Unpacking Amazon Prime’s UI Redesign With UIC Digital’s Matt Lasky
You may have noticed that Amazon Prime Video recently revamped its interface. To help us understand what Amazon did, why they did it, and what it could mean for other streaming publishers, I recently interviewed Matt Lasky, lead user experience designer at UIC Digital. His quotes in the article have been edited for flow and readability.
Prime's new interface puts subscriptions on top, where they're easy to find. Who knew Amazon had a live channel? From Variety.
While Lasky and his team did not work on the Amazon Prime redesign, they have extensive experience working on similar projects for other high-profile clients. “We work with companies like BBC, and in fact, we just launched BBC.com globally,” Lasky shared. They’ve also collaborated with organizations like UEFA, the European governing body of football, where they worked on the user interface for sports and library asset management.
In our conversation, Lasky offered his insights into Amazon's updates, focusing on improvements in navigation, clearer content differentiation, and the role of AI in personalizing recommendations.
The Significance of Amazon’s UI Redesign
First, Lasky believes the interface redesign significantly improves Prime Video's user experience. “I think this is a real stepping-stone for Amazon,” he observed. “When you spoke to Prime Video users before this update, no one would have complimented its aesthetics."
The redesign addresses these shortcomings in several keyways. “The interactions just feel a lot more elegant,” Lasky explained, noting improvements in how content loads, the timing of interactions, and the overall connection users feel when navigating the platform. These changes, according to Matt, “go a long way to improving [the experience] and elevating it to where some of its competitors are, and even overtaking some of them.”
One of the most notable updates is the new navigation system, which simplifies finding content and reduces user frustration. The update enhances the visual experience, making the platform more user-friendly and ensuring that users can find the content they want more efficiently.
AI-Driven Personalized Recommendations
Another impactful element is the integration of AI-driven personalized recommendations, which addresses a common user frustration: the challenge of finding something to watch quickly and easily.
“The old model of the AI just clearly wasn’t picking up on [user preferences]. It was too generic or wasn't nuanced,” Lasky noted. “A recent survey by Nielsen found that 20% of users who don't know what they want to watch before they go on to a service end up leaving because they just can’t find what they want.” This highlights the importance of an effective recommendation system in keeping users engaged.
Amazon’s solution relies on a more advanced AI-driven recommendation engine powered by its own technology, called Bedrock. “Rather than being generic in its choices, it’s trying to be more homed in and much more tailored.” Lasky noted that Bedrock, which is available as a service on AWS, will continue to evolve, incorporating predictive nuances that could adjust recommendations based on factors like the user’s mood or time of day. This would allow the system to recommend a 2-hour movie on Saturday night and a 30-minute sitcom or documentary on a Tuesday evening. “It would be amazing if the new AI technology can bring that to the fore,” he said, imagining a future where the system could suggest content that aligns perfectly with the user’s current mindset or schedule.
This move by Amazon not only improves user satisfaction but also sets a new standard for AI in the streaming industry. “I’m sure the competition will be taking notice,” Lasky remarked, suggesting that other platforms may soon look to enhance their recommendation systems in response.
Practical Insights for Other Platforms
Other streaming services looking to enhance their user experience can take lessons from Amazon's update. “It seems that Prime Video listened to its users,” Lasky noted. The importance of gathering and responding to user feedback cannot be overstated. One frustration was the users could often select content that they had to pay for. To counteract this, Amazon added an icon over content that isn't free. By understanding user pain points and addressing them directly, the new interface should significantly enhance customer satisfaction.
Lasky also highlighted the challenges of integrating AI into a platform’s UI, noting that the process requires careful consideration of both technical and user experience aspects. “There's a real opportunity for these services to hone that and improve the user experience,” he said, emphasizing that improving content discovery is a critical area where AI can make a meaningful impact.
However, he also warned that AI models must be sophisticated enough to avoid the generic or irrelevant recommendations plaguing earlier systems. Stability and scalability are also key factors for other platforms to consider when implementing AI-driven enhancements, and that ensuring that the AI is both accurate and adaptable will be crucial for providing users with a truly personalized experience.
Building Your Own AI Recommendation Engine
For smaller content distributors, building an AI-based recommendation engine might seem daunting, but Lasky provided encouraging insights into how it can be done effectively. “We have internal teams heavily involved with AI, using different models,” Lasky said, indicating that even smaller companies can harness AI with the right expertise and resources. He suggested that smaller services explore creative scheduling or content curation models that leverage AI to serve their audiences better.
For those considering implementing AI in their platforms, Lasky recommended reaching out to companies like UIC Digital for guidance. “Certainly, reach out to companies like ours where we could advise on the scope of what could be done,” he advised, emphasizing the value of expert consultation in navigating the complexities of AI integration.
Overall, Lasky explained that the lessons from Amazon’s approach are clear: listen to your users, invest in scalable and stable AI technologies, and don’t shy away from exploring innovative ways to improve the viewing experience. Whether it's through more personalized content recommendations or more intuitive navigation, the goal should always be to reduce friction and enhance satisfaction.
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