Netflix player. I did not want to get it, and Blockbuster offers the Profiles feature which will prompt me to switch. Now there is no reason (yet) to switch to Blockbuster.
- formergthing, on 06/30/2008, -1/+10Are you sure Blockbuster offers profiles? I don't think that's true.
- Yarnage, on 07/01/2008, -0/+3I don't have Blockbuster but I was told by several of their members that they did not offer this feature.
Now I am even further confused. - Alegoo92, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1Plus Netflix is way better than Blockbuster.
- gnalnad, on 06/30/2008, -0/+45The people have spoken!
- invalidreality, on 06/30/2008, -11/+5God damn right they are.
- froschhosen, on 06/30/2008, -0/+35Great success!
- KlassyGuy, on 06/30/2008, -13/+4I believe you mean Huge Success - a la Portal.
Lyrics:
This was a triumph.
I'm making a note here:
HUGE SUCCESS. - quomen, on 07/01/2008, -1/+18Or he might be making a Borat reference.. fail.
- KlassyGuy, on 06/30/2008, -13/+4I believe you mean Huge Success - a la Portal.
- DCstewieG, on 06/30/2008, -1/+30Just got the email. This is great. I hope they now realize that having Profiles is a great feature that just hasn't been marketed well. I was reading that only around 1% of subscribers use them. If that's true, it's unbelievable. I would bet that at least, at LEAST a third of their customers could make use of this, and probably many more. How many households are there where everyone has the same taste in movies?
- TheKillDoctor, on 06/30/2008, -0/+2and just imagine everyone in a family fighting over who's movie is next in the queue.
- OaklandNative, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1I never even knew about this feature until I read how pissed diggers were that it was gonna be taken away. I will definitely use it now. Extremely well played free marketing?
- isomorf, on 06/30/2008, -0/+171What a pleasant change: a company that actually *listens* to its customers!
I think they may be onto something here.- Zachariah, on 06/30/2008, -0/+6The did this with the price hike a few years ago, too.
- jpop, on 07/01/2008, -0/+4Just like New Coke!
- rilus, on 06/30/2008, -0/+16I was extremely displeased with their decision to remove profiles as it was going to make their services a pain for me and my wife to use. I am glad I can continue to use them happily, as usual.
- cgruber, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2I agree. It was actually the feature that closed the deal with us returning to Netflix. We had the service for about 2 years and dropped it just because of all the queue micro-managing was a pain.
- krische, on 06/30/2008, -4/+19I'd still like to know the real reasoning behind hit. I'm almost afraid it was a ploy to get more individual customers. I mean if they had gotten rid of it, people had 3 choices.
1) Deal with it.
2) Open an account for each person that had their own profile.
3) Leave.- doktorrocket, on 06/30/2008, -0/+8I always assumed they convinced themselves they were losing money to college kids/coworkers/neighbors that were sharing a subscription. I suspect they don't really know how much money they're losing to the above people, but they had enough angry letters threatening to cancel for them to reconsider.
In other words, keeping profiles may have been a simple business decisions, just like the decision to drop it in the first place. - mightytribble, on 06/30/2008, -0/+18Yeah, and if you do the revenue math there, it makes Netflix look dumb:
1. Deal with it. Revenue gain to Netflix $0, less any loss of goodwill from you badmouthing their decision to friends.
2. Open an account for each person. ( Say, 3x 1 disc accounts instead of 1x, 3 disk account). Revenue gain to Netflix: $10 ( $9 per plan, x3, less $17 for the 3-a-go plan).
3. Leave. Revenue gain to Netflix: -$17, assuming a 3 disc plan.
4. Scale back your account. Revenue gain to Netflix: anywhere from -$3 to -$30 or more.
Given the options, there were *profound* negatives to canceling Profiles. And very little opportunity to get more revenue. And did they expect that there were some number of potential customers out there who were waiting to Profiles to be axed before they signed up? Or that a Profile-free website would suddenly become so compelling that more people would join Netflix?
Someone did a very poor cost analysis. Or they didn't do one at all. - DifferentAngle, on 06/30/2008, -5/+1Maybe they thought the feature differentiated themselves from their competitors, and took away the feature as a marketing ploy for free advertising. When the feature was taken away the internet got flooded with songs of its virtues.
- doktorrocket, on 06/30/2008, -0/+8I always assumed they convinced themselves they were losing money to college kids/coworkers/neighbors that were sharing a subscription. I suspect they don't really know how much money they're losing to the above people, but they had enough angry letters threatening to cancel for them to reconsider.
