UFC and ESPN Failed a Simple UX Exercise

Last night, my hubby and I invited friends over to watch the UFC Pay-per-view. We downloaded the UFC app & subscribed to Fight Pass on our Apple TV. Easy-peasy, right?

Except, there was no way to download the PPV from the app. I Googled: "Does UFC Fight Pass Include Pay Per View?"

It's a pretty common query, and Google had a snippet answer: "UFC FIGHT PASS Prelims are the opening fights from a live UFC event. For customers outside the US, each event will include a select number of exclusive bouts. Customers in the US will continue to receive exclusive bouts for every PPV event."

Do better, UFC. If your customers are asking a Yes or No question, do them the courtesy of a Yes or No answer.

After a little more searching, I found that all the PPVs are now exclusively shown on ESPN. Cool. We downloaded the ESPN app.

When we clicked on the PPV, though, we received the message: This content is not available for purchase on this device.

As the clock ticked toward the opening prelim fights, I started to Google frantically. There were a lot of press articles about the exclusive new deal, and a lot of fuzzy marketing bullshit about how you could watch the PPV on any device.

Any device, huh? Tell me more.

They didn't.

And I wasn't the only fan having this problem.

I finally figured it out: We had to subscribe to ESPN+ on my Apple TV, sign into ESPN+ on a computer, purchase the event there, and then stream it on the Apple TV.

Dumb, but at least doable now that I knew what to do. Friends arrived, beer bottles were opened, pizza was noshed, and a game of Munchkin ensued while the early prelims played on the big screen.

But then ...

... between the early prelims and the regular prelims, we had to switch from ESPN+ to Sling, because for some obscure reason that portion of the event was only available through ESPN's cable channel.

Which is clearly ridiculous.

But what's more ridiculous is that neither brand created clear instructions on how fans could complete a transaction both brands desperately wanted them to make.

The moral of the story: Your sales journey should be so easy that every customer can complete it if they want to. And since you're the guide, GIVE THEM SOME F**KING DIRECTIONS.

Because when you don't, it leaves customers with a bad impression of your brand. It feels like you don't care. And for UFC, it kind of made their fans want to ...