4 ms·

I generally wish I could go to the site and not even see non-Amazon warehoused items- effectively always keeping the "prime only" box checked. I like buying fro

I generally wish I could go to the site and not even see non-Amazon warehoused items- effectively always keeping the "prime only" box checked. I like buying from Amazon, not the marketplace. It's also confusing for the non-savvy user.

gwern 15y ago
There probably is an option somewhere for that. It's just that the Amazon site is so awfully designed and ugly... (For years I would read how Amazon pioneered A/B testing and measured statistics on every pixel of its site and tweaked out the wazoo, and I would wonder how this was possible given that the site was a chaotic mess that actively impeded me when shopping there - could my sense of what is effective and attractive be that out of whack? And then I read in Yegge's famous Google+ post that this was not true, but the cluttered chaos was kept at the specific request of the CEO, Jeff Bezos. And I went, 'oh of course; that explains everything.')
- whatusername 15y ago
  Ugly sites can convert better: http://scobleizer.com/2006/03/04/the-role-of-anti-marketing-design/ http://scobleizer.com/2006/03/04/the-role-of-anti-marketing-... See also: Any direct marketing long form sales letter.
- blntechie 15y ago
  I'm not very sure about that. Amazon's site may not be beautifully designed but it works. As they advertise, it has never taken me more than a click to buy an item unless I want to change something. Also, it has one of the better product search engines amongst all retailers. Their reviews are generally considered genuine and useful and they're clearly laid out. I'm generally happy with their website design.
  - gwern 15y ago
    Yes, it works, but could it be better? Notice that you can have great reviews or product search engines despite a busy chaotic layout - the search engine source code doesn't give a toss what the pages look like as long as it has the data it needs, and the reviews come in if you have enough customers and don't make too hard on them to submit.

gwern 15y ago

There probably is an option somewhere for that. It's just that the Amazon site is so awfully designed and ugly... (For years I would read how Amazon pioneered A/B testing and measured statistics on every pixel of its site and tweaked out the wazoo, and I would wonder how this was possible given that the site was a chaotic mess that actively impeded me when shopping there - could my sense of what is effective and attractive be that out of whack? And then I read in Yegge's famous Google+ post that this was not true, but the cluttered chaos was kept at the specific request of the CEO, Jeff Bezos. And I went, 'oh of course; that explains everything.')

whatusername 15y ago
Ugly sites can convert better: http://scobleizer.com/2006/03/04/the-role-of-anti-marketing-design/ http://scobleizer.com/2006/03/04/the-role-of-anti-marketing-... See also: Any direct marketing long form sales letter.
blntechie 15y ago
I'm not very sure about that. Amazon's site may not be beautifully designed but it works. As they advertise, it has never taken me more than a click to buy an item unless I want to change something. Also, it has one of the better product search engines amongst all retailers. Their reviews are generally considered genuine and useful and they're clearly laid out. I'm generally happy with their website design.
- gwern 15y ago
  Yes, it works, but could it be better? Notice that you can have great reviews or product search engines despite a busy chaotic layout - the search engine source code doesn't give a toss what the pages look like as long as it has the data it needs, and the reviews come in if you have enough customers and don't make too hard on them to submit.