The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20081109005741/http://blog.netflix.com:80/2008/06/profiles-feature-not-going-away.html

Monday, June 30, 2008

Profiles feature NOT going away

For users of Profiles, I have good news to report: we will keep the feature with no plans to discontinue it.

We were persuaded by the well-reasoned, sincere responses of loyal members who very much value this feature. As someone who enjoys helping his four-year-old daughter manage her one-DVD-at-a-time, G-rated sub-account, I identified with these thoughtful pleas to maintain Profiles.

Because of an ongoing desire to make our website easier to use, we believed taking a feature away that is only used by a very small minority would help us improve the site for everyone. Listening to our members, we realized that users of this feature often describe it as an essential part of their Netflix experience. Simplicity is only one virtue and it can certainly be outweighed by utility.

As for improving Profiles, there are no definite plans in place yet, but, like everything at Netflix, we seek to make it better and we are open to suggestions. Non-users of the feature and new members will be able to access Profiles in 2-3 weeks. Existing users will be able to continue their use, uninterrupted.

We apologize for any inconvenience the previous announcement caused.

Enjoy.

-Todd

556 comments:

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Alex said...

Thank you! This is the kind of response we expected from NF from the beginning.

RASavelkoul said...

This is such good news. It makes me feel good that the public, with well thought out arguments and persuasive pleas, can actually affect change in a business. Netflix’s commitment to keep those profile-using customers happy, however few they may be, makes me feel very good about staying as a loyal customer.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, our family will now remain customers after 8/30/08.

Science said...

Thank You! Most sincerely - I was ready to jump ship come Sept. 1, and even though BB didn't have a similar feature, Profiles is what my wife and I decided was the factor for staying with Netflix - Thank you for listening to your customers! Good job Netflix.

Jeff Sparkman said...

I thank you, my son thanks you, and my wife, who doesn't necessarily want to watch what my son and I want to thanks you. :)

Anirvan said...

Thank you.

megachick said...

i'm so glad i stumbled on this from parenthacks. i didn't even KNOW profiles existed and it's exactly what i've been wanting. i'm gonna go configure some for my family....

Anonymous said...

Digg it to let every one know: http://digg.com/movies/Netflix_changes_their_mind_Profiles_NOT_going_away

Ryan said...

Because of this decision, my wife and I will remain customers AND upgrade to 4/discs a month until we get our queue size reduced. Thank you!

PeteCurtis said...

Great news, both as a user and an investor. Please take note of Megachick's comment...

"i didn't even KNOW profiles existed and it's exactly what i've been wanting."

Maybe if the feature was better publicized and understood it would be used by more than a tiny fraction. Just saying.

Thanks for doing the right thing.

Chris said...

Thank you! Like many here, I was planning on leaving if profiles went away. Profiles make my family's selection process easy.

Ryan said...

Thanks for making everybody panic, Netflix. Maybe next time you can focus group test this kind of decision before just implementing it.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Netflix!

Anonymous said...

Well done... now go put the New Releases features back the way they were. Some "users of this feature often describe it as an essential part of their Netflix experience".

Davis Freeberg said...

This is the best news I've heard all day. Thanks for listening to the fans. It may only impact a small subset, but this is an important feature for those of us who take advantage of it. Now if we can only do something about the 500 movie limitation on the queues . . .

David Pitkin said...

Thank you so much, as a long time Netflix user (I remember when you could click a button to say you mailed your movie back to get the next one sent) and a profile user and evangelist, a very sincere thanks!

Sean said...

Thank you, Netflix, for deciding to leave it in place! I can now smile and tell my wife that we won't be leaving Netflix in a few months after all.

As an aside, I really would urge you to reflect on how this was handled overall.

I think much of the backlash was not just that Profiles were going away but that you weren't offering any means of recovering the loads of data entered. This includes not only the queue of hundreds of DVDs, but also ratings of potentially thousands of movies., friend lists, etc. You were just going to delete this data, as though it never existed. An emailed list of our queue is next-to-worthless, and this, this... flippant disregard of the data we've provided to you was both insulting and infuriating.

Additionally, the complete lack of satisfying explanation just compounded the issue. I recognize that sometimes beloved features must go away, but please remember that the onus is upon you to convince me, the customer, that it's in my best interest. In this case, I really felt like no effort was done to that end.

I love the service Netflix provides, I really do. Please don't forget the work we fans put into our queues, ratings, and social relationships while you work hard at new and interesting features. We are the people that pay your bills, after all. :)

Looking forward to the next batch of improvements!

typographica said...

I'm glad you decided not to reduce the feature-set offered paying customers, since you already charge Mac users the same amount as PC users while disallowing them from seeing movies online, which your own CEO calls a "central part of the (Netflix) experience."

