Dear Amazon Usability Team,

1. I want to stay logged in so that 1-Click ordering is really one click. In the past, if I wanted something from Amazon, I would pop open my browser and I was conveniently already signed in to Amazon. This allowed me to 1-Click order on the fly and enabled me to include only Amazon Prime items in search results. (UPDATE: This is now fixed.)

The Amazon rep with whom I just spoke says that Amazon no longer allows users to remain logged in and that I must login anew with each browser start. She said this policy ensures greater security. I like security, but I’m also a fan of usability.

2. The bigger (or at least as big), usability problem is that, assuming I’m not signed in, (you know, for security), when I’ve navigated to a product I want to purchase, I have to login. I click “sign in” and then I am not taken back to the page whereon I clicked “sign in” but am instead taken to a page containing some text and a button to “continue shopping”.  That takes me back to the item, but worse still is the example of searching. I get the results how I want, except that I want to limit my results to Amazon Prime eligible items. So I sign in only to be taken to a “Your Amazon.com” page with “Featured Recommendations” none of which were in the results page I just recently left. (Passive voice intentional.)  (UPDATE: This is also now fixed.)

Clearly this is not what the shopper wants and is therefore not what Amazon wants.

We have to click the back button a few times to get where we want to be. Annoying.

Why create a barrier to the sale? How many sales are lost b/c of frustration from 1 and 2 alone?

To be fair, that same Amazon representative loved my usability feedback on this one.

Sign In For Amazon Prime Search Results?

I know it’s not as secure, but consider allowing me to stay logged in from session to session so that I don’t have to sign in every time I’m shopping just to see Amazon Prime eligible items in my search results. Why do I need to sign in to sort by Prime in the first place?! (UPDATE: This is also, also now fixed.)

And if you can’t do that, at least ensure that if I’m on a search results page or an item page when I click “sign in”, that after I’m logged in, I’m returned to that page immediately so I can make the decision and buy something.

These two usability improvements should easily be worth a few million dollars every year for Amazon.

You’re welcome. No charge 😉

Dan Dreifort consults on usability and search. He also makes music. Dan Dreifort is for scuba.