I Tried To Text Domino’s for Pizza And Had a Horrible Customer Experience

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Tired of ordering pizza over the phone? Domino’s understands—that’s why they’ve launched AnyWare, letting you “order your favorite oven-baked goodness on your favorite devices.”

I’m not going to lie—this is a pretty awesome use case (in theory). With AnyWare, you can text, tweet and even use your Smart TV to order pizza and more, and all you have to do is send a pizza emoji.

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Photo from Domino’s AnyWare website.

Easy as (pizza) pie, right?

Not so much, which kinda sucks because I was really excited by the prospect of being able to text to order a pizza. (No really, I was).

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See, the key to ordering pizza from Domino’s on any of your smart devices lies in creating a Pizza Profile apparently, where you have to input your name, email address, and phone number to get your hands on that slice of cheese. By creating an account, you’re able to Easy Order based off of past purchases and skip entering your personal payment information every time.

We’re all about text messaging and effortless service at OneReach, so this seemed like a great use case to test out. Pizza + texting = success, right?!?

Excited with the thought of pizza for lunch, and with my stomach growling, I went off to create my Pizza Profile. However, hitting the site should have been my first clue as to what I was about to experience because apparently you have to divulge your deepest, darkest secrets to order a pizza. After logging in to enable text ordering, I was presented with a whole lot of pizza legalese asking for my consent.

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I entered my phone number and saved my settings. Next, I had to double opt-in to confirm that I did, in fact, want to order pizza.  

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Then, I had to set up an Easy Order (oh, how I wish it had been) so the system knew what to query.

dominos double optin

Almost done? I wish! The pop-up told me I had to place my order online before I could use text messaging. Honestly, I kind of got the feeling this was a cash grab to get everyone to order way more pizzas than they need, all for supposed convenience’s sake.

I was at a loss. I didn’t even know where to place my Easy Order. Luckily, my phone came to my rescue when I opted in to receive messages and I could start placing my Easy Order.

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Just kidding–I had to go back online again. So far, not so easy.

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No, I don’t want to cheese it up—I just want to order my damn pizza over text message.

dominos cheese it up

C’mon, this is supposed to be easy! I just want to order my pizza over text message!!

dominos chocolate

Finally, on the payment page, I found what I was looking for.

dominos easy order

Awesome. Easy Order saved. Right? Wrong. Even though I submitted my order (14” with pepperoni and mushrooms), I still had no Easy Order to show for it. At this point, I was getting really frustrated (and hungry).

Not to be deterred, I tried once again to order over text, but because I didn’t save my credit card information, I couldn’t order. Because guess what—the only way to update your payment method is to MAKE ANOTHER PAYMENT.

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Seriously. Yeah.

Still aiming for my end goal of ordering pizza over text message, I went back online to order something cheap (3 20 oz. sodas) to re-enter my payment information. And when I went back to my phone and texted my little pizza emoji, guess what? Still didn’t work, because life sucks sometimes.

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Luckily, the delivery guy was nice enough to deliver my two orders together, and when I asked if my online credit card payment went through (because according to the texts, it wasn’t valid), he showed me the receipt, where it clearly did.

In summary, not only was I not able to order over text message, but I had a heck of a time even trying to order online.

The goal of this article is not to bash Domino’s–they should be applauded for even attempting to deploy a text-to-order service. In addition, I’m assuming that once I got my Easy Order set up, it would have been as easy to order as advertised instead of what I went through.

This is definitely not how I felt after trying to order. Photo from Domino"sss

This is definitely NOT how I felt after trying to order. Photo from Domino’s AnyWare video.

Still, what’s ultimately lacking from the Domino’s AnyWare experience is the “anywhere” aspect of it. Domino’s tried and failed to create a seamless omnichannel experience that lets you order pizza whenever, wherever, and however you want. It relied too heavily on the Web to enable an experience that should have taken place largely on other channels.

A true omnichannel experience would have seamlessly transferred customers from channel to channel (ie a link to a secure payment page for ordering), rather than forcing them back to the Web to do the very thing they should have been able to do by texting or tweeting: order pizza.

Even though I didn’t get my pizza over text message, I still wanted to see if there was a better way to design this whole text debacle. Because even though it didn’t work, it should have worked. And it can work.

Here’s how it should have been done (and can be done). Domino’s, feel free to use this model PUH-LEESE!

  1. First, I would text into Domino’s, without needing a Pizza Profile. That was the one part of the user experience that continuously failed me, and I’m not the only one. Had I not been so committed to seeing this through, I would have bailed with many profanities following and ordered from Papa John’s.
  2. I would receive a text message asking if I’d like to place my usual order (not Easy Order, because that sure as heck wasn’t easy), or if I’d like to place a new one.
  3. The system would already know my address and billing information, so I wouldn’t have to input that information online, taking me out of my mobile experience.
  4. I’d confirm that I’d like the pizza delivered to my regular address.
  5. The system would then ask me if I’d like to pay with the card I already have on file.
  6. I’d confirm, and then I’d get a message that my pizza was on my way.

Easy as that.

But, why tell you when I can show you? Here’s how it would look…

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Want to try a great text-to-order experience for yourself? Text “PIZZA” to 70700. Note–you won’t actually be ordering pizza, and there are no integrations to find the nearest Domino’s or to pay for pizza. Still, it’s an example of what a smart ordering experience could be (and should have been) like.

Enjoy!

To learn more about adding text to your business (the right way), download our whitepaper here, or shoot us a text at 303-974-7351. We’re always happy to chat.

Photo credit. Edited.

Republished with author's permission from original post.

Gigi Peccolo
OneReach
Gigi Peccolo is the Content Manager at OneReach, where she is focused on creating content enabling companies to offer effective, meaningful customer support over text message. Gigi is a skilled writer, having served as News Editor at her college newspaper. Gigi received her BA in Journalism Studies and Spanish from the University of Denver, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with Distinction in Journalism Studies.

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