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I dunno - my parents would never stop using such a service - it's easier than googling your problem, and they find new tech problems on a weekly basis, and they

by _lex 13y ago

I dunno - my parents would never stop using such a service - it's easier than googling your problem, and they find new tech problems on a weekly basis, and they aren't great at pattern matching to solve those new problems. God help them if the device auto updates into software that looks any different.... I agree that it's a response to poor engagement, but if that's the case, I think they're trying to solve a usability problem by throwing people at it. Apple's biggest selling point for the last 4 years was "It doesn't come with a manual because it's so simple". Amazon seems to have given up on simple, and on manuals - their equivalent phrase would be "it's so complex that we've hired people to help you use it, 24/7". I think that although this service is a small step forward for currently confused users, it's likely a huge leap backwards, because it'll leave those people confused forever, and dependent on the "amazon lady" to use their tablet for them. On the surface, this seems too ridiculously obvious, so I have to imagine that they've got an awesome game plan that is yet to be revealed.

the_watcher 13y ago
It seems to me that Amazon is solving new issues this way. Their online ordering process is still the simplest around (especially once you set up one-click - although that leads to my situation of frequent unexpected Amazon packages from impulse buys).
Tyrannosaurs 13y ago
Thinking about it a little more, Bezos has said that the Amazon process overall is about massive scale and when you're dealing with massive scale you remove every minor pain point because at massive scale even small pain multiples up to have a significant hit. Thinking about it with that in mind, this could be Amazon using Mayday as a way of learning where people have pain so they can remove it in future versions. Perhaps it should be seen as the largest usability study in history?

by _lex 13y ago

the_watcher 13y ago

It seems to me that Amazon is solving new issues this way. Their online ordering process is still the simplest around (especially once you set up one-click - although that leads to my situation of frequent unexpected Amazon packages from impulse buys).

Tyrannosaurs 13y ago

Thinking about it a little more, Bezos has said that the Amazon process overall is about massive scale and when you're dealing with massive scale you remove every minor pain point because at massive scale even small pain multiples up to have a significant hit. Thinking about it with that in mind, this could be Amazon using Mayday as a way of learning where people have pain so they can remove it in future versions. Perhaps it should be seen as the largest usability study in history?