Hopefully soon you will start charging all classes of user the same amount.

CableMonkey said...

I am glad I was not forced to show how important this was by dropping netflix after 8+ years.

GregWA said...

Good decision. I don't use the feature myself, but I can see how it would be a great thing to use with more than one person in the household. I think more families would use it if they understood it better - maybe developing a tutorial is not a bad next step.

Anonymous said...

I am very relieved and thankful that Netflix listened to its consumers instead of a few bean-counter hacks!

yDNA said...

Thank you, Todd. This is wonderful news. Although the Profiles feature is used by a small minority of the user base, it really is an extremely useful feature. Dare I say one that could potentially be monetized (as a paid feature). I think the goal of simplification of the site and enhancing Profiles could go hand-in-hand. Positioning Profiles as a reason to select Netflix can be a persuasive argument for lots of families and households that may be unaware of its utility.

Again, thank you!

Jw said...

Thank you to everyone at Netflix for allowing me and my family to enjoy movies our own way... I was scared that the company had forgotten about that point.

That was the right decision.

Jay Goodman Tamboli said...

Thank you!

Josh O. said...

This is great news. As many complaints as I imagine you received, many of us were not going to say anything and were just planning to reduce their account or close it altogether. I was one of those people. Now I'm happy to say I can continue to use Netflix, and it will still be the best service out there.

RJ said...

Thanks Tom, good to hear. I'll keep my account.

Shame I already moved my wife's account over to your competitor. At least it will be easier for us to know who's movies belong to who.

Ryan said...

Netflix,

Thank you. You have restored my faith in your company, and I am glad to see that you really DO listen to your customers as I thought all along.

I will remain a loyal Netflix customer for years to come.

Anonymous said...

Thank you!

fletc3her said...

Thank you. This is how I would improve profiles:

- Allow users to delete profiles that are no longer valid.

- Allow an account owner to designate another of their profiles as the account owner. Basically, decouple the billing information from the profile so one can be changed without necessarily altering the other.

- Provide a way to upgrade a profile into a full fledged account. Great for when the kids go off to college.

- Allow each profile to manage their own instant queue.

- Provide a format so queues can be exported and imported.

I was just about to suggest all these things when i got the news profiles were being deleted. I'm glad to be able to suggest them now.

Austin said...

Thank you so so so much. You just made my month!!!!

JHill said...

Thanks!

Jeff C said...

Thank You! I never complained when it was going away but I'm thrilled it is staying. I have been a loyal Netflix customer since 2004.

Anonymous said...

Can I just say: Woo-Hoo!

Thank you for not causing fights between myself and my husband over the Netflix queue.

rahulgupta said...

Thanks for listening, Netflix.

Boerseun said...

Thank you for listening. Our family was considering some alternatives, but we will remain customers now.

This was the right thing to do, thank you for doing it!

Anonymous said...

And now I won't be going away either!

bdub said...

Awesome. Thanks!

Gus said...

Thank you! My wife is going to be very happy that all her work and preferences aren't disappearing into the ether.

Anonymous said...

I was not even aware that Profiles existed until this whole controversy developed. I would suggest that a first step would be to publicize it better and make it more accessible.

Tim Phelps said...

Who cares. HAHA!

BerBar said...
This post has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Wow. Whining works. My kids are right. Anyway, thanks!

Chowderhead said...

And now, there can be peace on Earth.

Thank you, Netflix.

Buzz said...

Great news, thanks!!!

Nullstadt said...

As with one of the comments above, I didn't even know this feature existed until I heard it was going away.

Once it comes back in a few weeks, our family will definitely be using it.

Anonymous said...

Thank you. You have saved my marriage.

The Mommy said...

We were shopping around to find another company. Keeping profiles means you keep us (and I think many others) as customers. Good move!

Jeff said...

Thank you for revising your decision. I may even buy a Roku as a show of my appreciation. :)

Anonymous said...

Yay! Nice to see a company that responds to its customers!

Tonya said...

Thank you for listening to your customers! Now I don't have to cancel my subscription.

THANK YOU!

Ernie said...

Thank you so much! My wife is so happy as am I. It is so refreshing to see that users here have a voice that can be heard as it is too often not elsewhere. Thank you so much.

joseph said...

Bravo! Thanks for listening to your users, Netflix.

I think you are going to have a lot more users of profiles when you re-enable them, as it seems from comments that many people who would have loved to use them were not aware of the feature.

