I currently live in Detroit 4 days a week, and commute home to my family for the other three. This necessitates living in a small apartment in Grosse Pointe Park, and of course, getting the obligatory pizza from time-to-time. Delivery is somewhat limited in Detroit, and I decided to order on-line a few weeks back from J*******’s Pizza. I tried for 30 minutes to get to the order page. Finally I just gave up and ate some Cheerios, but before I did, I fired off a note to the “webmaster” at the pizza store. Through their “contact” form.
I actually received a reply:
My name is M***** C****** and I currently work in the online ordering department. I was wondering if you could tell me exactly what happened so that I can better assist you with this problem.
So naturally I replied back:
I could not get to an order button. Kept having to go to main screen, then identify state, city, etc. Please put a zip code finder on the home page, then an order now button on the landing page. The landing page I found myself on had PDF downloads of the menu and coupons, but I couldn’t find an order button
And today I finally got another reply after about a week:
I have complied a step by step instruction guide to order online. I sincerely hope this helps! We at J****’s Pizza® want you to be just as excited as we are for online ordering.
If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.
The instructions follow:
- Click “Find Store”
- Input your zip code and click “Search”
- Click “Online Ordering Available” under your desired store (If this link does not appear under your desired store this store does not currently offer online ordering)
- You may view the menus and specials from here
- If you are a new user to online ordering click “Register as a New User” located on the right hand side of the page
- Input all information and click submit
- Click “Add New Delivery Address”, input your information, and click “Add Address”
- Click the bubble next to your address and select “Order Now” next to your store
- Select “To-Go” or “Catering”
- Select “Pick-up” or “Delivery”
- Select your expected time (“ASAP” or select a specific date/time)
- Choose your items. Use the left hand navigation bar to help you find your favorite products.
- When your order is complete: To finalize an order you must click the yellow “Edit/Complete Order” button, and review your order to ensure it is correct.
- Then on the next page click the yellow “Proceed to Checkout” button.
- Then on the next page complete your payment information and click the yellow “Submit Order” button.
- The final page will confirm your order has been submitted and have details of your order including restaurant, order type, and expected time/date.
There is also a helpful guide at the top of the page listing steps 1, 2, 3.
When you order has been submitted you will also receive an email with the subject “Online Order” proceeded by the location you have ordered from. The email will resemble a receipt detailing the store and order information.
So, being hungry for dinner, I thought I’d go through the steps and count the clicks for the fastest possible order…
My notes:
- Click “Find Store” — FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE IN THE FOOTER MENU
- Input your zip code and click “Search” — takes you to a google maps embed with a bunch of stores, and your approximate location as a tiny map pin. The store I want is highlighted. Why don’t they just take me to the order page and highlight the name of the store somewhere in there? Put the food in front of me for God’s sake!
- Click “Online Ordering Available” under your desired store (If this link does not appear under your desired store this store does not currently offer online ordering) — did it
- You may view the menus and specials from here
- If you are a new user to online ordering click “Register as a New User” located on the right hand side of the page — I pre-registered to make this short(6 clicks at the end of this step)
- Input all information and click submit — skipped – I clicked order now
- Click “Add New Delivery Address”, input your information, and click “Add Address”–even if you click “returning user”, you still have to confirm the address or enter a new one. Another page, another click.
- Click the bubble next to your address and select “Order Now” next to your store —Did this (7 clicks now)
- Select “To-Go” or “Catering” — what she doesn’t mention is the landing page has all of the pizza stores that are close to you. Didn’t I already pick a place? Why am I confused again? Which store? Why does this page exist? Couldn’t the “bubble” in the other page have been a “To Go”, “Pick up” or “Delivery” choice box at that point, skipping this and the next step entirely? Wait a minute! I click “catering menu”, and get one item for delivery, but.. No way to even order it. Where the hell am I? I’m hitting the back button…(10 clicks)
- Select “Pick-up” or “Delivery” — arrrggghhhhh… I hit the “ORDER NOW” button…. THERE is the “To Go/Catering” and “Pickup/Delivery” radio button groups. and then I am prompted to CONFIRM THE DELIVERY ADDRESS ONE MORE TIME… I click on the ASAP button. Three clicks on this page…
- Select your expected time (“ASAP” or select a specific date/time) see above — I can finally see food to order.
- Choose your items. Use the left hand navigation bar to help you find your favorite products.–the “aspx” extension on the page was a dead giveaway. OF COURSE the screen doesn’t render in Firefox well (see attached screen shot). I’ll see if I can get through this… (we’re at, I don’t know 15 clicks? more? Lost count…)
- When your order is complete: To finalize an order you must click the yellow “Edit/Complete Order” button, and review your order to ensure it is correct.
- Then on the next page click the yellow “Proceed to Checkout” button.
- The final page will confirm your order has been submitted and have details of your order including restaurant, order type, and expected time/date. — I get to confirm my address one more time! They want to make damned sure that I’m getting my pizza!
And the number of clicks is:
More than 30.
Below find the menu screenshot:
Another MS developer forgets to test cross-browser functionaliity....
If you’re going to have on-line ordering, knock off the number of screens, knock off the number of clicks Small operations often make usability mistakes, often because they have “weekend” developers, or worse, the management has someone that “has some Internet experience” build the pages or implement some pre-built store. I can’t tell what happened here. It’s just a train wreck.
My suggestion to help would be:
- Plaster Order now everywhere, with a zip code entry in the “portlet”.
- At that point you should know where it’s going. The landing page should have the name of the restaurant plus a possible alternate. It should also have one set of radios for catering, etc. GO TO THE FOOD NOW.
- Choose the food
- Confirm the order, and have a returning user login or address form with an optional sign up on one page.
- You now have the order and the address. One page to collect the money with the order posted and back button to get to the order and edit it if need be
- Enter credit card information and confirm the order. Send the email
Done. Steps eliminated. Here’s a thought. Go through the Amazon order process, new customer , existing customer, etc. They’ve spent millions upon millions of dollars streamlining that process. Just dupe it. You’ll be 90% of the way there. At this point, you’re about 10% of the way there.
Hmmm. There’s a Chinese restaurant across the street…
As the Dude Abides... 