- griffindj, on 06/30/2008, -1/+39Interesting way to judge use of a feature:
Threaten to take it away and see who complains. - chevetter85, on 06/30/2008, -2/+69From the post:
"Simplicity is only one virtue and it can certainly be outweighed by utility."
My God a coherent reasoning from a large company!- Meursault, on 06/30/2008, -0/+3And thus avoid enmity!
- mdpolaris, on 06/30/2008, -1/+19I sent a nice calm emailing detailing my love of the Profile's feature so that my fiancées chick flicks don't invade my sci-fi/action queue; and it is refreshing to have a company be open minded. I'm sure the parents with children were the biggest reason Netflix changed their minds, but I'm sure they have a place in their heart for couples that don't want to breakup over their movie queue wars. Besides, I never want to see Sex and the City as a recommended title for me!
- DickBreath, on 06/30/2008, -5/+7I was an am skeptical that only 1% of their user base is using profiles. If that were true, then why would they change a major decision, which they obviously had spent some time making?
Thank you NetFlix for listening to your customers. Why were you so OUT OF TOUCH with your customers in the first place? A decision by some MBA who has never even used the NetFlix site? Some money gubbing idea that people who used profiles would be forced into buying multiple accounts? Guess again.
As I pointed out (in one of those "well reasoned responses" I might add) one of NetFlix's huge business advantages is its convenience over the local video store. By eliminating profiles, they lose a significant amount of that advantage. If three people in my house (including a minor) have to constantly deal with managing a single queue (and never can be sure who's disk will arrive in the mail next when someone returns one), then they just LOST A LOT of their convenience over the local video store. I told them on the phone and by email that at that point it becomes easier for me to just go to the video rental store. Each time I return a disk and NetFlix sends a disk for someone else in my house, it is one more time I'll go to the video rental store.
(I made all the other standard arguments as well. How can a minor share a sub account with adults? Convenience. Difficulty of management, etc.)- terracottapai, on 06/30/2008, -0/+1"I was an am skeptical that only 1% of their user base is using profiles. If that were true, then why would they change a major decision, which they obviously had spent some time making?"
Disproportionate response.
It's the same principle behind Ron Paul winning 80% on internet polls.
Put enough effort into making your voice heard and you can make yourself seem more important than you really are. - MindStalker, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1"I was an am skeptical that only 1% of their user base is using profiles. If that were true, then why would they change a major decision, which they obviously had spent some time making?"
I think its because most people are dumb. Netflix has around 20 million customers 1% is 200,000. Personally I can believe those numbers. Anyways the most likely reason Netflix was going to removal Profile was that they are looking at doing a major website/service revamp and the first part of this was statistically looking at what features got the most use what got the fewest. Profile was on the bottom of the list.
- terracottapai, on 06/30/2008, -0/+1"I was an am skeptical that only 1% of their user base is using profiles. If that were true, then why would they change a major decision, which they obviously had spent some time making?"
- MattS, on 06/30/2008, -0/+26Thank you Netflix!
I cannot believe the 'process' worked. What am I going to complain about now?- TheKillDoctor, on 06/30/2008, -0/+2If you use Firefox 3.0 and try to view a friends queue nothing displays.
They say they're working on a fix. - saegiru, on 06/30/2008, -2/+1You can be like DickBreath directly above you... he seems to have found plenty to complain about.
- DeviantDragon, on 06/30/2008, -0/+10Well you can always complain about "The Man" holding you down.
- teamgwho, on 06/30/2008, -1/+1whatever it is, be sure to post it on consumerist, like if you get dairy whipped cream on your mocholatte instead of non-dairy, warranting a proportional sense of outrage,
- DrummerAndrew, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1How about the ***** choices for Instant Viewing? They're kidding, right? If they want people to take that service seriously, they have to get better titles than 10 Things I Hate About You.
- TheKillDoctor, on 06/30/2008, -0/+2If you use Firefox 3.0 and try to view a friends queue nothing displays.
- apathetic13, on 06/30/2008, -7/+9Great! Now can we start a petition to get rid of profiles!
- tallguyg, on 06/30/2008, -0/+11Well *****. There's 3 hours I spent transferring my queues gone to waste. Oh well...
Hooray Netflix!- PhoenixAvatar2, on 06/30/2008, -0/+6You've got way too long queues.
- saegiru, on 06/30/2008, -0/+40We spoke... They listened? I'm frightened.
- Zachariah, on 06/30/2008, -1/+7I'm more likely to buy the Roku now. I was thinking about it, but changed my mind with the profiles going away.
