Update: we’re keeping low priority – more details to follow
Today, I’m pleased to reveal some changes to the Rental list page. We’re always speaking to our members about how to keep improving LOVEFiLM, and the need for a more simplified, easier to use Rental list page was coming over loud and clear. We’ve also introduced some new features that we hope you’ll enjoy too.
It’s cleaner and less cluttered, but we’ve retained all of the great features from the previous version, including:
- Titles at home panel, which displays the titles you have at home
- Main Rental list panel, where you can prioritise, move and remove titles
- Reserved list panel, where you can add titles that are yet to be released
The new features on the Rental list page include…
Change disc format
You can now change your disc format (from DVD to Blu-ray, for example, or from Xbox 360® to PS3™) on the page. If there is no option to do so, it means other formats are not available for that title.
Add titles to your Rental List without leaving the page
You can now add new releases without leaving the Rental list page, as we’ve introduced a New releases panel on the right hand side.
Prioritise your Reserved titles
You can now prioritise titles on your Reserved list – another much requested feature we are pleased to incorporate.
Direct access to your Rented titles and Rated titles from the Rental list page
Above the Titles at home panel, some handy new links give you direct access to titles you’ve previously rented and rated.
Easier management of multiple lists
If you have more than one list set up within your Rental list, we’ve simplified the display of those multiple lists. What’s this?
Simplified prioritising
- Instead of using High, Medium and Low, the simplified priority system just uses High and Normal, which should make managing your list quicker and easier
- Don’t worry if you currently have titles set to Low priority – they won’t be changed, but any new titles you add to your list can’t be assigned to Low priority
- You might find it easier to manage low priority titles on a separate list altogether, and our multiple list system makes this all really easy – Find out more here
We hope you enjoy these changes and that they improve your LOVEFiLM experience. As always, we look forward to your feedback.
Simon Waldman, Group Product Director
I really do hate it when a company claims they’re “making the changes you asked for”. This clearly isn’t what LoveFilm customers want; please keep the low-priority option.
One other thing that annoyed me when I loogged in today – a message appearing told me to “You currently have titles marked as low priority on your list, so why not start to reprioritise or remove them?”
Remove them???
Why would I add titles to low prioty just to get told to remvoe them?
It is clear from 99.9% of the comments that the removal of low prioty is a bad idea. It would have made sense for an email/survey to go to ALL customers asking their preference.
BRING BACK LOW PRIORTY
It doesn’t seem to make any difference what
Priority my disc are in to what I get sent! So I
Keep just one disc in the list that way I get the
Disc I want! Not a very good way of managing
A list!
Hello there, When are the low priority titles being phased out? Thank you
It’s clear that few people like the removal of Low Priority – yet it still appears to be going ahead, judging by the message on my account. This change is going in the wrong direction…I much preferred having a single list of films in order of priority (highest at the top) which I used to have with Netflix.
Now I’ll need to work around the restriction by making my own separate lists: high priority, medium priority & low priority, which could get messy with assigning disks (Edit Lists).
I like the Low Priority choice, its there where movies that are available can be sent to me if my usual Norm or High priorities aren’t available. This isn’t a good move as far as I’m concerned because now everything has to shift, and not everything on Normal is necessarily what I’d like on High, like South Park – I’m happy to watch it if nothing in my High or Norm list isn’t available.
I like the range of choice as it is.
I’m thinking of migrating from Lovefilm anyway, so this change may not affect me.
It’s obvious LoveFilm don’t want to improve the user experience – or they would give more control over prioritisation not less!
I am about ready to look at other rental companies – perhaps there is one that is able to manage its warehouse distribution system well enough to provide the level of control I used to have before LoveFilm took over from Amazon… it was so much better back then…
Seriously loosing faith
Please don’t get rid of the low priority. I have once again had titles sent today that are normal priority as apposed to anything on the high priority list (The Killing has been in there for months). If you remove the low priority list I may as well not bother prioritising anything as they are selected from this field anyway.
I too am disappointed at the removal of the Low Priority option. I used this to put films from a series in to make sure I didn’t get them out of order. Now that it’s gone, if for example I’ve got the Harry Potter series in my list, what’s to stop me being sent the 4th film before the 3rd film? Without the Low Priority option, I’m now forced to put the next Harry Potter film I want to watch in my High Priority list to ensure that I don’t get the films out of order even though this really isn’t one of my High Priority titles.
