Ever since last months iPhone debut at Macworld (if you missed it you can view it at apple.com) there has been a buzz brewing over the power of simple. Simple is focusing on a small idea and executing that idea flawlessly. Simplicity is what makes Apple such a great success story however simple isn′t for everyone it seems.
View the Radical Redesign of Zappos.com.
While still buzzing from Job′s keynote I came across a wildly successful top 50 etailer that stands as the antithesis of simple, Zappos.com.
Zappos complex product offering has only Amazon as its rival. The home pages lack of focus is staggering with its multiple search boxes and “idea of the moment” navigational metaphors. Dig deeper and it just keeps getting worse, the category pages are a blizzard of subcategories and product brands some four levels deep.
Figure 1
The site stands is violation of a great many of Jakob Nielsen′s 207 guidelines for usable e-commerce yet they drive twice as much traffic as the more focused and user friendly shoes.com, why? The answer can be found in an Alerbox article from 2004 titled “When Search Engines Become Answer Engines. “
Summary:
The website is becoming a less prominent locus of experience as people use search engines to bring up answers to their current questions
Type any popular brand of shoe or shoe style into Google and Zappos.com shows up either as an organic hit or prominently displayed in the pay per click section of the page. Zappos.com through a combination of SEO and pay per click has turned Google into its user interface. Their mastery of this technique has vaulted the rapidly growing Zappos.com into the Alexa top 1000 and has made Zappos an etailer success story. However success can breed complacency, just ask a reinvigorated Yahoo what happens when you get comfortable.
Figure 2
Zappos.com is proof that complexity can produce results however it is my belief that without the simple user experience afforded by Google Zappos would be nowhere. So kudos to the Zappos.com SEO team, bring your design up to speed and the sky is the limit.
If you think you are so smart Jake how can Zappos get simple?
They can focus on shoes, and sell shoes better then anyone else. They can build a site that reflects their new razor sharp focus. They could test and retest everything in an effort optimize conversions. After they have become the master of all things shoe they could take their extremely effective SEO strategy and their new conversion generating information architecture and sell the hell out of accessories, handbags and apparel all under different names of course because Zappos are shoes after all.
View the Radical Redesign of Zappos.com.
Not all reviewers share in my opinions about Zappos.com. Over at CIO Insight they find Zappos to be quite simple in there article titled “Zappos.com: Success Through Simplicity “
Hey Jake,
Are you working with zapos.com? Great redesign.
Jake,
Sorry, but your redesign looks like a “fake directory” site that you see at misspelled domain names trying to pick up some ppc.
Don’t be sorry Doug, I appreciate the feedback.
I appreciate the cleaner aesthetic and updated look, but I think that the redesign misses the mark on explaining all that Zappos has to offer beyond shoes. We all KNOW they sell shoes, so they do need to make sure the other items are prominently displayed. I think there’s a better way to approach this that’s TBD. Their current site is too crazy, and all I do is immediately go to the search or index. I can’t be bothered trying to visually digest that home page…so you have a good start here, but I think there could be a bit more happening.
Interesting post, some of it accurate some not quite accurate. There is a redesign in progress that will be launched in Q1: http://zeta.zappos.com
I work on SEO (and other stuff) for Zappos, thanks for the kudos. The big thing you miss, though, is that Zappos’s entire business model revolves around customer service. Repeat business represents a huge amount of overall sales. So while SEO is a big focus of ours right now, Google isn’t necessarily our interface. Once they get to a product or brand page we have to get the sale right? Average pages per visit is incredibly high, as is time on site, as the typical visitor spends time mulling around looking at different shoes and clothes. Yes, could be an indicator that they’re not finding what they’re looking for easily enough, but I like to think of it as brand strength, perceived trust and credibility. Visitors stay on zappos.com and buy because they believe in the company and know real people stand behind the website, just a phone call away 24/7.
You’re spot on that the current site is busy and needs an overhaul. It’s pretty much the site from early 2001 that’s been added to over the years. Hopefully Zeta will solve a lot of these problems, I think the development and UX teams have done an amazing job with it. Would love to hear your feedback on the redesign.
And in answer to @Jeremy, no the author isn’t working with Zappos.
I have been spending some time looking over the new Zappos UI at http://www.zappos.com/zeta and it is a huge improvement.
I especially like the category filters and they really nailed the product detail pages. I also went back and looked at my design and have found that is has some real misses, the biggest being my failure to include a top level navigational element. That and excluding 80% of the products that they sell.