Jared M. Spool User Interface Engineering
Jared M. Spool Founding Principal If you’ve ever seen Jared speak about usability, you know that he’s probably the most effective, knowledgeable communicator on the subject today. What you probably don’t know is he has guided the research agenda and built User Interface Engineering into the largest research organization of its kind in the world. He’s been working in the field of usability and
Revealing Design Treasures from The Amazon On its surface, Amazon.com just seems like a large ecommerce site, albeit a successful one. Its design isn’t flashy, nor is it much to write home about. But deep within its pages are hidden secrets—secrets that every designer should know about. If one looks closely at what the team at Amazon has built, it’s filled with innovative functionality and clever designs, all of which creates a delightful experience for its users and directly produces regular profits for its shareholders. But not all is perfect. Some design changes in the last few years have not been the success that the team had hoped for. Amazon’s exceptional qualities and imperfections are critical knowledge for any designer that wants to dig deep into what makes the site tick. © Copyright 2009, User Interface Engineering. All Rights Reserved.
design since 1978, before the term “usability” was ever associated with computers. Jared spends his time working with the research teams at the company, helps clients understand how to solve their design problems, explains to reporters and industry analysts what the current state of design is all about, and is a top-rated speaker at more than 20 conferences every year. He is also the conference chair and keynote speaker at the annual User Interface Conference, is on the faculty of the Tufts University Gordon Institute, and manages to squeeze in a fair amount of writing time.
User Interface Engineering User Interface Engineering is a leading research, training, and consulting firm specializing in web site and product usability. With our in-depth research findings based on user observation, we empower development teams to create usable web sites that increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
User Interface Engineering - www.uie.com
Jared M. Spool @jmspool
#JaredRamblesOnAndOnAndOnAndOn
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
User Interface Engineering - www.uie.com
Amazon
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
User Interface Engineering - www.uie.com
Visitors in December, 2008:
Rank of all websites in traffic: 8
Revenue in 2008:
Increase over 2007: 29%
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2008 Foresee Customer Satisfaction Rating:
Rank in customer satisfaction ratings: 3
Unique Customers Since Launch:
Ranking in World Population: 17
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Orders placed in 2008:
Orders processed every second: 24
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon Treasure #1
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Amazon
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Amazon
Caution
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Target
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Harry Potter 7 Reviews One Month after Release
Barnes & Noble (BN.com)
Walmart.com
Harry Potter 7 Reviews One Month after Release
Amazon.com
Target.com
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Ratio of Reviewers to Purchasers:
Purchases required for 20 reviews: 26,000 Viewers required at 2% conversion rate: 1,300,000
Treasure #1:
Engage Through Content User commentary enhances the experience Brings an air of authenticity to the content
Putting in a system to “bubble up” the most interesting or useful content can dramatically improve the experience Only a small percentage of visitors will participate Amazon has millions of visitors a day. Do you? You need to ensure you’ll have the traffic to make this happen
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Amazon Treasure #2
Amazon
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Amazon
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Caution
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
User Interface Engineering - www.uie.com
Amazon
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon
If every customer spent $5 more per order, it would make Amazon an additional
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
User Interface Engineering - www.uie.com
Amazon
Treasure #2:
Don’t Fear New Ideas Experimenting with new ideas is a critical part of innovation Risk averse organizations produce crap
Sometimes experiments don’t quite turn out the way you expect Amazon is very comfortable with ideas not catching on They have clear metrics of success (orders, revenue) Risk is critical, but you have to minimize it at every chance
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon Treasure #3
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon
Amazon’s Security Levels Level 0: Amazon doesn’t know who you are (no cookie) Level 1: Amazon knows you from a cookie It’s how they know what books to recommend or if you’re a 1-click customer
Level 2: Amazon wants to reveal something only you should know Such as your address or shipping history
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
User Interface Engineering - www.uie.com
Amazon
Goal Time vs. Tool Time Goal Time: When the user is improving the outcome of the experience When the user is considering the product they wish to purchase
Tool Time: When the user is moving forward without any improvement in the outcome of the experience When the user is struggling with the security system When the user is dealing with redesigned elements
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Amazon
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
User Interface Engineering - www.uie.com
Amazon 2007 Navigation Phase-In Plan Phase 1: Non-cookied visitors - 5,000 per day Phase II: Non-cookied visitors - 1 per every 5 Phase III: Cookied customers - 5,000 per day Phase IV: Cookied customers - 1 per every 5 Phase V: Everyone Total time: 12 weeks
Caution
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Items Easy To Find with Search The Princess Bride Books by Tom Clancy Movies with Téa Leoni A Canon SD1100 Mario Kart for the Wii
Items Difficult to Find with Search The first Tom Clancy book featuring Jack Ryan An inexpensive, but high quality SLR camera A good toy for my six-year-old niece Novels written by Nobel Prize for Literature winners
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Amazon
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
User Interface Engineering - www.uie.com
CD Baby
UMass Amherst
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BLS.gov
Westlaw
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Treasure #3:
Eliminate Tool Time Decreasing tool time increases user satisfaction By shortening steps and removing obstacles, users are happier
Redesigns create massive tool time for users Avoid redesigns completely by making all changes small and incremental
Not all use cases are the same Search works on Amazon because of their data Match functions to your use cases, not the other way around
Amazon Treasure #4
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Apple
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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BestBuy
Target
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Site
Amazon’s “Negative Operating Cycle” Amazon turns its inventory every 20 days
}
Best Buy turns its inventory every 74 days
Day 0 Product Ordered Day 0 Product Ordered
44
Product Paid For
}
Amazon
Best Buy
Standard retail payment terms: 45 days
20 22
Customer Customer Buys Pays
Cash Float
Cash Debt
74 76
Customer Customer Buys Pays
44
Product Paid For
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Treasure #4:
Never Forget the Business Amazon’s business model is deliberately designed The site is designed to fit the business
You have to start with a great business model to produce a great experience
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
User Interface Engineering - www.uie.com
Amazon
Amazon
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Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon
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Revealing Treasures from The Amazon Engage your users by delivering great content Don’t fear trying out new ideas Eliminate
while delivering confidence
Never forget the business Caution is warranted Be careful when emulating features Some experiments don’t pan out Not all use cases are equal
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