Simplicity by Google

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.

Target: 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.

Skip to the “Before & After”

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.

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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.

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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 usability redesign.

Not all share my in opinions about Zappos.com. Over at CIO Insight they find Zappos to be quite simple in there article titled “ Zappos.com: Success Through Simplicity ”