Everyone knows Amazon for having an outstanding user experience, but we also know that a product is never perfect, and we will always find areas for improvement.

I small slip, not well addressed by Amazon, and my account was blocked for 3 years.

Back in 2019, I moved to Brazil, and I was about to make two purchases on two different websites with my credit card.

One was the Amazon website, and the second one was in a well-known store in Brazil, called Centauro.

On the same day, I tried the two purchases, here is what happened:

Amazon website

The problem could be easier solved by taking into consideration UX Design.

They blocked my account, after submitting the payment.

The problem: The card I entered was under my name but wasn’t from Brazil.

I understand the security reasons behind it, but my account wasn’t something new, and I used to be a recurring client.

I never finished the purchase because I gave up on the account.

But here is what happened after submitting my payment:

1 — I received an e-mail saying I should get in touch with them but they didn’t say how.

2 — I googled their customer service number, and they ended up giving me another number after a long wait, which didn’t seem to be the right channel again.

3 — They opened a ticket and never got back to me, it probably got lost, I just got an e-mail asking me to attach a lot of documents from my card in order to unblock my account, but to do that I would need to login into my account, which was blocked.

4 — I gave up and didn’t buy anything on Amazon for the next 3 years.

So, here is how the website and the whole process behind the scenes could be better by taking into consideration the User Experience.

The UX mistakes

1- First UX mistake

Usability Heuristic: Error prevention #5

You know when you almost delete something accidentally but the App or website stops you by asking …

Well, this is a type of error prevention. But we have many other ways…

On the Amazon website, I slipped too fast to the ‘’send payment’’ there was a moment to confirm if the delivery address was the same as the address on the credit card, but I had no time to think about it, and when I saw it, it was already too late. I had already typed my fingers on the screen.

The account was blocked because I confirmed the credit card address to be the same as the delivery address. Which wasn’t the same.

I mean, the system should be able to see that it wasn’t a card emitted in Brazil, and it could have provided me a little more friction to confirm if it was the same address.

Also, they could have let me type the address by myself in this case, Instead of filling the field with the Brazilian address.

…Or at least asked the basic ‘’are you sure’’. and that would be enough to avoid all this mess.

I know it was my mistake, but it is classified by NNG as a slip, an unconscious error by inattention, and is our job as UX Designers to avoid it to happen to our users.

Learn more about slips and mistakes below in the NNG article

2 — Second UX mistake:

UX writing — Take care with the tone of voice and how to write the text according to what your user might be going through. Emphasizing is something of big importance for UX Writers and UX Designers in general.

Also, when working with people from around the world, make sure anyone can follow your instructions to reach a certain goal.

After blocking my account, Amazon sent me an e-mail. Which made me feel even worse, and it wasn’t of any help:

They said I should access my account (which they had just blocked the access) to attach the last bill from my card (Which I didn’t have, because cards in Ireland doesn’t work that way, I never received a bill from it and the internet statament wouldn’t have the address that they were looking for).

They also said I should not try to start a new account, because it would be blocked again and again.

As a result: I was very frustrated!

3 — Third UX Mistake

The third mistake is leaving the user with an action to take, but not providing any assistance.

Usability Heuristic: #9: Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors.

When you show an error message, like the one below, you should always suggest a solution and make it reachable, not letting the user lost at the end of the road.

This is the message when trying to access the account.

The message in the image says: We detected unusual activities on your account and temporarily blocked it. Get in touch for more assistance.

Get assistance, but where?

There were no links, no phone numbers.

They were protecting my account, but they weren’t giving me a way out to prove it was just me, and that’s bad.

What takes us to the fourth mistake…

4 — Fourth UX Mistake: #10: Help and documentation

Jakob’s Usability Heuristic #10

”HELP” should always be easily reachable, if your user can only get assistance through customer service, make sure to provide the number or the link taking the user to the right channel.

Exactly the one where he can solve his problem.

Learn more about Help and documentation on the NNG article

You see, even a product like Amazon can always be improved to achieve better results, after this problem, I end up not purchasing the product (an Amazon Kindle).

I felt very frustrated and also I didn’t buy on Amazon for the next 3 years.

5 — (Bonus) These improvements could also not mean more cash for Amazon

Here comes the place where it hurts. Not every improvement will be implemented by a business, because sometimes it is not worth the money invested.

Before I tell Amazon to make this improvement so they will have a return of 20% on their revenue or something like that,

I would need to know:

• How many customers face this problem
• How many of them end up blocked for a long time (the average time)
• How much was expected for this customer to consume while they were blocked
• What would be the impact on account security, if any
• How much the company would expend to apply these improvements
• How much the company would receive in return after applying this improvement
• And so on…

So, yes! UX goes way behind and beyond the pretty screen (interface), and even though I tried this journey on myself (a user). I still can’t tell if this is something that happens to more users, and if this is the best investment or improvement that Amazon could make right now.

How was my experience with Centauro

Here is what happened when I used the same card to buy on the Centauro (the other store) website.

Because the card was from another country, I received a call at the same moment, the person on the other side wanted to confirm some information.

After that, my purchase was done, in only 1 minute. And I was cordially treated from the very first minute.

No drama, just easy and kind, the purchases had similar costs, and the experience was way better with the second store.

The user journey importance

Today we see the importance of knowing every possible user journey on a product, evaluating all the possibilities, and finding the best solution for each of them.

Thanks for reading!