I was one of those who was definitely going to cancel by September 1st, and while I still do not like the way you went about making and announcing the decision, I recognize that companies make mistakes. It is how you react to the mistakes that matters, and in this case, the important thing is that you listened when your users spoke (screamed) loudly.

Anonymous said...

Much appreciated, glad you listened to your customers :)

I couldn't live without this feature.

Mark said...

WOW!! This proves NO company is too big to listen. Thank you for listening. And thanks to the other parents who love their children and care about what they watch.
Mark

doug said...

Very very good. I have never heard of public bitching effecting any kind of real, positive change in a website such as this. It's nice to see you guys are going to do the smart thing here.

Katie Alender said...

Excellent news, and a refreshing response from Netflix! Thank you very much for reconsidering the situation.

aperock said...

Thank you Netflix. I will no longer have to get a divorce.

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!
I have two girls, 10 & 6. It would be devastating for one of them to not get a movie on Friday night movie night. I love this feature. I actually went to Blockbuster to see if they offered something equivalent to 'profiles'. I would have switched immediately if they had. I'm very happy to see that NetFlix listens to their customers and seriously considers what our needs are. I am a very happy customer and will keep recommending NetFlix to anyone that will listen.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you - John & Family

Ian said...

I'd like to echo what "PeteCurtis" said: "Maybe if the feature was better publicized and understood it would be used by more than a tiny fraction."

It's such an essential feature and a strong NetFlix advantage among those of us who know of it. Others, it seems, only heard about it as it was going away. Setting up user profiles is pretty easy, just not very discoverable.

atteSmythe said...

I was already shopping around. Thank you so much.

What you say is true - those of us who use it do consider it to be an essential feature of the service. While not the only thing that sets you apart by far, profiles have been (and now are!) a prime example of Netflix going above and beyond to improve the user experience.

Not having to shuffle my queue around to avoid having a whole season of a TV show at home? Priceless.

Anonymous said...

I really appreciate Netflix swallowing its pride and reversing its decision just two weeks after the original announcement. I think you'll find it worth it to keep this, albeit small, audience happy. It could have been a great inroad for Blockbuster. Thank you for listening!

Andrew said...

Dear Netflix higher-ups:

As a long-time member, I really appreciate this response to the outcry from your subscriber base. Thank you!

However, I recommend that you take a long, detailed look at the decision-making process which lead you to remove profiles in the first place. Yanking a value-added service never should have happened. Whoever came up with the concept and all the people who agreed that it was a great idea need to spend a few good minutes in the corporate time-out corner and think about what they've done.

But, regardless, you listened to your customers and did the right thing in the end. Fine job!

Anonymous said...

It's a great thing you kept it. But what I want to know is WHY DID THE IDEA EVEN COME UP IN THE FIRST PLACE??? What exactly would it have solved? Maybe the people who found it confusing weren't exactly the smartest group of people around. EDUCATION is the key... not just removing the feature.

Anonymous said...

Excellent. Glad to hear it, and that Netflix valued the input from their customers. :) rg

Anonymous said...

This is great news! I'm happy the few of us that used it spoke up and were listened to.

As someone else noted in a reply earlier, attention should be paid to how the original decision was presented to customers. It was very brash and uncaring, and came with no easy way to deal with the loss.

That said, yay again!

Anonymous said...

Thank you! You've restored my faith in Netflix!

Roy Leban said...

Thanks for listening! Bravo!

Here's my blog post: Netflix Listened

BTW, I like some of fletc3her's suggestions. In about 6 years, I'll probably want the ability to upgrade a profile into a separate account (not that college students these days have time to watch movies!).

Michele said...

I'm soooo glad that you've gone this way. It really makes a huge difference in my family's NF experience. I really appreciate it that you've listened to us, even though we are a minority.

BerBar said...

My family and I are happy to know that. I was about to move from 3 to 2 movies at a time. Instead, I will create a separate profile for my kid.

However, I still don't understand how it is "only used by a very small minority". It's hard to believe

Netflix has regained my love and respect.

Jay said...

Good deal

When it was announced..I dropped my plan from 3 to 2, pending any further announcements. I will now raise my plan as a good faith offer

chan said...

I'm very happy to hear that you're keeping this useful aspect of your service.

I hope Netflix finds a way to share this feature with a greater percentage of their clients (documentation/UI design/publicity?). Those of us that use it, love it.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much! This is a lovely development.

Stormdancer said...

Thank you very much, it's great to know our voices (strident, raving, frothing as they may be) are heard. I'm sure the talented team at NetFlix will make this work somehow.

Perhaps more people will make use of the feature now that they know it exists. I had no idea until a few months ago, and it has made our use of the service MUCH more pleasant.

zack Frazier said...

Thank you!

*daha* said...

