Friday is Pizza & Movie night at our house. It’s our family time and we’ve been doing it for years. We try to find a movie we can all enjoy and a pizza we can all agree on. Not always an easy task. This time around I wanted to try Domino’s; their “Pizza Turnaround” campaign (see my compare/contrast blog post here: http://bit.ly/cg1oSk) had caught not only mine, but my kids interest. They noticed how different the ads were, in that the brand was saying some not-so-nice things about itself. Kids. Pretty bright, as it turns out.
Online Ordering
So I thought I’d try out their online ordering system and compare it with how I typically order a pizza, on the phone. Comparatively it’s a much more robust, albeit time consuming experience. On the phone, you have a preconceived idea—mostly from preference and perhaps from suggestions made in advertising media—about what you want. Same goes for online ordering, but the visual cues allow for a bit of configuration play with crusts, sauces, toppings. Being a normal person, I started with the coupon offers to see if any of them fit with what we wanted. There it was: two large pizzas and a 2 liter of soda for $19.99. Given the idea of a pizza we can all agree on, we wanted one for the kids and one for the grown-ups.
The trip from the coupon to the pizza configurator was wonky. The interface used confusing language, so I didn’t know how to tell it that I wanted double cheese on one, mushrooms on the other and Diet Coke to drink. I hesitantly clicked what I thought was the right button, and whew, it was.
The experience of building my pizzas was kind of fun (not thrilling, just kinda). For example, when I ordered double cheese, a prompt came up letting me know that the reason I couldn’t see the extra cheese on the pizza (a limitation of the visual database, I imagine), was because the extra cheese was layered below the top layer. That was a nice moment of reassurance and thoughtfulness. It reinforced the promise in the “Pizza Turnaround” campaign that Domino’s is different now.
Once the order was complete, I got a nifty order tracker that tells me when the pizzas went into the oven and when they will be ready for pick up. It's very interesting; I found out at pick up (no Domino’s near my house) that there is actually a Cory, and he made and boxed my pizzas. I like the idea of the real-time tracker, although it made me feel like I was tied to my computer screen. If it were delivery, I could see how reassuring it could be.
The Pick Up
The closest Domino’s is on busy High Street near The Ohio State University campus. On my way over, I checked my email (at a red light—don’t drive distracted) and saw that I got a confirmation of my order spelling out all the details in a mobile-friendly format. Nice.
I found a parking spot on the street, jumped some giant snow piles and dashed in (the parking spot wasn’t exactly sanctioned by the city of Columbus). Yikes. There was a bit of a line and at the front was a smallish woman with twenty pizzas piled on the counter in front of her. This was going to take longer than I thought.
It didn’t take that long. The staff was courteous and efficient; this of course is a high volume location and it has to work like a well-oiled machine. Further reinforcement of the turnaround promise. I told the staffer that I had ordered online, she immediately grabbed my order and started ringing me up. I didn’t have to present the coupon and since I opted to give the online system my card number, it was ready to go. I asked her if there really was a Cory, she smiled and said yes. She pointed him out and I thanked him for making my pizzas. He grinned (it might have been pride in his work or a way to get this nut-job-who-knows-my-name out of the store, I’m not sure which).
Make It Yummy
In my family, it’s the driver’s prerogative to taste the pizza on the way home. It’s really about quality control. Really. I was hungry. First bite. Not bad.
Once home, we settled in to watch the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympic games. As we’re munching on the pizzas and discussing our dinner, the consensus was resoundingly neutral. It was ok, but there’s better pizza out there.
So yes, it doesn’t taste like cardboard anymore, but it doesn’t really taste like pizza either. It seems that Domino’s is pitting itself against its biggest competitors and shooting for parity. If this is the case, they have achieved their goal: they have moved beyond pizza that consumers openly mock to pizza that is as ordinary as the next huge national chain. So what?
I’m sure they and their marketing agencies have worked very hard to realign their operations and build compelling stories, but at the end of the day, they may be disappointing these new and returning customers by giving them what they expect from Pizza Hut and Papa Johns. Will the cool order tracker or the courteous staff get me to go back? No. Those things are vital to the experience. They are expected. (It’s still easier to call on the phone.)
Those things don’t make the pizza yummy.
Our Favorites
This week we're back to our local favorites here in Grandview Heights Grandad's http://bit.ly/dkcZD5, Rotolo's http://www.rotolospizza.com and Cow Town http://www.cowtownpizza.com .
