The other night, also known to some as family movie night, I was at Blockbuster checking out when they told me about Blockbuster Total Access which is their answer to Netflix. As I'd only half an hour before suggested to my family that we should try the Netflix thing out sometime, I figured, why not?
So I signed up for a two week trial of Blockbuster Total Access on the Dell laptop they had in the store. When I got home (after movie night actually) I decided to check out the web interface like any other good web 2.0 junkie consultant would. Naturally, I also had to sign up for a two week trial of Netflix to compare.
Conclusion? It seems Blockbuster, unable to compete with Netflix otherwise, has decided to provide the same exact service. The key differentiator? They throw in free blockbuster rentals form the store. Instead of having to first return a movie via the mail before my next batch can come in, I can just take them to the closest Blockbuster and satisfy my impatient lust for movies that same day. Blockbuster has succeeded in creating an offering that rivals Netflix in nearly every way and then some. Score one for Blockbuster!
Within an hour, I'd decided to stick with Netflix.
So what made me cancel my free two week trial of Blockbuster Total Access? That's right. The web interface. While very similar to Netflix, there was one blaring problem: It wasn't fun! One of the key features of both services is the collection of meta-data through the end user's rating of movies. Whereas Blockbuster would take me to the profile page of each movie I rate, I could go down a page with 30 or so movies and rate them in less then ten seconds with Netflix. First of all, if I've rated the movie, I obviously know enough about it that I don't need to see any additional info on it. Secondly, rating movies quickly became a game in Netflix! Before the night was out, I'd rated nearly 300 movies, and Netflix now has around 2000 recommendations that it's algorithm says match my rather eclectic tastes. I could barely rate twenty movies through Blockbuster before getting frustrated.
The lesson to be learned here? If you want to collect better data on your users, make your service more addictive! Netflix is more game-like in that it rewards people for creating meta-data rather then turning it into a chore.
There is also a second hidden lesson: If you ask your soon to be former users why they are leaving your service, give them more then 255 characters to explain themselves!! I spent five whole minutes writing out my reasons, only to find there was no space for it!
I would have been glad to try out their service again when their site has improves but the 255 character limit in the feedback box adds injury to insult. and makes me question if they were actually sincere in asking why I was opting out of the two week trial. If anyone from Blockbuster reads this post, feel free to contact me if you'd like some real feedback. I'm a 22 year old male who's increasingly finding himself consuming content of all types off the web. Bottom line, I'm your target demographic.
Score one for Netflix: You appeal more directly to the gamer in me by better incentivizing your meta-data collection process.