Regarding the Watch Now titles, there are some that are only available as Watch Now such as individual Doctor Who episodes and individual Wallander episodes. I’d like to create a list for these titles which I can then access on my Android phone and on my PS3. There is no capability whatsoever to do this – multiple lists only work for titles that have DVD/Blu-Rays and as these individual episodes do not have associated DVDs/Blu-Rays then they cannot be added to a list.
So please, increase the functionality of the lists, please don’t just give us a few minor extras and at the same time remove other well-used functionality.
1. Don’t get rid of the low priority option. The three category option is already far worse than Blockbuster’s system where you actually put your whole list in a custom order and you can predict with near certainty what your next title will be. Losing the low priority option makes the list harder to manage, not easier.
2. Thank you for finally allowing reserved titles to be set to high priority. At long last I don’t have to hunt through my medium priority titles weekly to bring new releases into the high priority category.
3. More annoying than the loss of the low priority category is the loss of the “show all” button on the list. Showing all titles was a great feature because I could then use the browser’s search feature to quickly find titles in my list and change them. Loss of this feature represents a major loss of functionality for me.
4. The repeated use of the words “Release Date” in the reserved titles list makes it much more difficult to see at a glance which titles are being released in the coming week. Please put the column header back at the top of the column where it belongs and not in every table cell.
I have never seen the point of low priority, i’ve never had a disc from it, so won’t miss it.
Also, did their not used to be a bar at the top of the page that enabled you to get to your rental list with one quick click wherever on the site you happened to be? That’s gone now too, and is another change that is anti-easy use. Also, upon further reflection, though it is still workable, the rental list really is uglier and more difficult to navigate. I’m not sure why these changes have been made for real, but would welcome an explanation.
Perhaps stupidly, I expected low priority to cover the situation when LoveFilm didn’t have copies of the higher priorities – would have been happy with them, but rarely seem to get them. Perhaps my low priority ones are all Voice Original (subtitled) and others make them high priority. So I tried to keep the count of high and normal priority ones low in keeping with MY priorities. Because as you know, there are shed loads of blockbusters films in English that aren’t good.
But then the constant exhortation to increase the number of high priority titles started, with the suggestion that if I didn’t then I’d loose out – not get the number of films in my subscription. And I’ve watched a lot of trash – the most recent – made a fried bacon sandwich during it and it ended as expected.
Perhaps a metric for which film to post out should (have) be(en) including “duration on list of low priority” rather than just highest priority? The existing system certainly didn’t want me to choose VObe doesn’t seem to have fitted with my priorities.
Does this move mean there is a plan to reduce priority to only one level in the future?
If that means I get more films I want to see then hurrah, if it just means more block busters then it will be time to cancel the subscription.
Everyone else seems to be moaning, but I’d be perfectly happy without the low priority. I use extra lists for films I spot but don’t want to see immediately, it’s surely the easiest way? The extra lists feature is an excellent idea and I find it really useful.
But what I would like to see is an ability to somehow mark ‘watch now’ films that don’t have dvds – because you can’t add those onto your watch now list. Now that would be a good new feature.
I always seem to get titles from the top of my lists, and they arrive really promptly. I love love film actually.
The only thing I didn’t love was when you didn’t tell me when I could change my tariff to one that was exactly the same but cheaper! Now that was naughty.
Agree with the majority of the comments, removing the Low Priority option is not a good idea. Restriction in the name of simplification. Three options is not exactly complicated in the first place.
The statement of “We would often get negative feedback from customers when they received something that they had put as low priority”. So a feature is being removed because a minority have complained that they have been sent something they asked for…strange. If I give positive feedback on the benefit of the Low Priority option will you add it back in?
Please keep Low Priority, why was I consulted about this?
Here we go.. Companies thinking without even asking their customer base what they want good call!
Instead of whining I’ll just leave and go to Netflix instead simples.
I also agree, low priority should stay. I for one have circumstances in which low priority is a great point for me. Specifically in relation to games, I have a ‘main’ console [xbox] and another [ps3] in which I set all ps3 exclusives as low priority for the time at which I want some of them, so I can increase it.