Thanks for listening. The word is spreading - I learned about the reprieve from one of my other communities.

I urge you to send a bulk email to all the users who received the first email, announcing the reprieve.

This would be a good time to put a few hours into creating a tutorial that better explains the use/benefits of multiple queues.

Many users would also appreciate a return of the prominent and direct link to the New Releases and Now On DVD pages.

Anonymous said...

Thank you. When I told my wife the feature was going away she was as disappointed as I was. You have made my day.

Anonymous said...

As long term members, my family and I thank you for both keeping profiles and listening to your customers.

blosmtx said...

I am so glad Netflix is not too stubborn to listen to the needs and wants of its customer base, and realise when they've made a mistake. Thank you!!!!
We were about to switch over to Blockbuster, but instead I think we will be increasing from 2 at a time to 3 at a time to show our appreciation.
One feature I would like to see added to profiles would be the ability for each profile to use the "watch instantly" feature instead of only the master profile. This would be nice, but the current system also works for my family.
Thank you again for keeping profiles!!!!

Patrick Haney said...

Even though many others have thanked you for listening to your customers and changing your mind on this decision, I just wanted to chime and say thanks as well. It's nice to know there's a company out there that can actually be swayed by the people that help keep them in business.

Bob said...

Thank you so much! I really can't thank you enough!!! My wife and I have very different tastes in movies and she absolutely loves getting the red envelope with her name on it and what she knows to be HER movie inside.

Dustin L. said...

Thank you so much. It's good to see that Netflix looked at the situation from more than just a numbers game and saw there was value in this feature after all. This is the best news I've had all month. (Is that sad?)

Sixagon said...

Thank you for listening! My faith in the Interweb has been restored!

Jason said...

Nice!!
I was on the bubble of upgrading to more-discs-at-a-time because even though I'm the account holder, the other folks in my house manage their own profiles and I've allocated all but one disc to them. Then the announcement to remove the profiles feature altogether and I was questioning if I'd stick with Netflix.

Now it's settled. Thank you Netflix for doing right by your loyal customers using your service to it's fullest. Instead of canceling my membership on August 30th I'll be UPGRADING my membership TODAY!!!!

Anonymous said...

Warm Fuzzies!!!

I will go to all the places I bitched, and post a follow-up. Cheers, Netflix!

Anonymous said...

Hurray!!

Thank you for listening, Netflix!

tsalcedo2 said...

thank you!!!!!! we are very pleased with the outcome of this news..Way to go. I knew netflix would hear our plea's...

Anonymous said...

This is awesome news! With teenagers in the house, history buffs, action-adventure and period-drama fans alike will remain happy at our house! This feature is why we are with Netflix. Thank you for listening!

Allison said...

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! You've saved my sanity (and possibly my marriage)!

Anonymous said...

Yay. Thank you so much.

This is a great differentiator and shows that the company listens.

Thank you.

Ron

auna said...

Thank you so very, very much. I am very grateful that my thre boys will be able to continue to access the Netflix site. I had cut them off because of the ratings issue, but I will tell them they can continue to peruse. :) Thank you for listening and responding.

Jules said...

WONDERFUL NEWS!!!! As long as Netflix is around, I will ALWAYS be a customer.

You guys did the RIGHT thing!

Sandy Martin said...

Yaaaaaaay! Thank you!

Anonymous said...

My wife and I both thank you Netflix! We won't be downsizing our subscription plan come September 1st.

Isaac said...

Wooo! Thanks Netflix!

Sylow_P said...

Thank You Netflix.

randomlife said...

Thanks so much! When I first heard that profiles were leaving, I turned to my friends and said, "Wow, this is the first decision Netflix has made that I've been disappointed with!"

Not a bad track record at all, but I wasn't looking forward to the queue maintenance time that was approaching for me. :-)

Anonymous said...

I'm glad to hear this. I will reactivate my account soon.

Jamie said...

What a relief! Thanks so much.

sam said...

Thanks for listening. This will ensure I am a long time customer!

Anonymous said...

This makes me laugh. Last night I cancelled my membership and this morning I called up Netflix and told the customer service rep that the only reason I was cancelling is because they were eliminiating the seperate queues. I also dropped off my three DVDs at the post office today at lunch. Netflix should FIRE their head of product development and product marketing. This is a debacle and simply illustrates that Netflix is another corporate giant that puts profits over client satisfaction.

Phil Hilliker said...

Just adding my voice to those saying "Thank you." My family will be staying with Netflix now. We'll also be buying a Roku in the near future.

alex said...

Thanks Netflix!

celtcub said...

