I love Amazon, but their User Experience needs improvement
Introduction
Amazon is one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms, and is a great demonstration of using the MVP approach. Starting off as an online bookstore in 1995, it since then has expanded its catalog tremendously, launched AWS, introduced Prime, developed their own products like the Kindle, and much more. While their feats are admirable, there are plenty of UX improvements that should be made, a couple of which I will cover today.
Problems
Home Page
The home page is typically the first page that users encounter when using an experience. It acts as the hub, providing users access to all pages, features, and flows of a product. A primary business goal for any e-commerce site is to sell as many products as possible, which is no different for Amazon.
Problems
- Overlap & proximity
- Organization & continuity
Overlap between sections violates the MECE (mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive) principle. There isn’t a clear distinction between “Pick up where you left off” and “Keep shopping for,” which can confuse customers. The sections are also very scattered, resulting in a lack of proximity. Users may see shopping content, then Prime Video content, then more shopping content.
Their current approach to organization is to jam as many physical products, services, and advertisements on the page as possible in order to expose customers to their plethora of offerings. The organization of the sections is inconsistent, resulting in a lack of continuity. All of this leaves the user with a greater cognitive load than necessary.
Redesign
I replaced the sharp corners with rounded corners to provide a friendlier look. Google recently implemented rounded corners to their services like YouTube and Drive. Although it may be a current trend, I think it’s important to update design continuously to stay relevant.
I separated main categories on the page with clear titles to fix issues related to overlap and proximity. The user can know exactly what to expect when browsing; anything under “Shopping” will be related to physical products, while anything under “Prime Video” will be related to Prime Video content.
This would force users who only want to look at Prime Video content to scroll down the page, but the top navigation bar can direct them straight to Prime Video. I approached this design with returning users in mind, who usually have a goal in mind. Moving forward, it would be useful to collect data to inform this assumption.
I simplified the layout to fix the page’s organization and continuity. All items have the same height, but some items have more or less width depending on its importance. Sections are all in rows, and those with numerous products are carousel rows. Although there are still many products on screen, the layout is much tidier and straightforward to browse.
Subscribe & Save
Subscribe & Save is a very convenient feature on Amazon that allows customers to schedule consistent deliveries, with a discount on top! This attracts more customers and ensures constant revenue through re-purchases. However, what if they no longer want the product and try to cancel their subscription? Amazon seemingly makes this task difficult on purpose.
I will mainly critique the “Subscription details” card that pops-up when users want to learn more about their subscription, since that is where subscriptions can be cancelled.
Problems
- Price of item is absent
- Inconsistency of call to actions
- Canceling a subscription isn’t prioritized
It should be a no brainer that the price of the item should be on this card. Although it is shown on the overall Subscribe & Save page, this information is important to customers when viewing their subscription details.
There are two main indications of a call to action: blue text in the middle column, and the arrows on the right column. I think that there should be one call to action that remains consistent across the card.
Canceling a subscription takes effort to find, even though it is a primary action that a customer performs on this card. It should be more prominent on this interface.
Redesign
I split the card into 3 columns to make the information more clear and organized. The left column includes all product details, including its price.
I changed all call to actions (other than the cancel subscription button) to be blue text representing hyperlinks. This is mainly demonstrated on the right column, where the arrows from the original design are replaced with the same “Change” text. I also fixed the text hierarchy to remain consistent throughout the design.
The most important change was creating a button for canceling a subscription by using their yellow-orange color to be a focal point. Users usually know whether or not they want to cancel a subscription when opening this card. I removed the requirement of selecting a reason for cancellation to simplify this process, as I believe they should ask after so that the process is as easy as possible. Making the action less obvious and forcing additional steps won’t change a customer’s decision, but would likely frustrate them. The easier cancelling a subscription is, the more likely users will continue adding subscriptions in the future.
Conclusion
It is likely that I and millions of others will still continue to use Amazon, despite their use of dark patterns. However, I don’t think it should be overlooked. I approached this design with no official research, using only my own experience and feedback from those around me. Let me know in the comments what you think of my critiques and other ways that Amazon can improve their UX.
