Archive for March 2007
2 Advanced Studios - Progressive Design Technology
www.2advanced.com
Media Boom – Interactive Design and Development
www.mediaboom.com
Fantasy Interactive – Interactive Design and Development
www.fantasyinteractive.com
derBauer – Audio Visual Media || Audio Web Design Trailers
www.derbauer.de
Daring Planet
www.daringplanet.com
LitFuse Design – Interactive Design Studio
www.litfusedesign.com
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28
How To Market A Subscription Service: Netflix Case Study
4 Comments · Posted by Lewis Wright in Marketing News
One of the premier websites on the Internet and nominee for a Webby two years in a row (2003 & 2004) Netflix provides a great example of how to market a subscription service. Initially the underdog, Netflix decided to take on heavyweight Blockbuster with innovation and efficiency. In just a few years they have turned a small business into an entity that doubles the video store giant (The market cap for Netflix is approximately $1.6 billion while Blockbuster is $800 million). A detailed look at their website should provide some insight on how they did it.
There’s nothing more important than the landing page for a website and Netflix has done a brilliant job. They kept the message simple, provided the price up front and made access to information as easy as a click of a tab. Aside from looking great the photo actually helps demonstrate what their product is. From top to bottom they have made it easy for any segment to understand and order.
Certain segments want to know more and Netflix has answered their questions before visitors even knew they existed. More detailed information is provided in three additional tabs including “How it works” because the revolutionary business model required a different way of thinking. Clicking on this tab displays an intuitive illustration and the repetition of a “start your free trial” button so that you don’t have to click away to get started.
A third tab displays some of the hot new movies that show they don’t have the selection of that old theater playing out-dated movies for a $1. Nope, they have any movie that’s out on DVD which is another concern dispelled before the user even grew skeptical.
On the final tab “start your free trial” Netflix provides a quick overview of everything they have seen already along with the initial fields of the order process. What could be any easier than that?
Worth noting is the brilliant balance between the offer and a free trial. Instead of pushing a free product and making people wonder “what’s the catch” they have given the price up front and offered a free trial as a value-add. The great content has provided a value-packed service and a price you can’t lose on. The proof is in the numbers. According to Netflix they have 93% of their customers refer the service to a friend. It’s working too! 85% of all new subscribers were referred from a family or friend.
Perhaps the most incredible statistic is the frequency with which they try new things on the website. Netflix tries some significantly different design within their website every single week. Even if being nominated for consecutive Webby Awards didn’t convince you that Netflix did a great job, but the continued pursuit of perfection through innovation makes it easy to understand how they went from concept to giant so quickly!
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Most websites require a fee for one of their templated marketing plans but there are a few resources that could prove useful, like this Internet Business Resource Kit by Kerry Plowright (PDF), this sample timeline hosted on www.about.com (PDF), this sample marketing plan from www.morebusiness.com, and this marketing plan template from www.zeromillion.com.
However, the best resource is always the cheapest resource, like this detailed description from www.wikipedia.org. Here is an outline of the topics covered:
- 1 Content and presentation
- 2 Measurement of Progress
- 3 Performance analysis
- 4 Budgets as Managerial Tools
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Websites that have great information about marketing in general. Most have email subscriptions worth signing up for:
www.emarketer.com
www.marketingexperiments.com
www.doubleclick.com/us
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www.myfonts.com
www.dafont.com
www.houseind.com
www.t26.com
www.itcfonts.com
www.blambot.com
www.letterheadfonts.com
www.styopkin.com/details_free_and_easy_fonts_viewer.html (Font Viewer)
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Find the best color scheme for your design at any one of these sites:
kuler.adobe.com
www.colorschemer.com/online.html
www.digitalmediaminute.com/color
www.colorcombos.com
wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html
beta.dailycolorscheme.com
www.colourlovers.com
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