Project Overview

 

Background

Amazon.com, Inc. is an American multinational technology company which focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world", and is one of the world's most valuable brands.

Problem

Amazon Resolution Center does not exist on Amazon.com today. Amazon wants to simplify and centralize the process of resolving issues for customers including problems related to products, returns, replacement and exchange, and product support in one simple experience through the resolution center.

Scope: Responsive Design

Role: Lead UX designer

Skills & Tools: User Research, UX Strategy, UX Design, UI Design, and Data analysis

Timeline: June 2022 - Present

Responsibilities and Process

1. My role as a UX designer

I was introduced onto this project right after completing an Amazon Returns project. We work with the same team of stakeholders from Amazon. This time around, I was able to build upon the clients’ relationships and work independently from user research, analysis, to design.

2. User Research

In order to design something that does not currently exist, we need to understand what the current customers are looking for and how we could implement something that is truly helpful. We conducted a user research using a survey method. We were able to identify our personas and understand what most customers are desiring in this new initiative.

3. Data-driven designs

Once we got a set of personas, we started designing with inclusivity and accessibility in mind. In our research, we found very interesting insights of behaviors and preferences based on customers’ ages.

4. Wireframes

We started designing with multiple use cases in mind whether it would be the most straightforward scenario or the complex ones, we were able to scale our design to respond to all needs.

Research

  • The objective of this research is to identify the common personas of this resolution center by understanding their needs and behaviors when facing product or order issues.

  • We conducted 700+ surveys to find the common responses, preferences, and behaviors to identify the personas and any helpful insights to shape and build this new resolution center to benefit all customers.

  • We set up a screening process to learn from Amazon customers and non-Amazon customers who shop online.

    • 500 participants per marketplace

    • 50% Male / 50% Female

    • Annual household income between $25k - $200k+

    • Age balanced between all age groups 18 - 75 years old – updated to four groups because of sample size

      • 18 to 34 (35%)

      • 35 to 50 (30%)

      • 51 to 64 (20%)

      • 65 to 75 (15%)

    • Top 5 priorities when returning for the first time are knowing the return cutoff date, ability to replace an item, step-by-step guide about the return process, free returns, and knowing how long the refund will take to process.

    • Use mobile devices to make a purchase online

    • Research before purchasing to avoid returning or order mistakes

    • Extremely influenced by having an option to return when purchasing items online

    • Think it would be helpful to make a one click/swipe to initiate a return, be able to try on items before purchasing, and save their past return preference to save time when initiating a return.

    • Return an item for a refund when the item is defective or damaged or no longer needed.

    • Consider using Product Support on Amazon to try to resolve the product issues.

    • Familiar with the Amazon return process but instructions are still needed.

 

Ideate

Low-Fi Wireframes

Use cases

Takeaways

Lessons Learned & Impact

As a UX designer, users’ perspectives and opinions are deeply valuable. Being able to learn from the users directly by asking 47 important questions during the research, I was able to understand their needs and put myself in their shoes as a customer. Overall, I was able to introduce new features that many competitors of Amazon have not been able to implement to their experiences (i.e. one click/swipe return, sustainability initiative during the return process, and more).

Like any projects, we have faced many challenges in particular, decreasing in scope. Resolution Center is a big project that will need months of testing and researching once the design is ready to be prototyped. By combining many services Amazon is offering now, it’s impacting many other internal teams at Amazon that we have no control over. The team decided to decrease the scope and reiterate the current experience by implementing small changing that we call “low hanging fruits”.

Our team will continue to work on this project by exploring the desktop design, prototyping, and user-testing - in multiple languages and cultures.

Current process

Current process

Because the Amazon design team decided to shift the focus from the resolution center to the current experience that includes elements of the resolution center, we are looking at implementing multiple UI updates and some functionalities.