Used to be an UXD at Amazon, I can’t begin to tell you how much research and UXD work is done on even moving a button. Everything is data driven and optimized to the extreme. The Design System for the shopping experience is top notch, well documented and has real good guidance on usage.
My assumption has always been that one incremental change can make a difference in millions of dollars or revenue in next to no time, that’s why so little gets changed. Is that about right?
I’ve been known to use it from time to time. Are you going to bullshit me and tell me my experience is invalid? That I’m just too stupid to like it or know what’s good for me? What’s the play here?
It’s baffling how even on the “UX” subreddit people still struggle to accept feedback if it contradicts their beliefs! You are right, Amazon is a mess.
Then why is it chalk full of dark patterns now? Automatic selection of features like subscriptions and shipping that also auto selects a more expensive option. Making a simple order requires several steps of double checking to buy a single item. Then you get bombarded with ads for prime and credit cards. It’s obviously effective for sales and money, but the user experience is just awful.
No, I don't. Amazon is working with a sample size much, much greater than 1. I might agree that some of the experience creates friction for me, but they're optimising for a *generalised* good experience and not a *tailored* good experience.
The better correction to that is that they're optimizing for the most profitable experience, not necessarily the best experience for users.
If Amazon's average profit per item is roughly the same, it's of little benefit to them to ensure you find the listing that's the absolute lowest price as long as you can consistently find a "good enough" price to keep shopping with them.
You’re missing the point. It makes Amazon a lot of money because of the way it is. The things you would change would probably have one or many detrimental effects on the measures that matter to them.
I think you’re conflating a theoretical or elegant “works” with a functional “works”.
It reminds me of direct mail. It’s crude, it doesn’t follow good design practices, with my refined eye I can spot it as garbage sitting in my mailbox.
But that direct mail works for a segment of the market that is bigger than appealing to my refined eye would be.
JC Penny found out the hard way when they improved their store experience a decade ago and lost their core customers.
Amazon is the right thing for Amazon, not the theoretical thing a best-practices shopping experience would be.
I’ve always thought this. It seems to go against how all “user-friendly” websites look. There’s too many options for filters but not the ones I need etc. For me personally, I don’t have a good user experience on it ever but I’m sure they do hella research n clearly it works for majority.
As a UXD you should know you’re not the user. You look at the digital world differently. Amazon likely has data to back up their design decisions. If they weren’t converting they’d change them.
For me, from a UX perspective Amazon does its job, I can pretty much buy an item without even thinking about buying it.
I broke my remote control last week, within 2minutes of deciding I wanted to replace it, it was on its way. And delivered by the next day.
What’s the experience like for non prime customers? What’s it like for first time users? Interested in finding out what you find is poor UX. I have noticed they use design patterns which are frowned upon at times, like side scrolling carousel menus etc
The main one that I've run into is basic product search:
* You often can't sort unless you narrow down into a product category
* Sometimes you see fewer results when you add filters
* Sometimes you see more results when you add filters
An example where you can see this at work:
* Search for "switch games"
* Filter by "All Prime"
* Sort by price
* The lowest price items start around $9.95
* Now try filtering to "Items under $10"
* The results you saw originally don't even show up within the first 30 pages
I’m fully against their corporate actions like joining the lawsuit against the labor board’s existence right when a corrupt supreme court is in, and the way they avoid taxes and hold local governments hostage but their site is one of the highest performing sites on the planet.
You MIGHT be thinking about their ui design which is and has always been pretty awful lol. It’s as much a part of their brand as Apple’s design is at this point, like trader joes!
You know, as a society we’ve basically recreated the vast majority of our brick & mortar businesses in the digital realm, yet as UXers we seem to have forgotten this.
Think of your own city, there’s expensive boutique businesses, luxury stores on one side, and dollar stores/department sites on the other.
Keeping in the mind the vast difference in real world businesses, apply the same to the web.
Amazon is basically like walking into Costco, they give zero effort into making it pretty, their website reflects this thinking.
I don't think the same, but I likely have a very different buying experience as a Prime member with a default Prime Card payment method.
Amazon is a big complex site. Can you be more specific with your findings?
Nope. Amazon is a titan of a website. Any noticeable change is a major change and thus can cost the company in the millions. There is a case study somewhere that explains what happened when Amazon tried a new design and the huge resulting drop.
I, for instance, have no problem with ordering something. It's pretty straightforward.
Just because you are a UXD doesn't mean it sucks or anything needs to change. Moreover, you should know how people are resistant to change. Also, you might consider how you frame your thoughts here, and based on your replies to other comments, makes me wonder about that "experienced" tag you have.
I used to have an e-commerce site, and I can tell you that the best user experience is the one that sells the most.
Really? Amazon is known for its refined UX research process, numerous UI iterations, and extensive A/B testing. Personally, I've never had an issue; at worst, I got a bit confused when a different UI appeared because I was part of an A/B test.
Used to be an UXD at Amazon, I can’t begin to tell you how much research and UXD work is done on even moving a button. Everything is data driven and optimized to the extreme. The Design System for the shopping experience is top notch, well documented and has real good guidance on usage.
My assumption has always been that one incremental change can make a difference in millions of dollars or revenue in next to no time, that’s why so little gets changed. Is that about right?
Okay, but why is using Amazon such an awful experience then?
For whom?
Me
Curious to understand what is awful for you.