I'm glad to see that just like in 2004 when they raised and then lowered their rates, they continue to listen to their customers instead of trying to screw them like 99% of the companies out there.
It is a bummer that some people may have already consolidated their queues now.
A bonus is that I now have like 10 netflix customers (friends and family) who are now interested in setting up profiles once the feature resumes. - infamousjre, on 06/30/2008, -0/+31Do as you did when they decided to take them away. Let them know what you think.
http://www.netflix.com/Suggest
I thanked them for listening to their customers- diggdat, on 07/01/2008, -0/+4
I left my praises as well. Thanks for the link.
It is not a feature I use but I really enjoy this service and have used it for years. It seems to me they just keep adding value. Blue Ray, downloads, Roku box etc.
These days it seems rare to me to open my e-mail or read an article and something I use or something I need gets better instead of worse or cheaper instead of more expensive.
Yes I guess I am a fanboy but it seems they earned it... - pox05, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2i left mine too:
Thank you for NOT taking away the profile feature, I was about to go to blockbuster, and that would have sucked for both of us.
Love Chris
- diggdat, on 07/01/2008, -0/+4
- clickwir, on 06/30/2008, -6/+1Confirmed, I just got an email from them saying they are staying. W00t. Good thing!
- baldr, on 06/30/2008, -0/+6the netflix blog post needs to be confirmed? I'm pretty sure the official blog is a pretty good source...
- jhuebel, on 06/30/2008, -0/+5I think Netflix gains from keeping profiles around. For one thing, it spreads out the genres of movies that are being rented, keeping the wait times for movies lower. Let me explain... My wife and I split the two-movie subscription between our queues. She loves Jane Austin movies (god help us all). I love Sci Fi. If we got rid of queues, inevitably I would have to relinquish control of the queue to my wife. That means she would have two Jane Austin movies out, keeping other lovelorn housewives from their cherished Sense & Sensibility. With profiles, my wife's Jane Austin addiction is limited to a movie at a time, allowing other addicts to get their fix more easily. ;-)
- DjArcadian, on 06/30/2008, -0/+2Good. I was going to delete my account when profile went away.
- khuongsta, on 06/30/2008, -0/+3...so why dont they just give us the option to delete profiles? currently once you add, u're stuck with it.
- neferiousrich, on 06/30/2008, -0/+3I am glad to be a netflix customer. They have always exhibited an excellent business model, as well as the best customer service of any other services-based company I have ever dealt with. This decision just continues a long line of good business sense.
- artofficial, on 06/30/2008, -0/+13Netflix is one of the only companies that I praise non-stop. They rock, simple as that. If push came to shove when the corporations take over the world, I'm livin in netflixonia.
word. - TripKore, on 06/30/2008, -8/+1The power of DIGG.
- TripKore, on 07/01/2008, -3/+1I love no matter what i say, everything gets buried haha.
- Tezgno, on 06/30/2008, -0/+1I, for one, am happy to see this staying. It is one of the main reasons that I use their service. I think that the original reason for them wanting to remove it was a technical thing as it is technically difficult having to keep track with multiple profiles (especially since the sub profiles are linked to the main one for billing yet the queues are separate). However, it's nice to see a company that actually listens to what their customers really want.
- decker12, on 06/30/2008, -1/+5The Internets do works afteralls!
- rationalbeats, on 06/30/2008, -6/+3could be a marketing gimmick since their e-mail was essentially we listen to our customers and aren't we so cool.
- FiendishMuffin, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2I'm not sure why you're getting dug down... I'm in advertising and this a pretty classic PR stunt. Could be genuine, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was an intentional move to promote the profiles features and get brownie points doing it.
- xino, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1I think you got dugg down because everyone believed and wanted to continue to believe that it was because Netflix is a great company and they listen to their customers. My opinion is the same as theirs, but I don't feel so strongly about it that I am close minded to your idea.
- pakman221, on 06/30/2008, -3/+1thank God.
- bjornski, on 07/01/2008, -1/+2rAmen.
- Louisd11, on 06/30/2008, -2/+1We definitely did this because I remember reading in the comments that everyone was writing them a complaint.
- olsonea, on 06/30/2008, -1/+2Netflix brought back profiles for the same reason they were going to get rid of them: the bottom line, and the almighty Dollar.
- batmanz, on 06/30/2008, -0/+2Wow, one of the first times I have seen a company actually listen to the customers. Congratulations.
- setabs, on 06/30/2008, -6/+2From the email i received from Netflix:
You spoke, and we listened. We are keeping Profiles. Thank you for all the calls and emails telling us how important Profiles are.
