Amazon Raises The Stakes; Making Mobile Shopping Less Hassle » mobilegroove

When Amazon kicked off the month by taking the wraps off its Amazon Mobile Payments Service, or MPS (a technology that includes a set of APIs allowing mobile developers to provide payment options to their customers within mobile websites and mobile applications), it introduced more than just another way for people to pay for stuff using their phone; it set a usability benchmark that more established players, particularly mobile operators, could find hard to beat.

For one, the service allows for integration of Amazon’s “1-Click” checkout, the feature that lets customers make purchases using credit card information stored within their Amazon.com accounts. In practice, customers sign in using an MPS-enabled app and then, after the service verifies them, they can by stuff using their mobile phone without having to sign in again. This is ideal for enabling recurring and micropayments in the mobile environment.

As this post from ReadWriteWeb shows us, it only takes four simple steps for a mobile shopper to buy something using this new technology.

But it’s more than a no-brainer for mobile shoppers. We’re told that developers and merchants already using Amazon Payments service on their websites can essentially go mobile without additional development work. This is because the service detects when people are using a mobile device (as opposed to a PC) and automatically switches over to the mobile optimized payment interface.

Connect the dots, and Amazon has moved us all a giant leap toward the end goal for the industry – the one-click-purchase. Of course, we still have a laundry-list of issues we have to solve around content discovery – finding the content and stuff we want to buy in the first place. But services like Amazon’s are well in line with what people expect – even demand – of their mobile experiences.

The critical importance of having a shortcut to payments is perhaps best put by Alex Robson from TeleBilling, who told delegates at World Telemedia Malta in April that making it hard for people to buy content is a recipe for failure. As he put it: “It’s simple: one click: buy, two clicks: bye-bye.”

Think that through.

And while you do, think back to my earlier post, where I underscored the importance of having a streamlined payment process. Apple gets it – in part because it relies on credit cards, bypassing mobile operators and SMS or WAP billing schemes – payment methods that are either clunky or require us to input loads of information with a small keypad. Nokia’s Ovi store has a way to go, as my own road test of the service demonstrates, but there are clear indications they are moving in the right direction.

Some could argue that it’s the choice of payment method that is the issue here. Sure, credit card payment has its share of benefits. (I’m thinking here of ubiquity, ease of use and the fact that – at about 4% – the charges are considerably less for content creators and app distributors than the 50% or more cut carriers take for operator billing.) At the end of the day, a lot speaks in favor of credit cards over operator billing and clumsy WAP schemes.

But I want to step back and focus on what really matters:

And if you doubt for a second that users will vote with their feet when stuff is tough, then consider the bane of online commerce: the abandoned shopping cart, the uncompleted transaction.

Studies estimate that up to 75% of all shopping carts are abandoned before the sale is closed.

Why? In many cases, it’s the checkout. Respondents complain the process is too long, requires too much information, or is downright confusing.

If people are giving up online where they have large screens, full keyboards and sit-back time, then imagine what how short the attention spans (and tempers) must be when people are tying to buy on the go.

In mobile, the question regarding whether its WAP billing, credit cards e-wallets, or operator-led initiatives like Payforit is immaterial. What matters is the quality of the user experience and the clicks it takes for people to buy what they want.

Several of our clients – including a European mobile operator in the middle of a mobile storefront revamp – have asked us to design interfaces that will make their choice of payment method easier for people to use. Based on this recent work I have put together the first in a series of Tego Interactive “cheat sheets” focused on the do’s and don’ts of integrating online and mobile business.

1. 1. Reach rules: Choose a payment method that fits your business objectives that is ubiquitous and relevant to your customer audience. As I pointed out, credit cards have their advantages, but teens don’t generally have one – and neither do consumers in emerging markets. Make your choice based on what your customers want and will appreciate.
2. 2. Combine and connect: Keep in mind what Amazon and other Web giants are doing and why. It’s all about understanding what people can do on their PCs and what they will be willing to do on their mobile phones, and then making sure the interfaces match the task. Don’t require them to input a lot on information on their mobile phones. And don’t deny them the opportunity to browse through cool stuff on their PC (perhaps complemented by big, bright images; rich media; and communities where they can rate, rank and discuss things related to the products/offers – the works)
3. 3. Experience first: Don’t get so caught up in the UI that you forget the user. In our business less is more. It’s easy to fall in love with super-cool ways of doing things but in most cases plain and practical beat out flashy hands-down. Simple and elegant – it’s the best solution, and often the hardest to build.

It’s all about having payment processes that are built on a deep understanding of the unique characteristics of online and mobile and our requirements for easy payments. Get the mix right, put the user at the center and you can bet it will encourage people to complete their transactions.

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October 16, 2009

Tags: Amazon, app store, Apple, content, Content Discovery, Mobile Commerce, Mobile Content, Mobile Discovery, Mobile Internet, Mobile payment, Mobile Web, Nokia Ovi, pc websites, targeting, user experience, web

This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 12:59 pm and is filed under Briefing Rooms, Content Discovery, Guest columns, Mobile Content, Tego Interactive, Usability, Usability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.