How Netflix uses psychology to perfect its customer experience

Decoding the science behind the features that keep you binging

“If the Starbucks secret is a smile when you get your latte, [Netflix’s secret] is that the Web site adapts to the individual’s taste.”

- Reed Hastings

If there’s a company that’s synonymous with a seamless customer experience, it’s Netflix. It has become the defacto entertainment source for many. So much so that 15% of the world’s web traffic goes to Netflix.

But when your experience is industry-leading, how do you evolve it without disappointing customers?

The answer lies in experimentation, built on proven psychological principles.

And because Netflix is a subscription service, you can quickly discover what’s working. Just observe how many customers cancel their service in response to your experiment and optimize from there.

Prefer to watch? Check opt the video:

3 psychological principles that Netflix uses to perfect their customer experience

1. The Reciprocity Principle

Reciprocity is a social norm of responding to a positive action with another positive action. It’s why you feel indebted when someone does you a favor.

Made famous by Robert Cialdini in his book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,” Reciprocity can be summed by the saying, “You‘ve got to give to get.”

How does Netflix apply the Reciprocity Principle?

Netflix asked their customer base, “ What one thing would you like to know more about before signing up for Netflix”? The most popular answer (46% of responses) was “knowing all of the movies and TV shows available.”

In response, Netflix experimented with showing customers available content on the home page. But their experiment revealed something interesting. Showing customers too much of the content…