Eliminate Friction in Product Design
We have been listening to music for many years. Specifically, digital music has made it easier than ever for people to access their favorite songs. However, there’s still an opportunity to remove friction in listening to music through enhanced product design. The way to accomplish this is to observe how people are using music services and identify where the friction points are occurring.
Using an example from Amazon Music, we asked customers about their experience with streaming music services. The biggest complaint was tied to having to pay extra to download songs that people could listen to when they were out of network range. As a result, we created Prime Music which offered something completely different for streaming music.
In addition to ad-free streaming, we provided customers with unlimited downloads to listen to songs on the go. Initially, we thought that we had completely solved the problem. However, we found that they were growing bored of listening to the “same old songs” that were on that downloaded playlist.
Our intent was not to only allow customers to download songs. Instead, we want customers always to have access to music they love – even if they aren’t on a network. As a result, we added a new feature that downloads extra songs based on the songs they choose to download. Furthermore, this playlist automatically updates every time they connect to wifi – so they always have access to new songs.
In summary, we had to do more than just provide the option for downloads. As a result, our product design introduced an intuitive way to discover new music.
About the speaker
Kintan Brahmbhatt is the Director of Product Management and Engineering Program Management for Amazon Music. After joining Amazon in 2009, Kintan drove product vision and execution for IMDb Everywhere, the IMDb Movies & TV App for mobile devices. In his current role, Kintan helped launch Prime Music in June 2014, which is now one of the most popular streaming services in the world. Recently, Kintan was a key driver of the launch Amazon’s premium music streaming service, Amazon Music Unlimited - focusing on the Amazon Music customer experience with Alexa and Amazon Echo.
About the host
Anne Retterer is the Founder and CEO of Mindspand - an online community that enables organizations to list course offerings and provide access to services for local customers. Prior to starting Mindspand, Anne managed the product portfolio at Expedia and established an investment fund for tech companies in Chile with Hambrecht & Quest (now JPMorgan Chase & Co.). Anne holds an MBA from UC Davis and currently lives in Seattle.