Slashdot | Netflix To Eliminate Profiles Feature
Posted: June 19th, 2008 | Author: Steve | Filed under: Business | Tags: Business, Movies | View Comments
Being a business student, I am always amazed when businesses make decisions that make their best customers angry, or cause them to leave. I have been taught that you start with the customers’ needs first, and that everything else is secondary.
So, I was appalled to see the following email in my inbox from Netflix:
We wanted to let you know we will be eliminating Profiles, the feature that allowed you to set up separate DVD Queues under one account, effective September 1, 2008.
Each additional Profile Queue will be unavailable after September 1, 2008. Before then, we recommend you consolidate any of your Profile Queues to your main account Queue or print them out.
While it may be disappointing to see Profiles go away, this change will help us continue to improve the Netflix website for all our customers.
If you have any questions, please go to http://www.netflix.com/Help?p_faqid=3962 or call us anytime at 1 (888) 638-3549. We apologize for any inconvenience.
– The Netflix Team“
Needless to say, I am furious! Netflix’s Profiles feature was the one thing that makes managing movie queues between my wife and I feasible. She is addicted to romantic comedies, and watches at least 2 a week. She doesn’t see the point in renting TV shows on DVD. I love all manner of weird and unusual movies, documentaries and TV shows, and sometimes it takes me forever to get around to watching them.
The worst part is that my wife will lose all of the history she has built up in her movie ratings. Netflix is not providing any way to migrate to a separate account!
Although Netflix is claiming that only a small percentage of users avail themselves of this feature, the heated conversation on Slashdot would have you believe otherwise. (Apparently, the small number of people who use that feature are all programming geeks!)
Intuition tells me that the people who use the Profiles feature on Netflix are also Netflix’s most loyal customers. (Of course, if I play devil’s advocate for a minute, these same people may also be the small minority of users who cost the most to keep, so the 80/20 rule might tell you that you can cut them loose and still make good money.)
In any case, just the bad publicity alone will make this a poor business move. Think New Coke. C’mon Netflix, I know you can do better!
Slashdot | Netflix To Eliminate Profiles Feature