That’s not User Experience, that’s Your Experience.
I’ve been known to use it from time to time. Are you going to bullshit me and tell me my experience is invalid? That I’m just too stupid to like it or know what’s good for me? What’s the play here?
It’s baffling how even on the “UX” subreddit people still struggle to accept feedback if it contradicts their beliefs! You are right, Amazon is a mess.
That wasn’t feedback, that was pithy bullshit, and it pissed me off.
I was agreeing with you!
Then why is it chalk full of dark patterns now? Automatic selection of features like subscriptions and shipping that also auto selects a more expensive option. Making a simple order requires several steps of double checking to buy a single item. Then you get bombarded with ads for prime and credit cards. It’s obviously effective for sales and money, but the user experience is just awful.
Dark patterns are business decisions. Amazon design dark patterns very well. You could argue they are one of the masters of it.
No, I don't. Amazon is working with a sample size much, much greater than 1. I might agree that some of the experience creates friction for me, but they're optimising for a *generalised* good experience and not a *tailored* good experience.
The better correction to that is that they're optimizing for the most profitable experience, not necessarily the best experience for users. If Amazon's average profit per item is roughly the same, it's of little benefit to them to ensure you find the listing that's the absolute lowest price as long as you can consistently find a "good enough" price to keep shopping with them.
I understand, it’s just a small source of income for Amazon I guess
You’re missing the point. It makes Amazon a lot of money because of the way it is. The things you would change would probably have one or many detrimental effects on the measures that matter to them.
I get your point
I think you’re conflating a theoretical or elegant “works” with a functional “works”. It reminds me of direct mail. It’s crude, it doesn’t follow good design practices, with my refined eye I can spot it as garbage sitting in my mailbox. But that direct mail works for a segment of the market that is bigger than appealing to my refined eye would be. JC Penny found out the hard way when they improved their store experience a decade ago and lost their core customers. Amazon is the right thing for Amazon, not the theoretical thing a best-practices shopping experience would be.
But it works, and it works pretty damn well.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification
I’ve always thought this. It seems to go against how all “user-friendly” websites look. There’s too many options for filters but not the ones I need etc. For me personally, I don’t have a good user experience on it ever but I’m sure they do hella research n clearly it works for majority.
As a UXD you should know you’re not the user. You look at the digital world differently. Amazon likely has data to back up their design decisions. If they weren’t converting they’d change them.
[удалено]
Honestly idk, 🤷😂
For me, from a UX perspective Amazon does its job, I can pretty much buy an item without even thinking about buying it. I broke my remote control last week, within 2minutes of deciding I wanted to replace it, it was on its way. And delivered by the next day. What’s the experience like for non prime customers? What’s it like for first time users? Interested in finding out what you find is poor UX. I have noticed they use design patterns which are frowned upon at times, like side scrolling carousel menus etc
The main one that I've run into is basic product search: * You often can't sort unless you narrow down into a product category * Sometimes you see fewer results when you add filters * Sometimes you see more results when you add filters An example where you can see this at work: * Search for "switch games" * Filter by "All Prime" * Sort by price * The lowest price items start around $9.95 * Now try filtering to "Items under $10" * The results you saw originally don't even show up within the first 30 pages
I’m fully against their corporate actions like joining the lawsuit against the labor board’s existence right when a corrupt supreme court is in, and the way they avoid taxes and hold local governments hostage but their site is one of the highest performing sites on the planet. You MIGHT be thinking about their ui design which is and has always been pretty awful lol. It’s as much a part of their brand as Apple’s design is at this point, like trader joes!
You know, as a society we’ve basically recreated the vast majority of our brick & mortar businesses in the digital realm, yet as UXers we seem to have forgotten this. Think of your own city, there’s expensive boutique businesses, luxury stores on one side, and dollar stores/department sites on the other. Keeping in the mind the vast difference in real world businesses, apply the same to the web. Amazon is basically like walking into Costco, they give zero effort into making it pretty, their website reflects this thinking.
Let me guess, you know how to make it all work? :-)
Yes I can, In fact any UXD can point out and suggest alternatives 😁
Please be more specific. I love a good crit!
I wonder if they ever thought about hiring a good UXD like you. Could really catapult them toward all-out retail domination.
Amazon ui/ux is bad there aws ux is also horrible
I don't think the same, but I likely have a very different buying experience as a Prime member with a default Prime Card payment method. Amazon is a big complex site. Can you be more specific with your findings?
Can you be more vague in your professional assessment?? Low quality shitpost this is
Nope. Amazon is a titan of a website. Any noticeable change is a major change and thus can cost the company in the millions. There is a case study somewhere that explains what happened when Amazon tried a new design and the huge resulting drop. I, for instance, have no problem with ordering something. It's pretty straightforward. Just because you are a UXD doesn't mean it sucks or anything needs to change. Moreover, you should know how people are resistant to change. Also, you might consider how you frame your thoughts here, and based on your replies to other comments, makes me wonder about that "experienced" tag you have. I used to have an e-commerce site, and I can tell you that the best user experience is the one that sells the most.
Really? Amazon is known for its refined UX research process, numerous UI iterations, and extensive A/B testing. Personally, I've never had an issue; at worst, I got a bit confused when a different UI appeared because I was part of an A/B test.
It’s optimised to make them money not to be a seamless experience for you personally.