My role:

User research | Design | Design socialization and workshop leader | Alignment with system design teams | Cross-collaboration with Product Management, Engineering, Support, and Research teams

SITUATION:

In 2015 Amazon was expanding its online marketplace in India, Mexico and Brazil. Telemetry showed customers actively searching and browsing, with some entering the purchasing funnel but many abandoning before checkout.

In India, the push to compete with powerful local e-commerce giants and build long-term customer loyalty was central to Amazon’s strategy, aiming to make it the company’s largest market outside the US.

In parallel, Amazon launched full retail operations in Mexico in June 215 with Amazon.com.mx and expanded its footprint in Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy. This UX work was pivotal in strengthening customer trust and engagement, fueling growth and market gains across all three regions.

THIS CASE STUDY…

…will include workstream data for all countries, but I’ve decided to limit images and focus most of the specific details to the India workstream, so this case study isn’t a mile long. 🙂

PROCESS:

Partnered with Product Management, Support, Engineering, and localized Researchers, and led iterative customer research studies. I combined qualitative insights with telemetry-driven metrics to gain a holistic, customer-centered perspective, synthesizing findings and socializing them broadly to secure cross-functional stakeholder alignment on what was causing abandonment. Then cross-functionally defined the UX Outcome (ideal user experience), success metrics (goals) and progress metrics (tasks) that would enable these incremental goals.

• Workshopped options to plan for this broad, multi-country, cross-functional initiative, and all its moving parts, defining the UX Outcome above (we called “goals”), and providing introductions to the multi-partner team.

We focused on a mobile-first strategy.

Through this workshop, I learned that across demographics, most customers were utilizing the Amazon marketplace on mobile devices. After defining the mobile version, I moved on to the tablet and desktop designs.

• Created a script to be utilized by research partners in all countries. For India, we conducted a study in New Delhi, partnering with localized researchers who administered the test and recorded a video for each participant, sharing verbal feedback, facial reactions, the customer’s screen view, and a brief user profile.

The most important aspect of a purchasing decision for customers in India was being able to easily understand product pricing.

Users were frustrated when purchasing items and realizing only after submitting orders that required Import Fee Deposits (IFDs) were being added to their purchases.

User sentiment was that all product prices needed to include this additional required fee and display the full price prominently, making it apparent that the IFD was already included.

Research across all countries revealed significant regional differences in shopping preferences and priorities that affected user trust, and ultimately Amazon conversion rates.

• Indian customers required the availability of total price clarity, including fees and product selections across marketplace sellers

• Brazilian customers valued options for payment installments

• Mexican customers prioritized product availability

* I passed my baseline usability script to a team that was focused on Chinese users across provinces, but had no more interaction with the workstream outside of understanding that Chinese users highly valued product authenticity.

⭐️ Late-breaking addition to requirements…

RESULTS:

Leveraging the cross-country research insights, I designed search, browse, and purchase funnel workflows for customers in each country. Creating the mobile designs first and incorporating this workflow into a prototype for the usability research, then adapting the designs for tablet and desktop.

• Throughout each of these workflows, the Import Fees Deposit and price breakdowns are highlighted for customer visibility and clarity

• The additional KYC ID flow is showcased in the mobile comps below.

• Additional pricing options across marketplace sellers are showcased in the desktop workflow. The Bluetooth Smart Wrist Watch is a domestic product and has multiple prices to choose from, each including a total price breakdown.

These mobile, tablet, and desktop change annotations below are a great explanation of the final design, highlighting the important Import Fees Deposit information, with a “Details” link available for a total price breakdown. These annotated comps were utilized in Product Management and Engineering discussions for team transparency and aided in implementation.

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