As a usability specialist, one of the most enjoyable parts of my job is collecting examples of online customer experiences--both superb and terrible examples.
When I first started doing this, I had my personal "go-to" sites. For the terrible experience examples, I could often rely on some of the old-school banking sites. For the excellent ones, I often went to...drum roll please...Amazon. I know, surprise, surprise. But well...there are a wealth of thoughtful implementations there. And if there were some lame concepts? Well, at least i knew they had been usability tested, and wouldn't totally stymie my users.
But then I started noticing Netflix. The boldness and simplicity of the pages. The progressive disclosure of information. The way they set Customer expectations about the amount of time actions take, and the way they clearly explain that the customer can change their mind anytime without penalty. It's like, they actually understand that people have a finite amount of time, and that trying to make the customer a prisoner of their service is a bad thing.
Not to mention, being on the NetFlix site...is fun!
So, I've made a lot of NetFlix screen captures in my experience research, to the point that they are starting to outnumber my Amazon captures. But the best thing I've learned from the site is something that all companies should realize. It is this:
Every minute a Customer interacts with your company is a privilege for you. Don't waste it or take it for granted. Ever.
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