In this short-form series of articles, I’ll be writing about small yet very functional UX decisions and choices products, services and companies make to make User Experience exceptional.
When I noticed the “skip intro” for the first time on Netflix app on the Amazon’s FireTV, it resembles nothing extraordinary but served an important purpose. Naturally, I pressed the center button of the remote to find out what happens next on House of Cards. It wasn’t until the next day when I was driving to work, I recognized that it was a new feature Netflix introduced. It did not make any huge headline on the internet as it is nothing compared to new iPhone or Elon Musk reveals new Model 3, however, It served a very important purpose for Netflix’s users; I often found myself skipping intro using fast forward but sometimes it is either too fast or too slow depending on how long the intro is for each show.
There is great power in empathy for the user and providing value when they least expect it creates raving fans.
Photo by Jens Kreuter on Unsplash
Most companies would not care about such a small thing that annoys their user but not to the extent where they would leave you. However, this is sometimes the major differences between “Good Experience” vs “Awesome Experience”. There is great power in empathy for the user and providing value when they least expect it creates raving fans.
Other things to ponder upon is how did Netflix come to this conclusion that they needed “Skip Intro” features. Imagine discussing adding this feature to executive management, implementing this across various devices would be complex and costly yet there is no direct ROI attached to it. In most companies, a project is merely approved based on the impact they’ll have immediately on the bottom line and not based on the customer satisfaction index or NPS.
Next time you’re on Netflix and cannot wait to see what happens next in the episode of your favorite show, press the “skip intro” button and thank Netflix’s UX team for the job well done.
