It’s lame to quote a blog you read about in another blog on your blog, but it happens all the time and I like this person’s characterization of the services Netflix provides that’s outside of the “normal” way people purchase/rent things. It goes with my belief that Netflix can create an agent or avatar that is trained with my preferences and histories. By offering new things to the agent, if it accepts it, there’s a good chance I will. This kind of information mapping isn’t seen (as directly) on the consumer level, and I think the organizations that utilize that kind of personalization will be successful in the long run. Netflix could do more with that. Maybe they should hire me (after the LIS degree.)

Anyway, here’s the quote from ysk.com, which I found through Becky:

However, what I find even more compelling about Netflix is the ability to track new DVD releases and maintain a growing list of movies that I would like to see. I can even add and track movies that have not been released in theatres or on DVD. Netflix can then provide automatic management of new DVD releases into my viewing list on a schedule that I can adjust. On top of that, Netflix provides recommendations and reviews from critics as well as the Netflix community. The net effect is that I now have a relationship with Netflix where Netflix is my personal “movie concierge” or “movie butler”. By providing these personalized services, Netflix is enhancing my overall movie watching experience by ensuring that I see more quality movies that align with my interests and tastes. This value is something that allows Netflix to maintain a premium over other companies that solely focus on delivery efficiency, as well as ensure stickiness that increases switching costs for customers.

I’ll argue that I don’t always see quality movies (in fact, sometimes I rent crap,) but it was crap I wanted to see and enjoyed the experience even if I didn’t care for the movie. At least then I can say I’ve seen it. The rest of the article talks about Netflix needs to improve their interface and access to information: I think it’s better than discussed in the OP but there’s still room to go. Netflix has provides different views and lists and RSS feeds, showing they care about both what information to show/share, and also how to present it. They’ve added a bunch of AJAX applets to the site that give popup balloons with more info, and give you better internal links to friends and reviews.

The one thing I would like is a “notes” field for each movie in my queue, so I can record why I added it. Who told me about the movie, or how I found it. It would be neat to see some other information about the queue (when I added it, where I came from to add it (from a recommendation from another movie, from a list somewhere.) I think I’ll go request that now.