Role
Product Designer
Timeline
5 Weeks
This project was completed as part of the User Experience Design Certificate at Concordia University, centered on improving an existing mobile app experience through user research and iterative design.
Amazon’s mobile app is fast and familiar, but users still hesitate when trust feels uncertain. Uncovering where confidence breaks down revealed opportunities to reduce friction and support faster, more informed purchase decisions.
Even with Amazon’s speed and selection, unclear trust signals make users pause. Doubts about sellers, fulfillment, and reviews disrupt decisions and lead to delays, drop-offs, and lost sales.
Solution
Solution
Build Seller Trust
Seller Details Upfront: Adds seller and fulfillment info to product cards, reducing confusion when listings are handled by third parties.
Trusted Seller Badge: Highlights Amazon vetted third-party sellers so hesitant users can identify reliable listings faster.
Trusted Results Filter: Lets users limit results to Amazon or trusted sellers, helping them avoid risky or unfamiliar options.
Seller Performance Section: Surfaces key seller stats—like return rate and resolution rate—at the top of the profile, making credibility easier to assess.
Solution
Support Better Decisions
Clear Brand Visibility: Improves how brand names appear on product cards to reduce mistaken clicks and help users avoid unfamiliar or misleading brands.
Seller Snapshot Dropdown: Adds a collapsible seller summary with key metrics, allowing users to check trust signals without leaving the product view.
Review Insights Section: Surfaces recurring themes and key quotes, helping users understand sentiment quickly without reading every review.
Solution
Improve Purchase Clarity
Shifted Seller Context: Moves seller, fulfillment, and delivery info above the price to give users key details before they commit to buying.
Price Insights Section: Shows average and historical price trends, helping users judge value and feel confident they aren’t overpaying.
Empathize
Empathize
Empathize
User Research
Five qualitative interviews were conducted to uncover points of hesitation in the shopping journey and explore the emotions influencing how users browse, evaluate, and make purchase decisions.
Research Goals:
• Identify when and why users hesitate during shopping.
• Understand emotional drivers behind navigation and product selection.
• Learn which details matter most during product evaluation.
Empathize
Research Findings
Interviews revealed recurring trust issues around sellers, reviews, and shipping information. These doubts influenced how users browsed, filtered, and evaluated products, often leading them to skip options that felt unclear or risky.
“If the company name looks weird or there’s barely any reviews, I just move on.”
“It’s hard to tell what’s legit and what’s just marketed well. I don’t always believe the badges."
"I get that reviews help, but sometimes they feel fake too. I don’t always know what to trust."
Key Insight:
• Users often feel uncertain about what they’re buying and question whether the information shown can be trusted.
Define
Define
Persona
Rachel shops with purpose but questions anything that feels off. She moves quickly but pauses when seller info is unclear, reviews seem inflated, or listings feel overly polished. If trust isn’t earned fast, she leaves and looks elsewhere.
Key Insight:
• Rachel represents a high-intent user Amazon risks losing. When trust signals are unclear, even motivated shoppers hesitate, drop off, or disengage entirely.
Define
Problem and How Might We Statements
Rachel doesn’t struggle to find products—she struggles to trust them. When details feel vague or sellers seem questionable, doubt creeps in and the purchase stalls. Even with high intent, uncertainty makes her hesitate or walk away.
Ideate
Ideate
Competitor Analysis
Competitor analysis of Walmart, Etsy, and Temu focused on how each platform presents seller identity, review credibility, and fulfillment clarity. These core elements directly influence user trust during product evaluation.
Key Insight:
• Most platforms offer fragments of trust, such as seller bios or shipping info, but few present signals clearly or consistently enough to support confident decisions.
Ideate
Sketching
Sketches explored where trust signals could appear without adding clutter. Key screens like search, product pages, and seller profiles were used to test ways of surfacing credibility, reviews, and fulfillment details in response to user hesitation.
Prototype
User Flows
User flows mapped key decision points where trust breaks down or builds—like scanning listings, filtering by seller, or reviewing profiles. This helped place trust cues where they support familiar shopping habits without disrupting flow.
Prototype
Interactive Prototype
The prototype translated trust-focused ideas into layout, copy, and interaction. Key elements like seller profiles, review filters, and fulfillment details were structured for quick scanning and clear reassurance within the shopping flow.
Test
User Testing
Four moderated sessions tested how users responded to trust cues across search results, product pages, and seller info. The goal was to observe what built confidence, what raised doubts, and how decisions unfolded in real time.
Test
Test Findings
User testing surfaced consistent patterns in how trust signals shaped behavior. These findings pointed to critical friction points — where users hesitated, grew skeptical, or abandoned the flow.
"I didn’t even realize it was from a different seller. That would’ve made me think twice.”
“I don’t read every review — I just skim to see if people are saying the same thing.”
"If I have to dig for the info, I usually just go back and pick something else."
The process surfaced both successes and areas to refine. Future enhancements could further align the experience with evolving user needs.
