Drawbackwards Strategic Design

Ordering a pizza has always been a phone call away. In recent years, online ordering has matured, allowing a decent ordering experience. But did the pizza order get through? You never spoke to anyone. As an early online pizza order adopter, many times I had to call the local pizza franchise to make sure they got my online order. For many, this uncertainty ruled out online ordering for good.

Over the past months Domino’s Pizza has launched and polished it’s Pizza Tracker. Not only is it easy to build your order and add your coupons, but now the process after your order is revealed. The tracker excels at showing you when the order was placed, who received the order, who made your pizza, who put the pizza in the oven, when the pizza came out of the oven, who boxed it and who is delivering the pizza to your door, by name. A “progress bar” fills from left to right at each step. There’s no more doubt in the process, and employee accountability for each step in the process is now transparent to the customer. My kids, who eagerly await a pizza delivery, and frequently ask when it will arrive, are now referred to the Pizza Tracker for a minute by minute update. As a customer, I know the name of everyone who touched my order, when they did their job and how long it took them. After receiving the order, I can rate how the process was through the Pizza Tracker interface.

Domino’s isn’t resting on this success. This summer, Domino’s co-branded the Pizza Tracker with the Warner Brothers’ blockbuster film, The Dark Knight. During this election season, the pizza tracker is asking customers their party affiliation, who they would vote for and if they plan on showing up at the polls. In addition, national maps show customers what the popular recent orders are, and which section of the country like which pizza or sandwich best. These maps demonstrate a critical mass of enthusiasm for Domino’s to the customer, showing them national participation and popularity of the products they consume.

How can you transform your offline ordering process to an exceptional online ordering process? What are the current challenges or customer hangups with your online ordering experience? When was the last time you asked your customer about their online experience? How can you then turn a weakness (such as the doubt of whether the pizza order was actually received) into a strength (where you know exactly when the order came in and who is accountable for your order)?

Delivering a great online experience is often about understanding your customers expectations, then exceeding them and creatively leveraging technology to provide something better than the real-life transaction can offer.