If you remove low priority, please establish some kind of 3rd priority or ‘no priority / don’t send yet’ type slot. This is primarily for us gamers [and possibly movie lovers] who wish to check lists and prioritise games that they will want at some point, but do not want now, or not want in the imminent future.
I see the low priority as a ‘will get around to playing some day’ list. I really hope you do not remove low priority.
I agree! I do the same. I put all titles I want to see later online to lower priority!
Please bring back Low priority! Please also provide a way for me to record titles I want to watch online in the future, but not get sent on DVD.
The really good changes are…
- New ‘look and feel’
- Change disc format
- Prioritise your Reserved titles
- Direct access to your Rented titles and Rated titles from the Rental list page
I’m not bothered about…
- Add titles to your Rental List without leaving the page
- Easier management of multiple lists
What’s not so great…
- Simplified prioritising
Personally I am happy with having just High & Normal priority.
But the reason losing Low priority will be annoying for me is that I was using to group together films currently on “lovefilm player with package”
Suggestions to make it even better…
1. On/Off option to group/filter films on “lovefilm player with package”, so that they are not sent by disc, whilst on on “lovefilm player with package”
2. Bring back show “All” rather than just page 1,2,3,4,etc because its just annoying
Oh my God. What the hell have you done to my rental list page? It looks bloody awful! Why on Earth do you need an option to change a DVD to a Blu ray disc? Is there actually a great need for this? & why is the actual list stuck right over at the side of the page like it’s being squashed out of the way by the pointless “add these titles to your list” box thing? I do not enjoy the new look of the page at all, a child could’ve done better & I do not appreciate the fact that low priorty is being phased out when nobody asked us ( the actual users of the site by the way) for our opinion on that. Please save yourselves a lot more negative comments & change the list right back to how it was before. I would be very interested to know if anyone actually likes this “new look” page.
I am shocked that Lovefilm claim to have asked their customers what they want – as a customer for many years, no-one has ever asked me what I want??
Getting rid of Low Priority is ludicrous and blatantly NOT what customers want. I want more control over priority NOT less.
Also – if Lovefilm staff are listening – you need to completely overhaul your online streaming service. It is terrible. The picture quality is not good enough and at the very least you need to add subtitles to make up for the poor sound quality.
You need to start processing discs on Saturdays – disc turnaround near weekends is not good enough.
There are far too many good new releases which are unavailable to rent – this needs to be sorted out.
Why lie about it? I was not asked about the removal of low priority titles. But it is clear if you remove the catagory, the low priority discs will be moved to normal, making it easier or Lovefilm, increasing the number of discs Lovefilm can send out on everybodys list. Just be honest.
I use it to select discs for when my young son comes over, a film he wants to see can be chosen then moved from low to high so it arrives when he comes over.
How can this change benifit me, it does’nt. As mentioned above, I will have one or two discs on my list from now on. Looking at other options now.
Why not introduce a numbered system like amazon used to have – much preferred it. Or even better a top ticket system like Blockbuster which guarantees a film eg I’ve been waiting weeks and weeks for Drive or Tinker Tailor, but like another poster said it seems to make no difference what priority the films are in as they are sent out randomly
An intersting help article on the website:
“Prioritising your DVDs is easy. Tell us what you want to receive first by using the ‘high’, ‘medium’ or ‘low’ priority buttons. Your DVDs will then be sent to you in the priority you have indicated, as far as possible.
It’s simple to use and we hope you’ll agree that it lets you have more control over what you want to watch when you really want to watch it. Simply prioritise the DVDs you want to see first and leave the rest to us.”
Why fix something that is not broken? The new list is ugly, does not give the flexibility paying customers would like, makes no sense at all to make the changes
And where has “Show All” gone. In keeping with advice from Lovefilm I’ve made sure I keep lots on my lists, so the main list runs to 4 of 5 pages usually. So now if I want to check whether something is on my list or change it’s priority I’ve got to switch through multiple pages, more so if I have to switch my low priority choices out to a no-disc list.
