Talking about experiences, last night I’ve been through one made by Domino’s Pizza. Naturally, it’s quite hard for them to come up with something that will move me emotionally-speaking and get me into tears but that’s also something they quite clearly don’t want to do.
What they want to do during our interaction is keep me updated about my food but at the same time it’d be nice to not make me too hungry as that’s happening. As soon as the order was placed, we were greeted by “Dom”, this assistant. In short, this character keeps the hungry person updated about the status of their food.
It’s true, Domino’s had this for some time where they were showing the process. But this extra layer added by Dom was a nice touch. Sadly I didn’t manage to screenshot that greeting message from him but here’s what I got:
Sure, it can look like it’s not a lot for the skeptics. One can easily bash this into uselessness by saying it’s just some gimmick meant to look like they care. I think they do, though. Or at least someone in the company does.
Analogy Thinking
We were even told who our chef is — “The Master Crafter Erika”. Does it help me? Not really. But if you think all of this is for nothing, then one can simply ask this:
Why do waiters at upscale restaurants tell us their name and tell us they’re there to help us tonight? We know this already, it’s pretty clear — but we appreciate it
Why are we sometimes thanked for visiting place X? At that point, people have already made the decision and virtually no one leaves if they’re not thanked for that.
It’s an extra step. It might not matter for anyone ever, that’s true. But at least subconsciously it places “They don’t really care about their customers” 1 centimetre away.
Back To Domino’s
It’s part of their experience. To be greeted with this Dom that tells you how your food is doing on its way to you. It helps and it’s part of the experience of ordering Domino’s Pizza. It does matter towards reducing user churn. Especially as virtual assistants become more and more integrated in our daily apps and as we get more comfortable with them.
“Feel like giving me feedback?” — for sure, Domino’s. Keep on doing that as I can see the evolution and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next.
About Ch Daniel
I run chagency, an experiences design agency that specialises on helping tech CEOs reduce user churn. We believe experiences are not only the reason why users choose not to leave but also what generates word of mouth. We’re building a credo around this belief.
I’ve also created an infinitely-valuable app for sneaker/fashion enthusiasts called Legit Check that impacted hundreds of thousands over millions of times – check it out at chdaniel.com/app
Please share this with someone and subscribe to our newsletter!— helps us keep pumping content?