I have to say I am impressed. I am more than happy that NetFlix listened to it's customers and it makes me feel much better being a member of a service that actually hears it's customers.
We will remain with your services and our family whole heartedly thank you for this decision.

I have faith in NetFlix once again.

Daniel Auger said...

Thank you very much. You have retained a customer who was beginning to look at other options. I'm very happy to see that Netflix listens to their customerbase.

FYI: For those of you who miss the "Releasing this week" page, it's still going: http://www.netflix.com/AllNewReleases?lnkctr=NavAllNewReleases

R said...

Thank you.

snekse said...

Thank you for listening to your customers, even if they were the minority.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for keeping the profiles feature. It's nice to see the will of the people still can win something somewhere.

Progrocktv said...

YES! First, due to customer feedback MS say they will continue supporting Outlook Express for the time being (haven't had time to try the other service) and now this.

Yes, customers CAN make a difference!

steven said...

i rescind my "thanks for nothing" comment on the previous post. thanks for listening to customers. (imagine the chaos that could have been prevented with the original post being "We're thinking of removing profiles what do you think" ? )

JenA said...

YAYAYAYAYAY! I will now go tell everyone that Netflix does NOT suck after all :)

eliz.s. said...

Thanks so much! I didn't want to decrease my service, or have to move somewhere else. Here's hoping more subscribers use the profiles feature! It's a marvelous tool.

techcommdood said...

Excellent news, thanks for listening! And you know, more usable != fewer features. ;)

Uriah said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

bryan said...

All weekend I'd see commercials on television for Netflix, and I'd think, 'Boy, I used to really like Netflix. But now ... not so much.'

But with this great news, I can go back to loving Netflix even MORE than I did before!

THANK YOU!

Anonymous said...

I commented when I felt you made the wrong decision, and I will comment now that I think you have made the right one.

Thank you very much for listening!

Juliette said...

Another Thank you from here in St. Louis. The profiles feature is essential for us because we use Netflix not only for entertainment, but in the service of homeschooling our son. We were really struggling with how to proceed. I can't tell you how happy we are to hear that the feature is safe. We'll make sure to tell more people about it!

Susan W said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you Netflix. You listened to your customers and acted appropriately.

I agree with some of the suggestions listed here...maybe do a little more (or better) market research before you make such a sweeping change. With more than 1200 responses to your first post (and to be honest, it wasn't easy for me to find this blog), you can safely assume there were lots of people whose voices you didn't hear, and who were just as angry and ready to jump ship.

Perhaps use focus groups next time you consider a change (even when adding features) or create a beta group of loyal fans for testing. You'd be amazed at what the collective intelligence of your loyal subscribers would put in your hands--for nothing more than the joy of improving a service they already love.

And market your services better. There are competitors--some I didn't even know about until I read the response to your blog. What is your unique selling proposition? What makes you different? Profiles is just one...and if you read through the responses, you have a readymade campaign based solely on this feature. Sell new subcriptions based on the ability to create different profiles for kids, for spouses, for types of rentals [tv shows vs movies]. Increase discs rented per subsriber by selling this feature to them. So many folks said they INCREASED their subscription based on the different profiles.

A little long-winded I know, but in summary, thanks; now use what you have learned.

Able-X said...

YOU NETFLIX, have earned Delicious Cake! Thanks for listening to us and keeping this great feature.

Anonymous said...

Now this is the Netflix that I've been whole-heartedly spreading the word about. You have regained my loyalty. Thank you.

Eddy said...

Time to update this then? ;)

http://www.netflix.com/Help?faqtrkid=4&p;_search_text=profiles

When can we start profiles again?

HPL said...

Excellent decision. My wife will be so happy (as will I). One suggestion: allow profile members to receive ratings and queue info emails. Currently all those emails go straight to me. Thank you...and if you'll excuse me, I have to go watch THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN on my Roku box...again :)

Kelly said...

Thank you! Changing your plan in response to customer feedback has restored and strengthened my faith in Netflix. I'm so glad to be keeping my membership.

m.cellophane said...

Thank you! I was planning a sad departure from Netflix to multiple limited BB accounts, but now I can happily stay!

I have been an advocate of Netflix and its profiles for a long time and I am pleased that I will be able to continue to recommend Netflix.

Marc H. said...

Thank you so much! Seeing that Netflix listens to it's users makes me want to continue supporting you now more than ever. I doubt that Blockbuster would ever have the guts to do what you guys have.

Keep up the good work!

EPChris said...

Thank you, I was really not looking forward to having to do without Profile. Thank you again!

Anonymous said...

