Warm Design

Amazon understands what customers need.

No, I’m not talking about dog water fountains or Oscar Wilde action figures. I’m talking about the reassurance they offer customers who are buying products online, sight unseen. They’re asking customers to trust them. You pay them in advance for an item that won’t arrive for several days, and you’ve never even inspected the item you just doled out money for. What if it’s junk? What if it doesn’t match the picture? Will it break in 3 weeks?

Enter the user review.

This is the crown jewel of the Nile Amazon. We’re more easily persuaded by people that we see as similar to ourselves (Dr. Robert Cialdini, Influence: The Power of Persuasion). We’re more likely to trust fellow shoppers who are also looking for the perfect microwave. There’s a sense of authenticity there–sure, the description says that this microwave is the quietest on earth, but is that really the case?

We trust someone who we think is like ourselves.

 
Amazon really knows their social psych. Their user reviews have grown to include the following features:

1. User Names and Location. We’re not poring over pages of reviews from Anonymous; users have names and, even better, locations! Again, we’re more likely to trust people who are similar to us. If someone lives in our region, is the same sex, or shares our interests (DogLover85 must be an okay bloke!), we gravitate toward that.

 

2. Link to other reviews by that person. Ahh, this is something unusual, even in 2015. Not many sites allow this. If you think a reviewer was particularly helpful, you can click on their name and see what else they’ve reviewed. In fact, you might just be inclined to purchase other books that Dan from Ohio has reviewed. Cheapest advertisement ever.

 

3. “Most Helpful” reviews listed first. They truly pioneered the various sorting techniques for reviews. You’re not limited to merely “newest” or “oldest”; you can seek out all the middling 3-star reviews if you want. Or you can see what the majority has deemed the “Most Helpful Positive” or “Most Helpful Negative” review. Amazon is sitting back and letting democracy do its thing here. We can rely on the collective opinion of our fellow shoppers as to what constitutes a worthy review. It gives the system an air of authenticity.

 

4. Allowing users to comment on other reviews. It helps us take reviews with a grain of salt. One review will be so fallacious that 10 other reviewers call it out. The majority seems more trustworthy than a lone wolf who gives the product 1 star. Other times, an interesting discussion will ensue between informed reviewers. Finally, it makes us feel like Amazon’s allowing us to have a conversation with each other. It gives even more credibility to the whole thing. More trust = more likely to purchase.

 

5. Allowing users to upload pictures to reviews. Now we can really see what the mugs look like up close! It adds to the transparency of the transaction. And the fact that the pictures come from users, not the manufacturer, makes it feel like a democracy–poor reviews don’t disappear into the ether. They’re allowed, encouraged, even. And we have the pics to prove it.

 

6. Verified Purchase banner (my personal favorite). Just in case there was any lingering doubt about the authenticity of Bob from Nevada’s review, Amazon added this trusty Verified Purchase banner. Yep, now you know for sure that Bob isn’t a stooge from a rival company, and that he did, indeed, buy the product. This also makes us trust Amazon a bit more. They’re putting in the effort to verify the authenticity of the reviews. We feel like they’re looking out for us.

 
 

Beyond user reviews, Amazon employs other social psychology principles.
Some oldies but goodies:

 

The “Look inside!” feature. Need I say more? This was such a brilliant innovation. For those of us who still purchase books from Amazon (I know you’re out there), it’s awesome to see the typeface, size, and illustrations up-close. It adds transparency to the shopping experience. It also makes us feel like Amazon’s doing us a special favor by giving us a sneak peek, which makes us want to reciprocate by buying (another persuasive tactic described by Cialdini).

 

Suggestion algorithms. We’re social creatures at heart. We want to connect with other people, we want to be heard, and we want to find people like us. We want to know what the most popular item is—what’s everyone else watching? What album do people strongly dislike? “Suggestions for You” also makes you feel special, like Amazon knows you. Trust-builder.

 

Listmania. This was a great little feature that was discontinued in 2013. It allowed users to compile recommendations for books, albums, or anything else. If you typed in “Great Books to Read on Vacation,” users’ lists would pop up. This was all in-store, so it was wonderfully easy to peruse someone’s list and place the item in your cart (2 clicks–that’s some svelte UX!). R.I.P., Listmania.

 

Amazon continues to write the book (pun intended) on allaying people’s fears about online shopping.

Well done.