I can’t see how a no-disc list really helps with most low priority usage. I’ve got stuff I want real soon in high, the majority of what I want to see in medium, and the filler stuff that I’m happy to get once in a while (usually old TV series I’ve already seen) in low. If I switch my low out to a no-disc list, it will never arrive, unless I manually select some titles to move back. Then I lose the “happy surprise” of getting something I’ve not seen in ages, because I had to select it, and it becomes MORE likely to be delivered because it’s been lumped in with the other NORMAL priority.
This is not making setting priority quicker or easier, no, this is sack the web designer for not understanding the basics of ergonomics or how their customers use their site bad.
As its now going to take me much more effort to manage my low priority titles I will be levvying a 50p charge, per title, per month that I have to keep on a no-disc list. I will consider your action of implementing the removal of low priority, in the face of such clear disapproval from your customer base acceptance of these terms.
Dear all
Just to say – we hear you on Low Priority. We’re just looking at our options here and I’ll get back to everyone early next week.
On the other main issue of ’show all’ – we’re going to increase the number of titles that can be seen on one page considerably over the next few weeks. More details of that next week.
Above all, I want you to know, your feedback is incredibly important to us. We are listening.
All the best
Simon Waldman
Group Product Director
LOVEFiLM
The marketing muppets have been hard at work here! They never cease to amaze me. Oh look you’re “improving” the rental priorities by removing one of them!?! Its quite offensive to suggest your customers are so stupid they would believe this is an improvement.
Heres a crazy idea, leave it as it was, those who didnt want/like the low priority didnt have to use it. I dont understand how you can possibly think less choice gives a better service!
The best thing you could do would be to change the rental list page back to how it was before. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it & the new page just looks ugly & has too many pointless features.
My feelings sum up exactly what Kirsty has said – please bring back low priority as my lists are now in complete disarray
While I like the sound of ‘Change disc format’, ‘Prioritise your Reserved titles’, I don’t really see the point in ‘Add titles to your Rental List without leaving the page’, or ‘Easier management of multiple lists’. I have always found the rental list perfectly easy to use as it is, and I’m slightly worried that the these changes will just mess it up – as illustrated by the ’simplified prioritising’, not all changes are actually going to benefit me. I really see little point in getting rid of low priority. I like having that extra way to order my list, and surely if people didn’t want to use it they could just not use it? I really see no reason to get rid of low priority.
Simplified prioritising
Why do people only leave comments to moan about something? I’ve been with Lovefilm for years now and I think the removal of the Low Priority list is a good idea.
I have that many films on my list that I never get as far as the low priority ones. They may as well just be in with the others.
What a stupid question, why would people take the time to say good job for every post? If people were fine with it they wouldn’t post a comment, if people thought getting rid of the low priority was a bad idea the only way people at LoveFilm would know we weren’t happy with it is if we tell them… so we are in the comments area. And someone at love film commented back saying they know people are unhappy with it so the feedback worked.
If you don’t use the low priority fine but I don’t see why they would remove it and anger people who want it left in.
That’s your opinion and I respect it so Lovefilm must respect the opinion of other customers too!
Like so many others I am annoyed at the changes. I have today put all my normal list discs up into the high list and the later list discs into the normal section. But the low priority list was very much a last resort list which I occasionally prune. Another dissatisfied customer who would have liked to have been polled on this idea. Noticed references above to Blockbuster. Had not thought of changing before, but will probably now look into this option.
Why remove Low Priority? It is the only way I can keep a watch list and prioritise the other films over them! Still cannot understand how to prioritise a list of Normal priority films, as they seem to be coming to me randomly anyway.
I prefer one list (not multiple) that I can specify High, Medium and Low Prioirty and in a specified order.
Nuf said.
The new page looks good to me (as a infrequent user). Ability to switch DVD and BluRay is good, as I added all as DVDs before buying a blu ray player and had to go through each one to change.
I can see why you removed Low priority seeing how many users seem to expect discs in it not to be sent and complain when they are. But for power users, 3 levels of priority is not hard to understand and is useful. How about, you rename to make it clearer e.g. “Top Priority”, “High Priority” and “Normal Priority”?
Ideally (for me) a single list where you can drag/drop items up and down to put them in some rough order of priority would be ideal, then you simply send out the first one which is available. I expect people would complain about the lack of priority buckets then though
I want somewhere to put things that I would like to see at some point, but not nessasarily in the immediate future, nor would I like them turning up randomly when high is lacking. Low priority scratches that itch nicely. Loosing it is a bit annoying
Remove Low Priority? What a rubbish idea!
