Yesterday, Netflix subscribers got a long-winded email from the company’s CEO about the strategic impetus behind the changes they have and will put into place. This mess has HBR case study written all over it. Insert “Reed Hastings peered out his window into the Los Gatos sunshine and penned a hopeful missive to subscribers” along with the text of the email and, HBR case editor, your job is nearly done!
I see where NFLX is going with this. Yet I’m a loyal customer precisely because of the simplicity of it all. No driving to the rental store or kiosk. One website to visit. One payment each month. Now, things are getting complicated. Two payments. Two websites and, inevitably, two sets of marketing emails.
But things only get complicated if you keep up with both the streaming and DVD services. It seems to me that this is NFLX’s point. I don’t think they really want us to stay subscribed to both services. It’s not a bad idea (streaming is the wave of the future and all that), but the execution hasn’t been slick.
Any bets on whether NFLX will spin Qwikster off before Q goes the way of the dodo?
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