Saturday, April 9, 2016

Genius Idea or Disaster Waiting to Happen?

Domino's launched a brand new app this week that takes truly takes the hassle out of ordering a pizza. While in the past, Dominos has created many other quick and easy solutions for customers to order their pizza, such as texting and tweeting emojis, using Amazon Echo, Apple Watch, and Xbox One, the new "Zero Click" app further streamlines the process. Customers simply have to open the new Zero Click app and after a 10 second countdown, their Easy Order account will automatically be placed. Once Domino's customers set up an accounts with the correct billing and delivery details, and pizza preference within the app, this becomes the default order. To the ultimate lazy pizza fanatic, this is the ultimate dream come true, but could this be a public relations disaster waiting to happen?
The public has taken to the Internet to express their concerns about the Zero Click app. Many of the concerns are related to the ease of ordering with the app, the whole purpose of creating it. What happens to customers with phones famous for butt dialing? Or those parents who give their phone to their child to play a game on? Domino's responded to concerns generally stating that if the app is accidentally opened, the 10 second countdown allows customers to cancel the order. Anyone with a child or has at least babysat once knows that it is nearly impossible to get your phone back from a small child once you've given it up, as well as how curious children can be and explore everything on a device. As for the pocket dialers, they only become aware of what has happened once they hear a voice shouting form their pants pocket. Honestly, is 10 seconds enough? Personally, I don't think it is and Domino's is also aware of this factor. On the Domino's AnyWare website the description of the app includes, "It's easy. Maybe too easy. You've been warned." Is this their way of acknowledging that they know people are probably going to accidentally order pizza? Is this warning basically saying they won't do anything about it because customers have created an account and agreed to the terms and conditions? If this is the case, then Domino's is creating its own ticking time bomb. While the app is convenient and provides a service desired by their target audience, it also may not be the best way to do customer service. Orders will be accidentally made and if there is nothing done by Domino's then the customer relationship will be tarnished, even ruined. This is a public relations crisis in the making. Personally, I'm going to stick to ordering pizza the old fashion way.

3 comments:

  1. I agree that 10 seconds is not enough time to cancel the order. Sometimes when I open an app, it takes longer than 10 seconds to close out of it even if I'm not distracted. It reminds me of the Amazon "One Click" option. You can order an item just by clicking a button; there is no "Are You Sure" message. I'm sure we all have that friend that clicked it 10 times and ended up with 10 iPhone cases accidentally. 10 iPhone cases is better than 10 pizzas. I'm not sure where the research came from that said people would want to order something without having to confirm it. I don't think it will last long.

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  2. I agree that 10 seconds is not enough time to cancel the order. Sometimes when I open an app, it takes longer than 10 seconds to close out of it even if I'm not distracted. It reminds me of the Amazon "One Click" option. You can order an item just by clicking a button; there is no "Are You Sure" message. I'm sure we all have that friend that clicked it 10 times and ended up with 10 iPhone cases accidentally. 10 iPhone cases is better than 10 pizzas. I'm not sure where the research came from that said people would want to order something without having to confirm it. I don't think it will last long.

    ReplyDelete