Netflix Takes Serious Hit in Consumer Satisfaction Rankings
Customer satisfaction tracking company, ForeSee, has issued its semiannual report on the top 40 Internet companies. The company with the highest customer satisfaction was Amazon. The company that usually competes with Amazon for that top spot is Netflix, which has slipped down to the middle of the pack after a rocky year of price hikes, abortive attempts to split the company in two, and some unusually poor communication. There have been all sorts of warning signs along the way, and there is certainly no reason to believe that Netflix can’t make things right, but it will cost the company. Netflix has traditionally been able to rely on high consumer satisfaction and positive word-of-mouth to maintain a low churn rate and make acquiring new subscribers relatively inexpensive. With Hollywood applying the screws and the company’s share price in a tailspin, this kind of news only serves to provide confirmation that Netflix is going to have spend more money to make more money.
Of course, it didn’t take a crystal ball to see this was coming: Netflix lost 800,000 subscribers in the third quarter, and domestic growth in the fourth quarter — which is usually pretty robust due to holiday gifts that come with Netflix embedded — is expected to be flat or down. Meanwhile, confidence in the company’s stock has collapsed, sending its share price from above $300 down to about $70.
NetFlix totally screwed the
NetFlix totally screwed the pooch with their antics this year. Splitting their streaming and disc rental services may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but it was badly mishandled. They should have at least offered an option to combine both services for a discounted price since may folks do both on occasion. New releases are available only on disc while older titles and TV shows can be streamed.
I don’t use streaming services so I actually got my disc rental service at a lower cost. The fact that lots of people used both services and now had to pay more for them just pissed a lot of people off. I thought the e-mail campaign was a lame attempt at putting a band-aid on a gaping wound. Only time will tell if NetFlix can recover from this major foobar. I don;t want to give up my rental Blu-Rays and be forced to go with streaming. There’s always RedBox, but I’ve found their selection and convenience to be sorely lacking by comparison.
but on the bright side, they
but on the bright side, they made a nice template for other companies–what not to do unless you want to destroy your company.
i think it’s such a shame, they had such consumer love, and then they got greedy. with all the fallback, i wholeheartedly believed they would revert back and combine their plans as a mea culpa or something. Instead, they’re trying to pretend like nothing happened, which obviously isn’t working–800k loss in subscribers.
The other days when GoDaddy
The other days when GoDaddy publicly supported SOPA then a day later “changed” their mind, reminded me of Netflix. It seems like companies haven’t learned how fast a lynch mob forms on the internet and that the resentment lingers for a long time.
I have always been a happy
I have always been a happy Netflix subscriber. Even with the price hike I see it as a great value. The biggest plus is they have no commercials. With all their mis-steps this year I was not angry. I simply watched in amazement as they screwed the pooch. It was obvious to me they have been on the honeymoon too long with their subscribers. They must not have any experience in anticipating and mitigating negative customer feedback.
Still happy with them, but holy cow!
Reed Hastings, the Netflix
Reed Hastings, the Netflix CEO, made 500k last year and got 1.5mm in stock options. How does someone who made such bad decisions con his way into being a CEO anyways?
He “conned” is way in by
He “conned” is way in by being a co-founder of the company.
RehabMan wrote:
He “conned”
[quote=RehabMan]
He “conned” is way in by being a co-founder of the company.[/quote]
Hilarious!
Best comment in MR in a long
Best comment in MR in a long time.
I dropped my DVD/Bluray and
I dropped my DVD/Bluray and have just streaming and my kids love it. I can’t complain, there has been lots of devices getting added for streaming. I just wish some shows are release faster, and newer movies sooner. I was one that gave them a good job on the survey.
Techbutton wrote:
I dropped
[quote=Techbutton]I dropped my DVD/Bluray and have just streaming and my kids love it. [/quote]
Actually, that is how it happened with me. I saw I was not using DVDs too much and dropped that portion.
I dropped from 2 DVDs down to
I dropped from 2 DVDs down to one back when they increased the price. But I couldn’t drop DVDs altogether, too much just isn’t available streaming (especially newer movies).