Ordering a cell phone @ Amazon

Can one deny it? Absolutely not! Amazon truly is the “earth’s biggest store” and with newer additions, it’s growing by the day. It’s got great search features and catalog browsing to easily spot the product.

 

It is more an online shopping encyclopedia to search for products, look for information about it, read reviews, and eventually buy it.Wait a sec…buying it…well, that’s where I stop. I’m more of a browser on Amazon than a buyer. I remember the first time I tried to buy a book. I was alarmed when I was asked to key in my credit card info (as part of the account creation process) even before I could figure out the shipping or taxes, which would influence my decision to buy it (although I know that you actually don’t buy, unless you hit ‘place the order’). That was sure to halt me at the doorway. I need to mention here that it wasn’t any threat to security, as sure Amazon is highly reputed and there are thousands shopping every hour of the day. It was the UI design, with the overwhelming load of information, the feeling of ‘lost in space’. It is nearly 20 months since that day, and I mustered all the courage to get rid of all that skepticism and make my first purchase, (although I’ve browsed their catalog umpteen number of times) and Guess what! It sure was an adventure in its own way! And I couldn’t wait to write about it.

 

Disclaimer:

this is in no way to criticize Amazon.com. This is a sincere attempt at suggestions to make the UI more friendly, less overwhelming, more intuitive with more landmarks to keep one in context.

 

So here we go…

 

Here’s the process:

I’m shopping for a cell phone and a service plan
(please remember I’ve already done the browsing, comparing and decision making.)
Its just to spot the same phone and order it. Simple enough right…

 

Step1:

I type in ‘sony ericsson’ in the product search dialog box. It takes me to the cell phones and services section. I find my phone click on the link and get information about the phone. I’m searching for the button that would let me add this to my shopping cart… Assuming that the 20% on the right side of the screen is usually filled with advertisements, I ignore that segment and search for the button everywhere else…I didn’t imagine it was going to be inside the bright blue box/image on the right. Finally spotted it and then hit ‘select the phone and chose the service provider’

 

Step2:

I chose the service provider and hit ‘select this plan’which takes me to the next page which informs me of my selection and gives additional features to add and then I click the ‘Add to cart’ button, assuming that I will be taken to the page which shows my shopping cart. But no,

 

Step3:

This is the next page with some info in the yellow box that reads

Important Message
Your order contains at least one Wireless Package (Phone & Service Plan)
Wireless service providers will perform a routine credit check that requires your Social Security number and driver’s license before approving service.
You will only be billed the cost of the phone. Activation fees, service options, and monthly fees will be charged by the service provider.

 

Well, for a second I thought there was something wrong with what I did, it sounded like one of those error messages that pop up on my computer. Ok, the content was not alarming though. The ‘Proceed to checkout button’ again in the location of the advertisements, I clicked it. (by now, I guess I had learned to locate buttons. After all, I did spend 15 to 20 minutes one busy day to find that.) Ok, there is yet another option listed below the button, which says “1-Click ordering is not available for at least one item in your order.” (unfortunately I don’t know what that meant, and ignoring it was the best option)

 

Step4:

I was in for a shock! All of a sudden I was out of my familiar grounds and transported to a totally alien ground…a new page that had no reference to earlier pages. Thankfully the amazon.com logo was in place, some kind of a cue that I still was in their website (but to my dismay, I couldn’t click to get home (amazon.com)[my acquired web navigation skills have taught me to hit the logo to get to the home page whenever I’m lost]) But I felt stranded. (Had this new page opened up in a new window, it would have been atleast a little better) Anyway, the best part of the journey starts now…

 

The page reads “Ordering from Amazon.com is quick and easy” That was assuring. I enter my email id and hit “sign-in using our secure sever” button (well, that was assuring to think I’m entering a secure domain). But, absolutely nothing happens…I stay in the same page. Try hitting it again, doesn’t work.

