Amazon Case Study
UX Case Study
Do I need a GPS to navigate this website?
Project Overview
Amazon strives to be Earth’s most customer-centric company.It offers Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon.
It focuses its effort to fulfill customers’ desire for lower prices, better selection, and convenient services. Today, Amazon shoppers can find what they’re looking for online and in person. From delivering fresh produce to their doorstep to creating and distributing movies, music, and more, we are always finding new ways to delight our customers.
Amazon - is a giant in the tech industry, but its web app has always had its usability issues. While it has gotten better over the years, even though the complexity of their product has increased, it is still a less-than-perfect experience.
My Role
This Project was a part of my workshops. I was working on this project as a student with a team of 15 people. Together we worked in groups, to identify any issues with the website, define the problem, find possible solutions, ideate, prototyping, and test the design solution.
Tools
Project Details
April-July 2022
Project completed for IxDF UX Fundamentals Bootcamp
What is the Problem?
In groups of 2-3, we studied the Amazon website pages of our choice within various categories to spot any unusual features which might present some issues causing distractions for users resulting in inefficient user experience.
Each student made a sticky notes on whiteboard for problems that they identified and then we all dot voted for the most frequent issues.
Finally we boiled down to the main problem statement.
Problem Statement
Strategic Research: Competitive Analysis
Direct Competitors
Indirect Competitors
Outcomes
Most common issue which needed most improvement in the decision making for buying a product was "Item Comparison"
Persona Development
“I don’t have time for this!”
Meet Sage
Sage is a stay at home mom. She is an active user of Amazon and she is obsessed with customization. She always wants to keep up with the Jones’ and stay up to date. She hates how Amazon requires so much scrolling when she really justt wants to be able to compate her favorite products! Such a challenge! Sage uses the current comparison feature on Amazon that has pre-selected products on it, but she gets disctracted easily by the amount of options.
Sage is having great difficulty comparing products which her feel frustrated and like she is wasting her time.
How might we create a shopping experience for Sage that allows her to compare products to learn more about which items fit her criteria before she purchases?
Solution
Declutter the Homepage
Ability to compare products that she selects
Save time while shopping
Increased overall satisfaction during product comparison
User Interview
Pain points
Unable to find products without the search bar
Long titles for products
Overwhelming Homepage
The product shown in the picture were not always representative of the actual product
Too much scrolling!
Not being able to select products to compare, and only seeing preselected items
Product comparison chart would help
Empathy Map
We built as empathy map for this persona while she was trying to search and buy a product from Amazon website.
Pains
Excessive scrolling
Long Titles
Unable to find items without search bar
Overwhelming Homepage
Shipping time Inaccurate
Distractions
Gains
Like a brand/loves when its in stock
Quick Shipping
Bulk Buying Option
Enjoyed finding the comparison chart after scrolling forrreverrrr!
Thinks
Material asthetics are important while buying
listen's to her friends recommendations
Says
Where's the kids section?
Too much information
I'm in a canoe without a paddle
I really hope Amazon "get it together"
free shipping is important
I don't know how to look for it without using the search feature
"The night was ruined"
Feels
Livid
Regrets adding products to cart
Frustrated
Confusion
Does
Scrolls a lot
Wanted to buy a gift but was shopping for dinnerware
Puts item in cart impulsively and then goes back to look
Comparing preselected products
Get distracted easily
Site map and Information Architecture
In 6 groups we studied the information architecture on the home page and search categories and categorized common things into themes and dot voted for the most confusing and larger footprint themes.
Lo-fidelity Wireframes
User Flows
Using the IA and HMW statements, we laid down 6 step process userflow for buying a gift online from amazon website. The students voted for the best user flow.
Solution
Summary
Simplified search results page categories in boxes
First search result page very basic without any price information
Filter results for Price range, shipping speed and reviews
Second time search results after applyinf filters show prices
Inbuilt filter where you can click and choose a particular type of product. All results will be relevent to your choice
Compare button shows similar products within the selected filters with prices.
One click for details and easy checkout.
Future scope
Test the prototype with users and improve design
Adding anticipatory animation to "compare" button as a clue for users to use it.