AMAZON
PRIME VIDEo.
Design Type
User Experience Research
Team Size
4
Duration
10 weeks
Process
Iterative
Tools Used
MS Excel
Methods Used
Survey, Focus Group, Lightweight Journey Map, Affinity Diagramming, Sentiment Analysis
Research Problem.
Though Google and Amazon have a vast number of people subscribing to their other services, they have largely failed to extend their video streaming services to them. Here lies the problem, Amazon Prime Video, (a model very similar to that of Netflix and Hulu) is failing to capture the audience’s interest. Though Amazon has increased its content spend, it still hasn't become a user's go to application for his/her viewing needs. Our objective was to find out if User Experience(UX) especially the User Interface(UI) was a factor affecting consumption.
INvestigate.
We started our investigation by sending out a carefully constructed user research themed survey to participants. This was followed up by Focus Group session. Before the participants arrived for the session, they were given an at-home exercise of watching a video of their choice using Amazon prime video application. This was done through a method called 'Lightweight Journey Map'. Once the participants had completed the exercise, they were now better equipped to answer directed questions in a focus group since the memory of the watching experience was still fresh.
Findings.
Quantitative Analysis
Netflix emerged as the most preferred (69%) and best valued (60%) from survey responses. The responses were divided into four variables of 'Appearance' where the results were inconclusive, 'Usefulness' where approx 50% were somewhat satisfied with content and recommendations, 'Ease of Use' where users found the application easy to use but not flexible and 'Ease of learning' where users felt it was easy to learn the various steps involved in accessing the content.
Affinity Analysis
Five major themes emerged from the affinity diagramming process - 'Service' where users liked the ability to rent/ buy content, Usability' where users didn't like inconsistency in the look, feel and functionality of the application on different devices, 'UI' where users didn't like the prime video was embedded within e-commerce site, 'Content', users were not very happy with current content selections, 'Search' where lack of intelligent search lead to dissatisfaction.
Sentiment Analysis
Most people found it mediocre, average, satisfactory and nice, followed by disappointed. However, the results were not clearly indicating strong opinions.
Lightweight Journey Map.
The method was a minimalistic approach to identify underlying problems users faced while watching a video using Amazon Prime Video platform. With this exercise, we are able to find recurring themes around 'Content', 'Search' and 'Usability' variables.
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Recommendations.
Based on the findings, recommendations were around 'UI' where we suggest Amazon dedicate resources to making the UI simple, clutter-free and intuitive. For example, the search keyboard is a qwerty layout currently. It can be replaced by an alphabetical layout; 'Usability' where users unanimously suggested that the search function failed to assist them. We recommend that Search function is made intelligent to predict what the user wants. Also, navigation between previously watched videos should be in tune with what the users need when they re-login to the application; 'Content' where we suggest to produce high-quality unique content by increasing spending; 'Customer Experience' where we learned that users were willing to forego their prime memberships due to failed user experience with Prime Video. For this to not occur, we recommend that Amazon Prime Video be treated individually for what value it delivers to its subscribers.