That’s when I read “The secure server will encrypt your information. If you received an error message when you tried to use our secure server, sign in using our standard server”

Ok, encrypt…do the users understand the language? Maybe…but the second line, that’s not good. It made me feel that by using the standard server I was going to place an order from a space that wasn’t going to be as secure as “sign-in using our secure server”. But I trust Amazon.com and go ahead and hit the ‘standard server’ link and it takes me to the next page.

 

(well, one more point…sometimes the secure server worked, sometimes it didn’t)

 

Step5:

Address form, I fill that out. Add another shipping address.

 

Step6:

Shipping details:

This is where I chose my shipping speed

 

Step7:

Credit card particulars

 

Step8:

I get to the page where I had to enter some information for a credit check by the service provider. I ran into a problem. There was information I had to key in, but I didn’t have details for it. I couldn’t ignore it, as it wouldn’t process the order. There was no customer support number listed anywhere in the help pages. All the FAQs were of no help at the moment. I almost gave up and thought about going to a different website. That was when I managed to find Amazon customer support number using Google search. Isn’t that interesting? Well, so I finally call up the people talk to them and get the issue resolved. One more thing that was annoying in that page was the moment I hit ‘enter’ and when this new page came up with the segments with errors, most of the information I had entered had already vanished. I had to key in the information again. (ok, I understand, it might be a security issue, but as a user, I got tired of typing numbers nearly 3-4 times)

 

Step 8:

At last I get to the ‘place order’ page.

It has all the information. I would have loved to see a button that said “To add more items click here”
than a button that only allows me to change the quantities or delete items. Or for that matter the link to amazon’s homepage wasn’t helpful either. But sure I finally did place the order.

Guess what…here’s the best segment…the next page

Step9:

This page read “http\\ server error” or something…For all the effort and perseverance and multiple attempts, calling the support, it was the best thing I could hear at the end of it all.

I totally gave up…I couldn’t go through another process of placing an order. But, a few minutes later, when I clicked on the “my account” button, I see that my order was processed. I also get a confirmation email. And that was good news.

 

Ok, that’s not the end of the story…

Next morning…I get an email…”We’re sorry for the inconvenience. Due to technical errors your order was not processed. Please place another order again.” (For all that I went through, this was not what I wanted to see…but it was good, this time, the whole process looked a lot less difficult. Added to that I should mention, Amazon.com waived my shipping charges, which was good news)

 

So I finally placed the order again with the hope that everything should work fine this time. I’m keeping my fingers crossed…never know what tomorrow might bring… (Ok, that was on a lighter note)

 

Finally…

In all this whole process, I didn’t find a button that would let me edit some info that I had entered earlier, get back to the previous page or there was no button to cancel the account creation process. There’s no help button on every page either. There was no link to the homepage (atleast the logo didn’t link to the homepage), which is something that needs attention.

 

Well, I close down the window and after a few hours when I get back to Amazon.com, I see this message “welcome Arthi {if you’re not Arthi click here}” well, that was not fun to see that. It looked like the session didn’t end and had I been on a public computer anyone could have accessed my account information (atleast that’s how it appeared, cause I know that to actually enter the sections to make changes to my personal settings one would have to enter a password).

 

Where is the log out button?

I was searching all over the page, couldn’t find one. Finally when I go to the help page, search for sign out, I find this button that was hidden inside the help section…shouldn’t these be more prominently placed on the main page? I’m just wondering…imagine what it would be like to have such a sign out button for online banking. It is scary…

 

Ok that was an experience written totally from a user’s perspective. I guess that’s what UI designers need to do…look at things from the user’s perspective and invest time observing users in real time, not just focus groups and map their patterns to see how one could make their online shopping experience a lot simpler, easier and intuitive. Most important of all, how to not overwhelm the user and how not make him/her feel technology-ignorant.

Addition of a few more buttons, a few more sentences in a tech-jargon free language would have helped a lot. And something to perennially place the user in context, some kind of a landmark/pointer would have helped.

 

Although it wasn’t a pleasant shopping experience, it sure was a lot of learning on how important Interface and Interaction design is.