That is excellent news! Thank you, Netflix. I was dreading thinking about a working solution for post-September 1 without Profiles. After the intial announcement, I took one look at my partner's queue with 300+ SciFi movies in it and thought that there was no way we could go back to working with just one Profile. :)

Ariel said...

Wow, awesome. It's great to see a company actually listening to its users! Bravo, NetFlix guys.

Anonymous said...

Netflix is a bit of a breath of fresh air when it comes to large corporations. It's a wonderful thing to see that the services have only improved since we started using them 8 or 9 years ago, when bl*ckbuster didn't have a dvd section yet.

Bravo Netflix, A corporation that listens to its' market minority, and responds.

Kasey said...

This is an awesome feature and I'm glad we get it back. Now, about that whole "must use windows for watch it now features"... Please reach out and listen to your Linux and Mac audiences before another company that does the same thing comes along and caters to our requests.

Miggity said...

Hooray! Thank you Netflix! You really listen.

Anonymous said...

All I have is a simple "thank you"!

Gordon said...

OK, I take it back now.

I will now keep my 3 disk account and not drop it to 2 as I had planned.

I will begin again doing the product research on the Roku box that I had started a couple of weeks ago.

I will quit researching the alternatives to Netflix that I started when you announced that profiles would leave.

I will tell my wife that she can continue to use her profile.

I will consider adding a profile for my kids.

jv said...

this is indeed good news, but...

THE DAMAGE IS DONE.

i have already moved my queue over to a competitor (greencine) and started transitioning my ratings lest they be deleted. and i'll likely stay.

so the upshot is that rather than having us on a 4-out plan, we're now down to a 2-out plan (plus my 2-out on greencine).

this announcement, while happy, has probably stopped my gf from moving to blockbuster and us from killing our netflix account entirely... but the damage is certainly done.

unlike many of you, we hadn't been members for years so i didn't have this long relationship with netflix already. this decision pretty much shattered my confidence in the company. and that will be very hard to rebuild. the same people who took this disastrous decidion are still at the helm, what will they do next?

while this decision is certainly the right one given the circumstances, i just cannot feel entirely happy...

sorry. i really am.

Ed said...

Thank you! I do love my profiles.

Morgan said...

Thanks Netflix. I was one of the ones who planned to cancel by September 1. I will keep my account and possibly even upgrade now.

moonwick said...

Thank you! My wife and I really appreciate this decision...

Jeremiah said...

Thanks!!!

Wahine24 said...

Great! Now if you would only change your discriminatory "Watch Instantly" policy which very regrettably excludes EVERYONE besides microsoft users. I use Ubuntu and Firefox, and it has been a great source of frustration that I am getting short-changed for my monthly fee since I can't enjoy the Watch Instantly service.

Don said...

Yay! Still angry that this happened in the first place. But happy I won't need spend another $6/month for another account, or endure the agony of managing one queue.

Anonymous said...

I too am pleased and relieved that Netflix listened to our pleas. I sent customer service a protest e-mail soon after I received the "axe" message. Like so many others with young family members, having a separate queue with separate controls and ratings was a huge benefit to me and my wife.

I must comment on the "New releases" complaint I see often in this blog. I must admit that I was not a big user of this feature and didn't realize that it had gone away, but on this very blog page exists a link:
"----> DVDs releasing this week"

http://www.netflix.com/AllNewReleases?lnkctr=NavAllNewReleases

that takes you to an apparently complete new release page. How to get there on the Netflix page is completely non-obvious to me, but bookmarks work well...

Matt said...

Fantastic! Frankly, the first time I ever heard about Profiles was when this controversy erupted. I was alternately thrilled to hear that they existed (we sorely need it in our household) and bummed to find out that it was being taken away again.

Thanks so much for reinstating this feature, and I'm looking very forward to signing up for it when it relaunches.

Anonymous said...

As a long-time critic of NF, I would like to thank them for listening to their customers and continuing a worthwhile feature. While everyone may not use it, It is great for folks with families that have broad tastes, large age differences, or those that like to manage TV shows & movies, etc. separately.

Thank you NF!

Steven said...

I've been a NetFlix subscriber for about 2 months now. I'd never heard of the profiles feature until I read the Slashdot article reporting that it was going away. My immediate reaction was
1. That's just what I need.
2. Too bad it's going away.

Now I can create a profile for myself :)

James said...

Now that the profiles decision has gone full circle, I wonder if anyone at Netflix can go in to more detail regarding the feature, its perceived lack of use, and what the thinking was internally regarding its existence.

I'm still a little hazy about how an optional feature, activated only by enabling it within account features, contributed to enough user confusion that it would be targeted for removal. I get the feeling there is more at work here.

