To understand how users actually use the platform, I did user interviews and usability tests with 4 members of a Facebook group about Amazon Prime Video. I asked them some context questions, some questions about their habits when using Prime Video or other streaming services and then gave them a few tasks and we talked about them.
Interview questions
- Which apps or websites do you use most?
- How often do you watch series or movies on Amazon Prime Video?
- What is your usual process of choosing something to watch? How long does it normally take to make that choice?
- What is your biggest issue in choosing something to watch on Amazon Prime Video? How do you usually solve this?
- What other streaming services do you normally use? What do you like or dislike most about them?
User interviews results
Name
Profile
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Male, 35, IT analyst
Whatsapp, Facebook, Youtube
Several times a week
Usually checks out 'recently added' or looks for 'horror' or 'action' category.
Search results show seasons of a show as separate content and I can't filter results. He sometimes tries to search for content on Google, e.g. "content title" + "prime video".
Netflix, Disney+, HBO GO, Telecine Play and others. Among them all, he feels Netflix has the best interface and navigation is seamless, while Prime Video can make finding specific content difficult.
Male, 26, manager in a small business
Whatsapp, Spotify, Youtube, Twitch
2-3 times a week
Usually rewatches series he likes or if he's looking for something new, he first looks for recently added or featured content. Sometimes he looks for recommendations from friends and blogs. It usually takes 10-15 minutes.
Content is not properly categorised. I try using Search, which is not always accurate and sometimes shows content that is not available in my region.
Netflix, which he feels has better navigation but content is not always high quality.
Male, 29, baker and small business owner
Whatsapp, Instagram, Youtube, Spotify
On weekends
He mostly looks at recommendations from the algorithm and also relies on recommendations from friends or specialised media. It usually takes 30-40 minutes.
He is indecisive and feels an overdose of options while most of them are not that interesting to him. To solve this, he usually googles things like "10 best drama series on Amazon Prime Video" to find a good option.
Netflix, which he thinks has a better strategy of always adding fresh content to the catalog. He feels Prime Video only has old and little known content. He thinks Prime Video should clearly mark watched content (as Netflix does), otherwise he gets confused.
Female, 48, public server
Whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest
3-4 times a week
She usually takes a look at the home page and the first categories at the top. In case she wants to see other options, she scrolls down to other categories, but rarely uses the top menu. It usually takes around 20 minutes.
She wants to see previews or trailers for the content, but they are unavailable more often than not. Many times she just gives up and goes to Netflix.
Netflix, which she feels is more organised than Prime Video. But she usually likes Prime Video's content better.
Usability test scenario: It's Friday night and, after a long week, you want to relax and watch something interesting on Amazon Prime Video.
Tasks:
- Find a comedy series you would like to watch, but not at the moment. Show your process and what you would do to get back to them later.
- Find an action movie that you would like to watch. Then start the movie as you normally would.
- Exit the movie. Now you would like to start that comedy series selected from the first task. Show your proces.
- On your last invoice, you noticed that there was a problem with improper billing from Amazon Prime Video. Please contact customer support to resolve the issue.
Usability test results
Name
Profile
Task 1
Task 2
Task 3
Task 4
Notes
Male, 35, IT analyst
From the home page, he scrolled down a lot to find the 'comedy series' category and started to hover over content to read descriptions. When he liked something, he added to his watchlist clicking on '+' from the main page.
He scrolled up and looked for featured content, where he saw some action movies. Using the same process from task 1, he clicked on the movie page and then pressed play from there. He tried to adjust language and subtitles and complained there was only a dubbed version available.
He looked for his list on the top navigation menu, then scrolled down a bit and then looked on the drop down menu. He opened the list and selected the saved content.
He felt confused, but scanned the page looking for a help section, which he found after a while on the drop down menu. He said there were too many options on the list and the contact option was kind of hidden at the bottom. When he found the 'contact us' button he clicked on it and chose the email option, which he thought would be more effective. He also compared this to Netflix's Help Centre, which he feels is much easier to navigate.
He feels the way that Prime Video Channels content is presented induces users to error.
Male, 26, administrator in a small business
Clicked on 'Series' on the main menu and scrolled down looking for the comedy category. He hovered over some of the options to read descriptions or watch previews, when available. He then chose something he would be interested in, clicked on it and once in the content page clicked on '+' to save on his list for later.
He went straight to the 'movies' section from the top menu and scanned the recommended content, since he watches a lot of action content and the algorithm recommends this. He clicked on some options to to see the preview (when available) and description. He chose one and clicked on play from the content page.
He went straight to the drop down menu on the top right corner and clicked on his list to select the saved content.
He scanned the page for a 'help' or 'support' option and clicked on 'Help' at the footer. He took a look at the list of topics in the Help Centre and clicked on the "Issues with Prime Video Payment and Order Errors" topic, but didn't find what he needed. There was a link to check payment methods, but no contact option. He went back to the help centre and took another look at the topics, scrolling the page to the end. He found the 'contact us' button almost at the bottom and clicked, selected 'account and payment' and chose to be contacted by phone, since email can take a long time and get lost in spam or in my inbox and chat sometimes has too long waiting times.
He said he would like to see the IMDB rating on the hover preview, not just on the content page.
Male, 29, baker and small business owner
Clicked on 'Series' on the main menu and scrolled down looking for the comedy category. He quickly looked at the cover art and title for many options until stopping on something that caught his attention. He stopped to read the description. He chose something but didn't save it, just memorised the title, cover image and position on the list.
He went back to the home page and looked at the recommendations, because he can usually find action movies there. He then clicked on 'movies' on the menu, looked at recommended content there and then scrolled down looking for the 'action movies' category, which he didn't see at first and had to scroll back up. He then followed the same process from task 1, pressed play from the content page and adjusted language and subtitles.
Doesn't use the watchlist feature and simply relies on memory. He basically repeated most of the same actions he did on task 1 and then pressed play on the series from the content page.
He checked the payment settings first and from there clicked on 'help' on the footer. He scanned the questions and spent a long time looking through them, then scrolled down looking for the contact option at the footer. He didn't see the 'Contact Us' button during the task and went to Google to search for this option.
He said he doesn't like to use the Search engine because he feels it's unreliable so he uses Google instead searching for "prime video" + another keyword.
Female, 48, public server
She scrolled down scanning the content and looking for the 'comedy series' category, then swiped right. She looked at the cover images and chose a few she found interesting to read the description and looked for a preview, but there wasn't any. She made a choice and clicked on the '+' icon from the main page.
She went back to the top and started looking for the 'action movies' category, followed the same process from task 1 and then pressed play from the main page.
She took a while to find the list. Even though there were a lot of content saved, she said she often forgot to go back and actually watch it. She said she expected the watchlist to be more easily accessible. She eventually found it and clicked on the series to start watching it.
She remembered seeing the 'help' option when looking for her watchlist, so she opened the drop down menu again and clicked on it. She scanned the page, didn't click on any topics and took a little while. Then she clicked on the 'Contact Us' button and had to go get her password before continuing. On the contact page, she chose the appropriate category and chose the recommended option to be contacted by phone.