Let Me Know What You Think
I invite you to give it a try. Start your customer journey here: http://www.dominos.com/home/index.jsp. I’d love to hear about your experience with Domino’s Pizza Turnaround.
©2010 Consumer Experience Design. All rights reserved.
Online Ordering
So I thought I’d try out their online ordering system and compare it with how I typically order a pizza, on the phone. Comparatively it’s a much more robust, albeit time consuming experience. On the phone, you have a preconceived idea—mostly from preference and perhaps from suggestions made in advertising media—about what you want. Same goes for online ordering, but the visual cues allow for a bit of configuration play with crusts, sauces, toppings. Being a normal person, I started with the coupon offers to see if any of them fit with what we wanted. There it was: two large pizzas and a 2 liter of soda for $19.99. Given the idea of a pizza we can all agree on, we wanted one for the kids and one for the grown-ups.
The trip from the coupon to the pizza configurator was wonky. The interface used confusing language, so I didn’t know how to tell it that I wanted double cheese on one, mushrooms on the other and Diet Coke to drink. I hesitantly clicked what I thought was the right button, and whew, it was.
The experience of building my pizzas was kind of fun (not thrilling, just kinda). For example, when I ordered double cheese, a prompt came up letting me know that the reason I couldn’t see the extra cheese on the pizza (a limitation of the visual database, I imagine), was because the extra cheese was layered below the top layer. That was a nice moment of reassurance and thoughtfulness. It reinforced the promise in the “Pizza Turnaround” campaign that Domino’s is different now.
Once the order was complete, I got a nifty order tracker that tells me when the pizzas went into the oven and when they will be ready for pick up. It's very interesting; I found out at pick up (no Domino’s near my house) that there is actually a Cory, and he made and boxed my pizzas. I like the idea of the real-time tracker, although it made me feel like I was tied to my computer screen. If it were delivery, I could see how reassuring it could be.
The closest Domino’s is on busy High Street near The Ohio State University campus. On my way over, I checked my email (at a red light—don’t drive distracted) and saw that I got a confirmation of my order spelling out all the details in a mobile-friendly format. Nice.
I found a parking spot on the street, jumped some giant snow piles and dashed in (the parking spot wasn’t exactly sanctioned by the city of Columbus). Yikes. There was a bit of a line and at the front was a smallish woman with twenty pizzas piled on the counter in front of her. This was going to take longer than I thought.
It didn’t take that long. The staff was courteous and efficient; this of course is a high volume location and it has to work like a well-oiled machine. Further reinforcement of the turnaround promise. I told the staffer that I had ordered online, she immediately grabbed my order and started ringing me up. I didn’t have to present the coupon and since I opted to give the online system my card number, it was ready to go. I asked her if there really was a Cory, she smiled and said yes. She pointed him out and I thanked him for making my pizzas. He grinned (it might have been pride in his work or a way to get this nut-job-who-knows-my-name out of the store, I’m not sure which).
Make It Yummy
In my family, it’s the driver’s prerogative to taste the pizza on the way home. It’s really about quality control. Really. I was hungry. First bite. Not bad.
Once home, we settled in to watch the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympic games. As we’re munching on the pizzas and discussing our dinner, the consensus was resoundingly neutral. It was ok, but there’s better pizza out there.
So yes, it doesn’t taste like cardboard anymore, but it doesn’t really taste like pizza either. It seems that Domino’s is pitting itself against its biggest competitors and shooting for parity. If this is the case, they have achieved their goal: they have moved beyond pizza that consumers openly mock to pizza that is as ordinary as the next huge national chain. So what?
I’m sure they and their marketing agencies have worked very hard to realign their operations and build compelling stories, but at the end of the day, they may be disappointing these new and returning customers by giving them what they expect from Pizza Hut and Papa Johns. Will the cool order tracker or the courteous staff get me to go back? No. Those things are vital to the experience. They are expected. (It’s still easier to call on the phone.)
Those things don’t make the pizza yummy.
Our Favorites
This week we're back to our local favorites here in Grandview Heights Grandad's http://bit.ly/dkcZD5, Rotolo's http://www.rotolospizza.com and Cow Town http://www.cowtownpizza.com .
Let Me Know What You Think
I invite you to give it a try. Start your customer journey here: http://www.dominos.com/home/index.jsp. I’d love to hear about your experience with Domino’s Pizza Turnaround.
©2010 Consumer Experience Design. All rights reserved.
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