Was the feature causing too many customer service incidents to justify its existence? Was there some programming issue that caused site slow-downs or prevented other features from being implemented? If you've decided to leave profiles active, I would assume the issues weren't mission critical.

I wasn't a user of profiles, but I can tell you honestly your decision to leave them active means I'll continue to recommend Netflix to friends and family. I think now would be a great time to be completely honest with your customer base and explain this situation. You'd be surprised how much good karma you can build by doing so.

Klobetime said...

Thank you for listening!

Anonymous said...

A very sincere thank you from my wife and I. We are Netflix customers for a long time to come.

aguayo said...

as a family of loyal netflix users since 2000, we say THANK YOU!!! talk about listening to your customers!!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you.

dan1son said...

Since I responded to the original blog entry about these going away, e-mailed netflix support, and called I figured I'd post again to let you know of my approval of this decision.

You have managed to keep another member, and will more than likely gain some more through my recommendations.

jared said...

Smart decision. Thanks!!

Mr. W said...

A wise decision! I've been a sold and satisfied customer from day one. I will now remain a customer past that cut-off date, and have upgraded my plan to 3 a month!
Thank-you Todd!

Carol said...

Thanks for making a wise business decision in favor of your long term and power users. I dropped from 4 to 2 movies after the initial announcement. I've increased back to 3 after NF's change of heart. After I trial GreenCine (which I started after the first message), I'll think about whether to increase back to 4. I had never even heard of GreenCine before all of this, but their foreign and independent selection is appealing. Thanks again for reversing your position.

Heinz said...

I, too, thank Netflix for not eliminating this extremely useful feature.

Luce said...

Thank you for listening, Netflix! I didn't want to break up with you. I'm delighted that we're going to stay together. Your responsiveness is much appreciated.

Scott said...

Thank you Netflix! I am glad I don't have to go and find another service.

Anonymous said...

Thank you.

JoeBok said...

Fantastic! Thanks to Netflix for listening, and thanks to other members for giving them something to listen to! Profiles are a great way to promote and maintain marital bliss!

timoni said...

Hooray! My roommate and I had no idea what we'd do otherwise.

Michael said...

My wife and I are thrilled to hear this news and agree with the many users who have already posted. Having profiles available is where the line is drawn that truly sets Netflix apart from other similar services.

We're certain the Netflix team will successfully find a solution for those users who find the feature complicated to use, but also does not take away from the experience of those users who prefer to use the website to it's full potential, such as ourselves.

John Kusters said...

My partner and I were just discussing this weekend what we were going to do come September 1st. None of the options were particularly appealing (though we were really looking at "upgrading" to Apple TV), but without Profiles, there was no way we'd be staying with Netflix. Thankfully you have listened and we won't have to turn to a "second best."

maggie said...

thank you!

JL! said...

Thank you so much for reconsidering!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for listenting, Netflix! My wife and I appreciate the change of heart.

Daniel said...

Thank you so much. While I hope this doesn't put a wrench into what plans you had, I really do appreciate you listening to those who find this feature to be so valuable to their Netflix experience.

Anonymous said...

Great news! Glad to see you do take customer opinions into account when making decisions or undoing unpopular ones.

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Thanks you very much for keeping the profiles. We are very happy with your response to our requests. Good job!

Natalie said...

Thank you so much for listening to us!!!! This shows me that you really do value ME as a customer. We as a family were going to cancel our service when we moved in August but as a result of this we will just suspend it for a month while we move and then change our address and start it up again. That is great. Thanks!!!!

Natalie

John said...

Thank you!

Eric said...

Thank you, I was so worried about the company due to this. (We use this over other competitors since we've had such good experiences.) I am again proud to be a member. Thank you for listening.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for listening. I'm not sure all our arguments were "well reasoned" (passionate might be a better term!) but we meant well, and I'm glad you heard us.

Dr. Cogent said...

You never take features away from your users. You fix them, add more, or improve them. Taking away features unless they are inherently broken, significantly hinder usability, or simply cannot be fixed by the engineering team is never a good idea.

Cyber Hermit said...

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Mike Kingsley said...

Thank you so much. I felt it just as important to write a thank you note as it was to write the complaint in the first place.

Alan92RTTT said...

I Thank you and my Wife thanks you.

I missed the announcment that this change was going to be made and it would have been a disapointing loss. Out tastes are um... Different ;) and it was a pain to manage fair usage of our plan before this feature was added.

Thank you for retaining it. :D

chicken said...

YEAH NETFLIX! YEAH!! Thank you!

Saegiru said...

I am totally surprised by this. I honestly felt that it would happen as many other things in the past, and our voices and concerns would be ignored as always. You amazed me and actually gave me a little bit of faith in companies being reasonable. I canceled my subscription the same day you announced removing profiles, and true to my word I am resubscribing at this very moment. Glad to still have you around, Netflix.