We are sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused. We hope the next time you hear from us we will delight, and not disappoint, you.
-Your friends at Netflix
I am still waiting for my Class Action Settlement though! - Ludwig, on 06/30/2008, -0/+4I'd still very much like the ability to "split" profile users off into their own account.
An annoying and surely common scenario would be kid moving out and going to college but not wanting to have to lose their queue, ratings or friends. - PhoenixAvatar2, on 06/30/2008, -0/+1That's great and all, but I still have no idea how to set them up. I've been looking for a while but I can't find an add new profiles button or anything.
- PhoenixAvatar2, on 06/30/2008, -0/+3Nevermind... FTA:
"Non-users of the feature and new members will be able to access Profiles in 2-3 weeks. Existing users will be able to continue their use, uninterrupted."- MindStalker, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1They when they announced the removal of profile they immediately removed the feature for anyone not using it.
- PhoenixAvatar2, on 06/30/2008, -0/+3Nevermind... FTA:
- sfacets, on 06/30/2008, -0/+5Good on ya Netflix, listening to your customers is a good move.
- Boofster, on 06/30/2008, -0/+4Go Netflix! :thumbup:
- Borgcube636, on 06/30/2008, -9/+1Digg: 1 Netflix: 0
- gryphon50, on 07/01/2008, -0/+0Good! I didn't want to collate my queues with other people in the family. My queue is better than theirs!
- randall82, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1I'm so glad they did this, I was going to cancel. It's easily the most useful feature of Netflix if you've got children, I don't know why no one uses them. I have the 4 at a time plan, and 1 of them is devoted to my 6 year old sons queue. He can add the movies he wants, put his own discs in the mail, and I never even have to mess with it. Good job Netflix
- mediaspree, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1I hope you are monitoring your 6 year olds Internet usage... ;)
- bytor4232, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1I don't use profiles with my netflix account, that being said, I am impressed. At least one company listens to their community. Thank-you Netflix!
I just might upgrade my account in appreciation. - applebyte, on 07/01/2008, -1/+105 steps on how to advertise a lesser known feature of your product and generate good PR for your company at the same time:
1. Tell your customers that you'll be removing a feature in your product used by a small, yet vocal percentage of your customers.
2. Wait for public outcry from customers who use said feature.
3. Tell vocal minority that removal of the feature is for the benefit of all customers.
4. Wait for disappointment from the majority of your customers who never heard of the feature until now.
5. Tell customers that you have listened to them and will keep the feature in place (even though you never really intended to remove the feature in the first place).
Success!- mediaspree, on 07/01/2008, -1/+5Its like Coke 2. Nobody liked it. But when they brought the "classic" formula back, everyone adored it.
Marketing. - funnyboy88, on 07/01/2008, -0/+56. Profit
- mediaspree, on 07/01/2008, -1/+5Its like Coke 2. Nobody liked it. But when they brought the "classic" formula back, everyone adored it.
- keithnoir, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2netflix is a great company, good job realizing this is a useful thing you got right ;)
- cgruber, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2It makes me wonder what was so wrong operationally with Netflix that they would consider removing a feature that was already built and presumably working fine (I use the profiles and have never had a problem with what disk came to me).
- orwellson, on 07/01/2008, -2/+3this is a tactic that is often used to mask another move a company or entity intends to make but wishes to lessen the impact of--announce that cancellation of a beloved and perferred feature, generating outcry amongst the user community, only to announce that it's been saved, thanks to the vocal response of a feature's devotees. It's sort of a "Save the Old Oak Tree" philosophy. later, the company will make the change it intended to make all along, this time with much less hoopla. It's used a lot in cities to break citizens' resistance to raising taxes. Announce that you're going to get rid of libraries because of a shortfall in funds, the "save the libraries" campaign is successful, and then the city ends up increasing late fees for books by one dollar, which it intended to do all along, knowing citizens are happy that the libraries are sitll here, and now willing to put up with the increase in fees. Just watch netflix pull something like that!
- otifrank, on 07/01/2008, -0/+0Very interesting perspective on the situation. We'll have to wait and see if/when this happens.
- jameskong15, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1Good to hear. I shot off an angry letter, but I had a feeling this profile removal wasn't going anywhere since the reasons behind it just didn't make any sense.
- synarchy, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1Now, if they can just get the search results to make sense, and figure out a way to not include crap from 3 years ago in "new releases".
- ryan83189, on 07/01/2008, -1/+1Yay! the same quality of service they had before, and people are celebrating.
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Show 51 - 64 of 64 discussions
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