Diagnose and Re-engage a Million Dormant Netflix Memberships

Netflix has roughly 1 million users who are inactive. As the product manager responsible, what would you do about them? Explain how you would work out who these users are and why they stopped watching, what you would do for each group you find, and how you would tell whether your plan worked. ```hint Inactive for what reason Before proposing any campaign, list the different reasons an account could go quiet, including ones that have nothing to do with losing interest in the content. Each reason calls for a different response, and for some of them the right move is not to win the user back. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - What counts as inactive: a member who still pays but has stopped watching, or an account that cancelled or never became a paying member? Over what time window? - Is the unit the whole household membership or individual profiles within it? - Are these accounts concentrated in particular countries, plans or devices, or spread across the base? - Did the number build up gradually or jump recently, and is the goal to restore viewing, protect revenue or protect member trust? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A precise definition of inactivity and a sense of how large 1 million is relative to the member base and how it got there. - Ruling out measurement, device, access and billing causes before assuming people lost interest. - Segments of inactive members by likely reason, with a response matched to each. - A clear position on members who keep paying but no longer watch, weighing short-term revenue against trust and later churn. - Success measured against a holdout group, with guardrails. ### Follow-up Questions - Your outreach leads some dormant members to cancel. How do you decide whether the campaign succeeded? - How would your plan change if these were former members who had already cancelled? - New inactive accounts keep appearing every month. What would you change upstream so fewer members become inactive in the first place?