Anonymous said...

Thank you. This is why I use Netflix.

Anonymous said...

That great and thanks.

Now Netflix needs to work on getting the Watch Instantly service for the MAC!!
If Watch Instantly was a free feature I would say who cares, but since some of my money is going towards the Watch Instantly service, I want equal opportunity for ALL users of Netflix not a certain group.

Anonymous said...

Profiles don't matter to me personally, but I am impressed and thankful that you listened to the customer families and households that do depend on the feature. Someday I will want that kind of attention for my own needs.

Montana Harkin said...

Yay!

JustKristin said...

Thank you, Netflix!

Joshua said...

Thank you Netflix :) :)

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness! I love having my own profile. I tell everyone I know about the profile feature because I love it so much, so hopefully people will catch on to it soon.

Dan said...

Yep, This is good news. Thanks for not removing profiles, I didn't complain, and I didn't call about it, I was just sure I was headed for a divorce since my wife and I can't ever agree on a movie to see.

Being somewhat shifty myself though, I have a feeling this was a slick marketing ploy as even bad publicity is good publicity. ;)

To those of you giving backhanded thanks to management at netflix (you know who you are, you whiny little whiners.. using words like flippant and onus because you have to prove to everyone how smart you think you are) give it a rest already. You got your way. Shut up and enjoy it.

Future suggestions to Netflix:

1. Tell the MPAA to get out of the dark ages and FORCE (ha ha) them to let you make more movies available for streaming right away.

2. That new website layout you have is a bit cumbersome. I preferred the ease of use the old interface afforded. This new one almost seems counterintuitive.

3. Have someone rework your search engine. It doesn't return enough results, and I (I can only speak for myself) end up having to guess at the movie title or go somewhere else to find the exact title so I can come back and give your engine the full title. Case in point.. search for Monty Python and you get 6 or 7 results.. when you *know* there are lots more, but where's the link to see all the results? (gotcha.. there isn't one)

That's all. Those are minor inconveniences I suppose. Netflix Rocks!

the mom said...

Thank you from my family! The nightmare of having to constantly move the kids movies up or out of the way has gone away now. I believe there will be less frustration with the Profiles feature then if it were taken away. Much appreciated!

Anonymous said...

Thank you. With this decision, I too will continue to be a NetFlix customer. I hate to admit it, but, with profiles going away, I was ready to turn to the dark side (BB). I'm glad that I can remain a netflix customer.

Daniel said...

Just like many of the responses so far I just wanted to say thank you for listening to your customers, and proving that there still are some companies out there who really care.

Great Work!

Old Grim said...

This news just made my day! My wife and I use profiles to keep our watch lists separate and absolutely love the feature. I had steeled myself after the announced change, and even attempted to merge our movie queue (quit after a painful hour).

Thank you for listening to our pleas, Netflix. You've made this family extremely happy! This means our friends and family will still be hearing our praise for your service.

Jolard said...

Thank you thank you thank you.

This is a great move by Netflix. Profiles are a defining aspect of your service, and a real differentiator between you and your competition. I am so glad that this decision has been made.

Thanks!

Long-time customer said...

Thank you so much! We hooked into Profiles a long time ago. We found it so much easier than trying to juggle the single queue to make sure everyone got their fair share of the 5-at-a time subscription.

Thanks again!

P.S. More "Watch Instantly" selections, please. I know the selection is growing, but it seems kinda slow ramping up.

MTS said...

Hurray! The good news is that I can stay with Netflix. The bad news is that my wife left for Blockbuster and doesn't want to come back.

Ted Naleid said...

It's great to hear that netflix is keeping this very useful feature! My family has been using profiles for the last couple of years, and it has become a central part of how we use netflix.

Thanks!

Paul Logasa Bogen II said...

I'm glad that my calling customer support every day for the last two weeks was worthwhile :-D

Russell Bonchu, III said...

Thank you so much for listening to your customers. This feature of your service really makes it stand out above the others, and you should be proud of it. Once again, Thank you.

Roberto said...

I wish I lived in America so I sign up. I'm not even joking. LoveFilm just doesn't cut it over here in the UK.

Anonymous said...

One more in the chorus of "thank you" for leaving this feature in play. I'm really glad to be able to keep the service.

Beth Griese said...

Thank you very much, Netflix! My family and I appreciate being heard. You guys gave me a scare, but now I love you all the more. :)

Jeff said...

Yaayyy! Thanks!

doswheeler said...

No doubt about it. thank you Thank you Thank you

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