Netflix · Metrics · Mid · 45 to 60 minutes

What Should Netflix Do About Long Inactive Subscribers?

Netflix is a subscription service where people pay to watch movies, series, and other video entertainment over the internet. Answer this product management case and get it graded line by line against a weighted rubric.

Metrics thinking
Lifecycle strategy
Trade-off judgment
Experiment design
Customer empathy

The situation

You are a PM on Netflix's subscriber lifecycle team. A senior leader asks you to review a pattern that is creating concern: some paying members have shown no viewing activity for a long period, yet their plans continue to renew. Customer support has started surfacing complaints from a small set of people who say they forgot they were still paying, and the brand team is worried this can erode trust if it becomes a broader story about Netflix charging people who are getting no value. At the same time, finance and growth leaders are cautious about doing anything that could reduce subscription revenue or make it harder for seasonal viewers to return when they want to watch again. The team wants a recommendation now because this issue sits at the intersection of retention, trust, and long term brand health, and different leaders are optimizing for different outcomes. Your job is to define the problem, propose how Netflix should handle long inactive paying accounts, and explain how you would measure whether the policy helps or hurts the business.

What to produce

Write a 1 to 2 page decision memo.

Your answer must

Define the product problem clearly, including why viewing inactivity may signal customer risk rather than just low engagement.
Identify the key customer segments or account states you would distinguish, such as recent inactivity versus very long inactivity, and explain why those distinctions matter.
Recommend one primary policy and at least one credible alternative, with explicit trade-offs across customer trust, revenue, retention, and operational simplicity.
Specify the core metrics you would use, including one primary success metric and at least three guardrail metrics.
Describe an experiment or rollout plan that would let Netflix learn safely before making a broad change.
Explain how customer communication and the path back to watching should work if Netflix changes account status or outreach.

Constraints

Work within Netflix's existing subscription streaming business, do not assume a new product line or major pricing change.
Base your proposal mainly on signals Netflix already has from account status and viewing activity, not on new external data sources.
Keep the recommendation realistic for a lifecycle team to test without a full rebuild of the playback or billing systems.

Format

Use five sections: problem, options, recommendation, metrics, and rollout.

How Netflix actually played it

Tells how Netflix contacted subscribers who had not watched anything for long periods and cancelled the plan if they did not confirm. It frames the move as building trust and making returns easy.

Stopping charges for unused plans builds trust
Easy return paths can offset churn
Look at inactivity as a customer risk signal

Built from Eddy Wu Cancelled Hundreds of Thousands of Paying Netflix Customers. Deliberately by James Bickerton (Your Product Sucks).