Amazon product detail page redesign

Today, I am tackling a challenge proposed by Artiom Dashinsky in an article he wrote. He guides product designers through the whiteboard exercise, a common interview practice. He is kind enough to give a few examples, and I decided to go for the following challenge:

Choose an app that you like and use a lot, describe how you can redesign it and why.

Amazon gives sellers a generous amount of space for product description. When you land on the product page of let’s say, a laptop you are interested in buying, you have to scroll quite a bit to read the info, pictures and find customer users. The space is quite small, and it does feel like we try to fit all elements which make the page crowded. How can we improve the product tour experience? It should be in a way the seller can provide as much information as possible on the product but also without crowding the potential customer with too much information.

To answer this challenge, I am applying Dashinsky’s seven steps process to find a relevant design solution.

Step 1: Understand your goal

• Amazon = the go-to ecommerce website in many countries
• opportunities: increase loyalty, make customers return on Amazon instead of other ecommerce websites, better product tour & product comparison than competitors to help customers find the perfect item.

Step 2: Audience

• define the audience: All age, from teenagers to elderly people may use Amazon. All social class. Amazon caters virtually all kind of products, from used books to high-end cosmetics. So I assume the user base is very broad.
• opportunity audience: groups of friends and family. They might be interested in buying furniture together for instance, or know what product their friend has bought to ask for recommendations. Another opportunity audience would be elderly people. I believe the current interface can be confusing for less tech savvy user targets. There may be too many options and buttons to chose from. And with reduced mobility, these users might benefit a lot from Amazon, if they can order their products all in one place.

Step 3: Understand the customer’ s context and needs (when and where)

• context: Amazon caters virtually all kind of products, from used books to high-end cosmetics. A user might want to buy a gift. Buy a new laptop. Buy a second-hand table. Many users would go on Amazon for the variety of choice and price range. Once on Amazon, the user takes time to compare products, read customer reviews, look at pictures and product detail. I assume they would take time to browse product before making a purchase decision. They may come back to Amazon once or twice before actually buying.
• needs: users want payment and shipping to be convenient and quick. They want to make sure refunds are easy to process. They need to be able to look at reviews easily. They want to make sure the products are not counterfeit since it is challenging to check the quality of the product when shopping online.
• When/Where: the suboptimal experiences/opportunities: no need to create an account when saving products, long product description by sellers that could be shorten, product comparison could be better.

Step 4: list ideas

a) Interface redesign: make product description optional, make access to reviews easier, highlight only main features and look of the product.

b) See what friends bought in each category to simplify product search.

c) No need to log in to compare products.

d) Make refund easier.

Step 5: prioritize and chose an idea

I assessed impact and effort on a feasibility graph. Looking at the ideas, I have decided that a interface redesign was the most relevant challenge to take on. The friend recommendation system may not have enough network effect: it would need that your Facebook friends for example, all buy on Amazon and many buy the same product to show the relevance of a product. Additionally there may be privacy issues, so this idea is not considered. Making returns easier is a great was for customer retention but I would need extra information from Operations and it would result in a long-term project. The second best alternative is redesigning the interface, which demand less effort but could bring significant impact on churn rate.

step 6: solve

• platform: mobile
• storyboard:

1. Log in.
2. Start search: I want a tablet.
3. Compare tablets: Do I want a refurbished tablet? Whish one has the best reviews? On the product list I click on the ones I am interested based on ratings, brand and look. The product detail page is uncluttered. On the product page I saved the pictures, reviews and specs that interest me, to help me compare products with a “drag” interaction.
4. Go on tech blogs, websites to know more about tablet reviews. I can write notes from the sources, on an additional row of the comparison table.
5. Go back to Amazon with additional knowledge.
6. I look at my table of comparison. Cells have different colors depending on the product’s performance.
7. I take a decision & make my purchase.

There will be two improvements in this project: Design a product tour experience that feels uncluttered and a simple way to compare products.

Step 7: Measure success

• Churn rate
• Average increase in sales per customer

Wireframes

I have made some sketches and low fidelity wireframes to showcase how the product detail page looks in the new design.

High-fidelity prototype

I have designed the prototype of the first page of the redesign. Instead of crowding a single page with information, the product detail page is divided in three sections for visibility. Both seller’s product details and customer reviews are given equal importance. I have also kept the original homepage and profile button at the bottom navigation bar. I don’t really know what is the user research so far on a double navigation bar, but it appears to make sense to place buttons where the user’s thumb reaches. It also declutters the top of the screen, engaging the user in a optimal product tour. While this kind of structure is yet to be tested, I decided to take a risk and see what you think of this design.