Netflix Simplicity
For years I have marveled at the Netflix website.
Its a great little site. Simple, fast, and informative with a clear and strong call to action.
Any CMO would be happy to call this site their own.
But as a online marketer the main reason I like the site is for its marketing consistency and simplicity. Almost every advertising campaign Netflix runs points to the same free trial signup page. That trial signup page also happens to be the same trial tab that you find when you visit netflix.com directly. And outside of a handful of co-branding messages for a few strategic partners, the only thing that really changes on the page for each campaign is the tracking code.
Netflix is always near the top 10 when it comes to online advertising spend, spending nearly $10 million a month. However, unlike most online advertisers, Netflix is not managing dozens and dozens of landing pages and product pages.
Most sites that use the same page for every marketing campaign is usually clueless when it comes to testing and optimizing conversions. They usually take everyone to the same boring company homepage. But that is not the case with Netflix. By just browsing the site you can tell they are marketers that know what they are doing.
Now here is the best part, their site has hardly changed in the last few years. Excluding their movie title pages, the core of their site consists of 4-5 tabs each with a single page of content, and a simple signup process. And that's it. Simple, but effective.
Think about that for a second. Their website is the ultimate marketing control. Yes they are still testing their site. You will still see the occasional change in a hero image, button, or headline. A new tab appeared this year about their free trial offer. But the site largely looks and feels the same. And all these tests and changes involve only 1 change vs 30 separate changes.
I am sure they could probably increase their conversion rates a few percentage points here and there by designing custom landing pages for each campaign or search keyword category. But I feel the Netflix approach ultimately delivers better results than having 30+ different landing pages that have to be individually optimized and tested.
When you manage 30 different landing pages it becomes a maintenance nightmare. Many tests are not universal, so any positive learnings can often only be applied to a handful of pages. So you end up taking baby steps as opposed to quick leaps. Not to mention the time and resources it takes to design, QA, release, traffick, and report on all these pages and their many test variations. Is it really worth it in the end? Probably not.
An added benefit with this approach is that the advertising, website, and marketing message is always consistent across all channels. There is no risk of different messages, USPs, or branding.
Netflix has done a great job keeping their site simple and sticking with what works for their business. Marketers often have the urge to radically change their site for no good reason other than it looks boring, old, or they need to justify their budget and headcount.
The Netflix approach reminds me of a very boring black and white full page magazine ad for Bose noise cancelling headphones. It's a long sales letter that looks like it came from straight out of the 70's. Most creative directors would probably fire the marketer that came up with the concept, but year after year and magazine after magazine I see this same ad being used. Which in the direct response world tells you one thing, it probably works really really well.
In other words, do your best to follow the KISS principle of "Keep it Simple, Stupid". And don't f#!k with something that works.
Its a great little site. Simple, fast, and informative with a clear and strong call to action.
Any CMO would be happy to call this site their own.
But as a online marketer the main reason I like the site is for its marketing consistency and simplicity. Almost every advertising campaign Netflix runs points to the same free trial signup page. That trial signup page also happens to be the same trial tab that you find when you visit netflix.com directly. And outside of a handful of co-branding messages for a few strategic partners, the only thing that really changes on the page for each campaign is the tracking code.
Netflix is always near the top 10 when it comes to online advertising spend, spending nearly $10 million a month. However, unlike most online advertisers, Netflix is not managing dozens and dozens of landing pages and product pages.
Most sites that use the same page for every marketing campaign is usually clueless when it comes to testing and optimizing conversions. They usually take everyone to the same boring company homepage. But that is not the case with Netflix. By just browsing the site you can tell they are marketers that know what they are doing.
Now here is the best part, their site has hardly changed in the last few years. Excluding their movie title pages, the core of their site consists of 4-5 tabs each with a single page of content, and a simple signup process. And that's it. Simple, but effective.
Think about that for a second. Their website is the ultimate marketing control. Yes they are still testing their site. You will still see the occasional change in a hero image, button, or headline. A new tab appeared this year about their free trial offer. But the site largely looks and feels the same. And all these tests and changes involve only 1 change vs 30 separate changes.
I am sure they could probably increase their conversion rates a few percentage points here and there by designing custom landing pages for each campaign or search keyword category. But I feel the Netflix approach ultimately delivers better results than having 30+ different landing pages that have to be individually optimized and tested.
When you manage 30 different landing pages it becomes a maintenance nightmare. Many tests are not universal, so any positive learnings can often only be applied to a handful of pages. So you end up taking baby steps as opposed to quick leaps. Not to mention the time and resources it takes to design, QA, release, traffick, and report on all these pages and their many test variations. Is it really worth it in the end? Probably not.
An added benefit with this approach is that the advertising, website, and marketing message is always consistent across all channels. There is no risk of different messages, USPs, or branding.
Netflix has done a great job keeping their site simple and sticking with what works for their business. Marketers often have the urge to radically change their site for no good reason other than it looks boring, old, or they need to justify their budget and headcount.
The Netflix approach reminds me of a very boring black and white full page magazine ad for Bose noise cancelling headphones. It's a long sales letter that looks like it came from straight out of the 70's. Most creative directors would probably fire the marketer that came up with the concept, but year after year and magazine after magazine I see this same ad being used. Which in the direct response world tells you one thing, it probably works really really well.
In other words, do your best to follow the KISS principle of "Keep it Simple, Stupid". And don't f#!k with something that works.
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