AMAZON

Amazon is an American multinational technology company that focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence.

Service

Heuristic Evaluation

Client

Amazon

Year

2022

Heuristic Evaluation

Heuristic evaluation helps optimize usability by minimizing design deficiencies. It thus guarantees the effectiveness of the interface of a digital device, such as a website, a mobile application or SaaS software.

Deliverables:

Heuristic Evaluation, Key Usability Issues &
Design Prioritisation

Looking to evaluate the user experience of browsing, selecting, and purchasing an item on the mobile app.

Task

Conducting a heuristic evaluation using the Nielsen Norman Group practices to find usability problems in the UI design.

Scenario

Method

The user has run out of her usual face-wash and would like to order a new one using the Amazon App.

The user will browse, select item, add this to their basket and checkout to purchase.

Objective

Violation of

Consistency & Standards

Problem:

The menu icon does not follow standard coventions in terms of position.

Description:

Menu icon is placed in bottom right corner which does not follow standard platform conventions where menu icons would usually be given higher priority based on visual hierachy.

Recommended Solution:

Move menu icon to the top left or right, increasing priority and improving visual hierachy inline with standard conventions.

Violation of

Aesthetic & Minimalist Design

Problem:

Interface contains too much information of which some of this information is irrelevant or not needed.

Description:

Product titles are too long and too much information is displayed at an early stage. Product cards therefore look cluttered.

Recommended Solution:

Product details should be kept minimal, keeping only the most important information. ‘View product’ should replace size options at this stage.

Violation of

Flexibility & Efficiency of Use

Product description located far away from the top of the main listing and once found users cant quickly reach the top or purchase button.

Problem:

The product description section is at the bottom of the screen meaning that users have to endlessly scroll to view this section, after they have viewed this section the user cant purchase the item without having to reach the top.

Description:

Recommended Solution:

Moving the product description section to be closer to the purchase part of the product or adding quick naviagate to the top button.

Violation of

Error Prevention

Delete and share button are tightly squeezed together. There are also two delete buttons. If deleted there is no undo option so user will have to find item again to add to basket.

Problem:

Description:

After adding some items, user cannot view basket or go there directly.

Recommended Solution:

Add more spacing between delete and share buttons and remove the additional delete button because it is redundant. An undo option should be added.

Violation of

User Control & Freedom

Once user added an item to basket he can’t view the basket in the same screen and this require a new step outside the current screen in order to get there.

Problem:

Description:

Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked next step to see the current state without having to go through an extended dialogue.

Recommended Solution:

System functions (view basket) should be clearly introduced as a following step in the process.

Violation of

Efficiency of Use

Problem:

Having the delivery address right under the header on the main shopping page does not make sense. As it takes up valuable space on an already crowded page, it should really be on more relevant pages such as settings, account or basket pages.

Description:

Delivery addresses it’s visible on the shopping page and it has the option of choosing or adding a new location once tap it.

Recommended Solution:

Moving this feature on the right page for a smooth usability of the shopping page- avoiding distraction

Key Usability Issues &
Design Prioritisation

Some details within the task can make things unnecessarily difficult and confusing for some - such as cluttered information, missing buttons, poor error prevention, and so on.

Overall Usability

Design Prioritisation

Top Usability Issues:

The delete and share buttons are tightly squeezed together. If deleted, there is no undo option so the user will have to find the item again to add it to the basket.

Users need to scroll to find product description located away from the top of the product page, once found users cant quickly reach the top or purchase button.

Once user added an item to basket they can’t view the basket in the same screen and this require a new step outside the current screen in order to get there.

Interface, such as on the product list screen, contains information that is irrelevant or rarely needed, and clutters the screen.

Menu icon does not follow standard coventions in terms of position.

Conclusion

Key learnings

While being one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world as a company and brand, the Amazon app still fails basic heuristic usability principles.

Next Steps

Implement improvements to app usability based on recommended design solutions from the heuristic evaluation.

To recap

We have conducted an effective heuristic evaluation to reveal insightful issues for the main problems of the Amazon app.

We evaluated the usability of a digital product by measuring it against the aforementioned usability heuristics.

And so, we expressed the recommendations based on the problem rating, giving design priority to:

Creating more space between delete and share button.
Addition of ‘FAB’ button or a quick link to enable the user to quickly travel to the top of the screen.
Making the basket icon visible at all stages.

Appendix: Executive Summary

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