What every other DVD rental service can learn from Lovefilm and Blockbuster
What is it exactly that makes Lovefilm and Blockbuster the leaders of the DVD rental pack and streets ahead of their competitors? What is their secret?
To answer that let's take a look at what Lovefilm and Blockbuster are doing right.
A website that looks good and is easy to use
Absolutely essential in this market is a website that is well designed and above all easy to find your way around, with films and genres quickly accessible and easy to find.
Lovefilm's website is superb, in every respect. To begin with, its design is eye-catching in vivid colours of red, white and black which immediately grab your attention. Then, to make navigation simple it is divided into different sections covering films, games, shop and their extra offerings.
Films are classified initially by genre, but there is also a search bar option enabling you to enter the name of a film and find what you want that way.
Blockbuster's website has recently undergone a face-lift and with its new bright blue and yellow colour scheme, it is visually attractive and a piece of cake to use.
Its website caters for their online and high street rental market, a distinct advantage for anyone who is an online customer and also a store member.
Blockbuster's films are classified by every genre you can think of, such as actor, director, theme and chart, to list just a few. There is also a search bar enabling you to type in what you are looking for and this lets you narrow down the search considerably.
A massive selection of film titles
A bigger catalogue must surely, by the law of averages, provide a better DVD rental service and anyone who subscribes to a DVD rental site is bound to be a film fan. This time, size does matter.
Lovefilm has an enormous catalogue with a spread of more than 65,000 titles to choose from.
Blockbuster's catalogue, while also huge, has a slightly smaller range of about 55,000 films on offer to their customers.
But Lovefilm lists their bonus discs as separate film titles in their catalogue and they are rented out as such, which is probably a little sneaky and goes a long way to explaining the lead they have on their rivals in terms of numbers. Blockbuster on the other hand sticks to the actual film titles only, so their catalogue seems slightly smaller but really there is probably little to choose between the two. Blockbuster does give out bonus discs in conjunction with related film titles, something Lovefilm doesn’t do.
When all's said and done, the number of DVD films on offer in each catalogue is largely immaterial as the list of films available for rent is so vast that it would take almost 100 years to get through either catalogue. That's much more than a lifetime's worth of viewing.
A Free Trial to test out the service
The average length of a DVD free trial is generally 14 days. Blockbuster is way ahead of their competition here as they offer a generous 28 days to get hooked on their service. That's a full month to test the service.
Be aware that as attractive as a free trial might be, a cancellation procedure, should you need it, ought to be as readily available as just signing up.
Lots of rental packages to suit all kinds of customer
DVD rental services must offer potential customers as wide-ranging a variety of packages as possible, to please all kinds of people with differing tastes.
Lovefilm DVD rental [http://www.choosedvdrental.co.uk/dvd-rental-review/lovefilm.asp] has a selection of six packages for customers to choose from, comprising 3 'unlimited' plans and 3 'light use' plans.
Blockbuster DVD rental [http://www.choosedvdrental.co.uk/dvd-rental-review/blockbuster.asp] customers can choose between five rental packages, ranging from a limited package offering only two DVDs per month with only one out at any one time, to unlimited packages allowing three out at a time.
To answer that let's take a look at what Lovefilm and Blockbuster are doing right.
A website that looks good and is easy to use
Absolutely essential in this market is a website that is well designed and above all easy to find your way around, with films and genres quickly accessible and easy to find.
Lovefilm's website is superb, in every respect. To begin with, its design is eye-catching in vivid colours of red, white and black which immediately grab your attention. Then, to make navigation simple it is divided into different sections covering films, games, shop and their extra offerings.
Films are classified initially by genre, but there is also a search bar option enabling you to enter the name of a film and find what you want that way.
Blockbuster's website has recently undergone a face-lift and with its new bright blue and yellow colour scheme, it is visually attractive and a piece of cake to use.
Its website caters for their online and high street rental market, a distinct advantage for anyone who is an online customer and also a store member.
Blockbuster's films are classified by every genre you can think of, such as actor, director, theme and chart, to list just a few. There is also a search bar enabling you to type in what you are looking for and this lets you narrow down the search considerably.
A massive selection of film titles
A bigger catalogue must surely, by the law of averages, provide a better DVD rental service and anyone who subscribes to a DVD rental site is bound to be a film fan. This time, size does matter.
Lovefilm has an enormous catalogue with a spread of more than 65,000 titles to choose from.
Blockbuster's catalogue, while also huge, has a slightly smaller range of about 55,000 films on offer to their customers.
But Lovefilm lists their bonus discs as separate film titles in their catalogue and they are rented out as such, which is probably a little sneaky and goes a long way to explaining the lead they have on their rivals in terms of numbers. Blockbuster on the other hand sticks to the actual film titles only, so their catalogue seems slightly smaller but really there is probably little to choose between the two. Blockbuster does give out bonus discs in conjunction with related film titles, something Lovefilm doesn’t do.
When all's said and done, the number of DVD films on offer in each catalogue is largely immaterial as the list of films available for rent is so vast that it would take almost 100 years to get through either catalogue. That's much more than a lifetime's worth of viewing.
A Free Trial to test out the service
The average length of a DVD free trial is generally 14 days. Blockbuster is way ahead of their competition here as they offer a generous 28 days to get hooked on their service. That's a full month to test the service.
Be aware that as attractive as a free trial might be, a cancellation procedure, should you need it, ought to be as readily available as just signing up.
Lots of rental packages to suit all kinds of customer
DVD rental services must offer potential customers as wide-ranging a variety of packages as possible, to please all kinds of people with differing tastes.
Lovefilm DVD rental [http://www.choosedvdrental.co.uk/dvd-rental-review/lovefilm.asp] has a selection of six packages for customers to choose from, comprising 3 'unlimited' plans and 3 'light use' plans.
Blockbuster DVD rental [http://www.choosedvdrental.co.uk/dvd-rental-review/blockbuster.asp] customers can choose between five rental packages, ranging from a limited package offering only two DVDs per month with only one out at any one time, to unlimited packages allowing three out at a time.