I want to add films to my list that I know I want to see one day, but not as much as others. There’s loads of films in my low priority list that I don’t see as of equal priority to the medium list (which is why they are in low)
Removing the low priority option is an awful idea! If people do not want to use this option then they do not have too. I on the other hand find it extremely useful. For example, i often rent out DVDs for my kids in the school holidays, so i add these titles to high priority in the holidays & low priority during term time. If low priority is being removed I think a “dont send me out these yet” option would be best to replace it. Hmmmm might be looking into Netflix or Blockbuster!
When you hovered over a title on your Rental List you used to get a popup showing more info on that title.
No longer.
Now you have to click the title which takes you away from your list …
Also, why remove the Collapse/Expand All Series buttons?
Re above post on Hovering.
It still works … but not on Reserved Titles.
Me again.
It works on all lists; but only after you refresh the page, or open a list in a new tab
@ James People take time out to leave comments because they care about their user experience which they PAY their hard earned money for. I would also like to keep and add Low Priority titles with my list. Why change if it isn’t broken?
Bring back low priority! – Why was I not consulted?. I am sick and tired of visiting regularly-used web sites that perform a perfectly adequate function, only to find that some under-worked, overpaid web designer has decided to justify his position by making changes for changes sake and telling me “we’ve been listening to our customers”. Yeh, right.
Why remove Low Priority? People who don’t need it don’t use it already, so the people using it MUST find it useful. I love it – I have a stack of movies in there because they are free with my package online, so I don’t want them coming in on my DVD deliveries but need to keep track of them. I can’t understand why anyone would want this change, or why Lovefilm would think they did – were they really deluged with emails asking them to remove it?
Just finished creating a new list to put the discs I can no longer set as low priority on, thanks Lovefilm, for making things a bit less convenient for your customers. Also removing the option to select and move multiple discs at a time slowed the process down, great.
it’s been said a number times already but I want to add weight to the argument in case anyone from lovefilm actually reads these comments (not holding my breath…)
I find the 3 tier priority system helpful (low priority for films that are either later in a series than the one I need or else those that are also offered online which I would rather stream at my convenience).
And no I wasn’t asked for an opinion on this beforehand either…!
I definitely do not like this talk about removing the ‘Show All’ button. Having my list spread over multiple pages is just horrible. I have 225 items spread over 4 lists currently. The longest list is 130+ long. Scrolling through page after page will be a nightmare.
I’m not keen on the loss of the 3rd priority tier either. I’ve been with Lovefilm since 2003. I’ve also tried every other online rental service going. The reason I’ve always stayed with Lovefilm is because I much prefer the rental list priority design, as opposed to the format which every other rental company has.
Why not have the option to switch between Priorities or Number based? Back when Amazon done the rentals i loved being able to say ‘This is what i want’ Other than ‘This is what i could get if it is first alphabetically.’ Why not a random aspect to it? I’d love the option to choose the option where it sends out a random disc from my list than me picking, Just a thought, Yunno.
I like the changes to remove Low Priority – as you’ve suggested I’ve moved them to a new separate list to call on when necessary, which is great as I won’t get any of them unless I ask. Not sure about the removal of Show All though; bit of a backwards step. (and if anyone’s wondering where the new format of their lists is, there’s a link buried in the blog!)
The day low priority goes is the day I cancel. As a customer if you don’t need it then don’t use it. But don’t take away the option from those who do to “make it easier”.
Customers asked for it? Marketing BS
….Don’t do just what you want !…..Allow the customers like me keep low priority if we want…maybe this change is convenient for you and not for the customers as you pretend to advertised!!!!
Can we also be clear that multiple lists have been around for a long time and can already be used to manage films that you don’t want to be sent (such as Watch Now).
If another list is used to manage Low Priority titles (in the true definition of the label) then they cease to be Low Priority as you will always receive one.
If certain users do not want to see the Low Priority option, why not give them an admin setting to hide it, rather than reduce the functionality for everyone? Users are not currently obliged to use the low priority option, so why pander to them when they do, misunderstand what it means and subsequently complain?