AMAZON
PRIME VIDEO REDESIGN
Redesigned for a more user-centered
and focused experience
A recent study showed that users of streaming sites spend 7.4 minutes, on average, browsing possible TV and movie options before selecting something to watch. Considering most people turn to watching a movie or show when they want to relax and wind down from the day, we asked ourselves how we could reimagine the Prime Video site in a way that was simpler, and didn’t add additional stress and complexity to the user experience.
ROLE
UX Design/Research
TIMELINE
4 weeks
SECTOR
Entertainment/ Streaming Media
ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES
As the lead on UX Research, I wanted to understand the likes and dislikes of Prime Video users when navigating and streaming content, so we surveyed over 40 users.
With 31% saying they could easily find what they were looking for on the site, the survey asked users what they most disliked about Prime Video. Keywords and phrases that stuck out were clunky, complicated, cluttered, confusing and poorly organized. They said things like "The Interface is so bad. It doesn't make browsing enjoyable.”
THE PROBLEM
How might we simplify navigation for Amazon Prime Video members in order to quickly and easily find a movie to watch?
THE SOLUTION
The design solution we created focuses on streamlining navigation, to ensure finding something is easier and more intuitive for users.
What do you dislike the most on Prime Video?
“Its selections are all
over the place.”
“No obvious way to set profiles for different viewers on the
same account.”
“The navigation is confusing, there's too many menus
and areas.”
The survey was also used as an opportunity to let survey participants identify how often they used Prime Video and which elements they used when looking for something to watch. This gave an advantage, as I used this feedback to target those elements and prioritize them in our redesign.
Features used frequently when searching
Prime Video Usage
UNDERSTANDING THE USER
Looking to understand user behavior when streaming movies and TV shows, the team did an analysis of the market and user behaviors.
7 Minutes
Time it takes an average adult to select something to watch. 50+ year-olds give up after 5 minutes on average.
Accounts
Users have multiple video streaming accounts with many increasing the number of subscriptions.
Transitions
Users want seamless transitions between devices and content. Experience on desktop and mobile becoming just as important as content and customer acquisition.
After analyzing user interviews, and survey data responses, two primary personas we identified and the focus was put on Becca's user journey to identify her pain points when looking for a movie to watch.
BREAKING DOWN THE PROCESS
The redesign focused on subtle enhancements to Prime Video’s current functionalities that would best serve users. Using Figma to create wireframes and prototypes, the goal was to concentrate on features that would minimize the time it took to find something to watch.
Before
Surveys and initial usability testing on the live Prime Video site uncovered main areas where users got bogged down and distracted (many of which aren’t even related to Prime Video).
Users expressed frustrations in the following:
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Search bar displayed products instead of limiting results to Prime Video.
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Unable to find genre categories.
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Numerous menu options before finding things they were looking for (Watchlist, Genres).
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Labeling of categories misleading and not correctly labeled.
After
The redesign focused on streamlining navigation while using the platform and making sure the language used was consistent and intuitive across the site in order to make the experience faster, easier, and less stressful for users. Visual design remained the same with Amazon’s brand colors. During usability testing, users we talked to had positive associations.
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Constrained search results to only Prime Video when user is on the Prime Video page (differentiation from regular Amazon search bar)
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Minimize and simplify menus and navigation.
I performed usability testing on the Mid-Fi wireframes to measure the success of users being able to access a specific user profile, utilize the genre dropdown menu and return to the main Amazon shopping site. The creation of a general dropdown menu was to shift reliance on the search bar in lieu of the numerous categories and genres the Prime Video previously offered.
User Profiles created to suggest and personalize content for each profile. Watchlist and watch progress will be specific to individual profile activity.
Integrated genre drop-down menus within each of the main category pages (Movies, TV Shows etc.)
Language was made more relatable to that of similar platforms. "Continue Watching" would always be the first category in every sign in. The "Free to Prime" banner was changed to "Free," along with a bolder blue banner in order to stand out to users looking to stream solely free content.
OUTCOMES & LESSONS LEARNED
While redesigning the Prime Video site, Amazon actively started doing the same, and the design team noticed many changes to the live site while doing further research and iterations of design. They have incorporated many of the redesign ideas we derived at, such as a sticky navigation to eliminate the overcomplicated options, user profiles in order to switch between accounts and have minimized the features of paid content and pushing more "free with prime" content. This proved the team was headed in the right direction in our research and design decisions.
NEXT STEPS
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Increase specificity of search results by incorporating filter options to search bar
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Hover-over preview functionality
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Full control of Home Screen and Categories via filters