When it became Netflix and wait for your food

The author looks at the recent collaboration between Netflix and Swiggy in light of the slow elevator problem...

When it became Netflix and wait for your food.
When it became Netflix and wait for your food.
By Krish Velkar

Recently, Netflix and Swiggy collaborated on a minute change in user-interface (UI) design on the Swiggy phone application. While one was waiting for their food, the Swiggy application prompted users saying "Watch a Netflix trailer while your food arrives"

I found this extremely fascinating as I felt it had some behavioural science theory called the slow elevator problem backing this strategy. However, was the execution of this strategy on point? Well, let's find out!

So first, let us understand the slow elevator problem.

Slow Elevator problem(Wedell-Wedellsborg, 2017)

Netflix and Swiggy collaborated a while back.
Netflix and Swiggy collaborated a while back.
Imagine a scenario where the occupants are grumbling about the elevator to their tenants saying that the elevator is extremely slow and this is why they need to wait a lot. A few of the occupants are also taking steps to break their leases if the tenant is unable to fix the issue.

Having said this, the most spontaneous solution that comes to mind is tackling the elevator being too slow by doing one or all of these costly solutions:

1)Replace the lift with a new faster model.
2)Install a faster motor.
3)Improve the algorithm.
4)Install an additional elevator.

However, what if we had to reframe the current problem at hand from the elevator being too slow and focus on the wait being extremely annoying?

In this scenario, the tenant could do all or one of the following cost-saving solutions:

1)Place mirrors
(People tend to lose track of time when they look at themselves in a mirror)
2)Add music (Music alsosometimes makes you lose the sense of time)

The above solutions are fascinating as they are not solutions to the stated problem as it does not make the elevator any faster but approaches the problem from a different perspective.

Hence, I thought it might be interesting to first see how other brands turned similar problems into virtues by just reframing the problem.

When it became Netflix and wait for your food.
When it became Netflix and wait for your food.
Thus, from this, we could infer that consumers are not very irritated about the fact that they are kept waiting but the fact that they feel they are wasting their time waiting.

Therefore, by making their waiting time worthwhile, it can help to drastically reduce the dissatisfaction and the anticipatory anxiety the customer goes through.

Consequently, in the case of Swiggy, it could be said that the brand had a similar plan to tackle the dissatisfaction the customer experiences.

However, while that might have been the intent, is prompting a Netflix trailer really good enough to distract or make a consumer feel the waitless irritating?

Let's analyze this from both perspectives. So, what's working in this collaboration?


1)Food (Swiggy) and TV shows/Movies (Netflix) are inseparable, and hence this is a great fit!
2) To a certain extent, it could be said that both the brands have a similar target group which makes this partnership as good as a symbiotic relationship and great use of resources.
3)The application provides a prompt at an appropriate time,just when one might be overwhelmed.
i.e., when they see the estimated time of arrival of the food or when they realize that their food has still not been processed.

While there are several positives, there are also some extremely crucial negatives that cannot be ignored and can actually help to determine how well the strategy to reduce the pain of waiting was executed.


1)The average wait on the food might be 30-40min while a Netflix trailer is only a maximum of 2-3min max. Hence, it might only help to distract the user for the few minutes that the trailer is on.
2)Prompting to watch a trailer might not be the most exciting thing, especially when it could be any trailer that does not consider the user's preference.

These two cons showcase that there is a large room for improvement with this integration.

So, what could they include or do instead?

1)They could look to provide one standardized (free) piece of content with the approximate length of 40minutes.

E.g., Allowing users to watch the first episode of a TV show for free might entice users to get hooked on an eventually subscribe to Netflix. This might get the users hooked on for the time they wait, while Netflix getting an opportunity to convert a customer. While the above is more practical and a more straightforward suggestion to consider. I have also penned down a few other that are slightly more technically advanced but could pose to be more effective.

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2) Divert Netflix subscribers to watching their current TV show/movie, or Netflix recommended content.

For Non-users, Swiggy could let their consumers access content until their food arrives. There could also be recommended content basis the estimated time of delivery. E.g., if the order is going to take 45min, then Netflix could suggest a show that is around 45min long.

3)Have an additional prompt feature for customers whose order is getting further delayed.

This prompt feature could be an additional discount or something to make them feel like they have got something in return for waiting for the extra time due to the lapse from Swiggy's end. It could also be an addictive game. E.g., We apologize for the delay in your food reaching you, but in the meanwhile, we would like to offer you an opportunity to get the entire meal free if you get a high score on this game (prompted google chrome like dinosaur game).

4)Similarly, they could also look to partner with Spotify/music streaming apps. However, they might not be as effective as OTT platforms.

Overall Thoughts?

In terms of the execution, providing a link to watch a Netflix trailer might only be a distraction to the consumer for a small fraction of the time. Hence, it might not be the best attempt to accomplish the goal the intended strategy is trying to achieve.

However, on the other hand, it is the start to look at solving the waiting problem from a different perspective. Therefore, at this point, something is still better than nothing!

The author is a planner at Ogilvy. Views expressed are personal.


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