Zomato, launched in 2008, is considered to be one of the most loved brand among millennials across the country. If you are a 20 something with a smartphone and access to internet there is a very low chance that you have not already downloaded the Zomato mobile app. It is one of the few online brands in the country that probably have finally figured out the secret sauce of creating shareable,viral content on social media.

Having said that, Zomato, in the years to come, no doubt will enjoy a cult status and everything they do would be watched, observed, lauded or criticized in public. Like what happened a few months ago when a simple, harmless Delhi vs Bangalore fight was blown out of proportion.

It’s probably because of the above, that Zomato recently invited all the bloggers to openly criticize their mobile app or website to help them improve. At first I thought to myself that the last time I used the app, I wanted to hug the UI designer at Zomato for creating one of the sleek, sophisticated mobile apps that we have today. The app works like a dream and the only problem being, the time it used to take to load the restaurants and make searches even on a 3G connection.

However, when they mentioned that the most critical feedback could win an iPhone 6, I realized “nobody is perfect” and there is always “scope for improvement”.

With more than  1 million app downloads till date on Google Play Store and around 7 million website visitors per month (source: Similarweb.com) one thing that they cannot compromise is the user experience on the website and what a way to keep a tab on that by asking heavy internet users.

Coming to the point,

Let’s start with some brickbats.

5 Features that I wish Zomato would work on

  1. Add to wishlist

The whole point of creating a list or adding to cart or shortlisting any website is to probably visit that list and finally decide or discard something. As a user when I tried using the “Add to wishlist” feature on the website, I had no idea where was it going or how can I see the restaurants that I have added.

Suggestion

After a bit of struggle I finally did figure where the list was however, a simple tweak where either you show a animation where a “Z” flies from the wishlist to the top navigation bar on the below mentioned red line on the screenshot or just simply show a red color notification on top which will notify whenever a restaurant has been added in the wishlist. This small tweak might improve the user experience if the wish list is a common feature used on the website.

I wish for the list to appear somewhere

  2. Please let me check-in and flaunt it

What is the standard, complete user cycle?

1. I want to go out today, let me check out places that I can go to
2. Read, read, read, look at pictures, shortlist
3. This looks good, place decided, final
4. Don’t know what to order
5. Hey friends, check out this fancy new place that I am having dinner at
6. That was overhyped or awesome, let me write a review and spread the word

I feel Zomato doesnt cater to the audience who want to perform steps 4 and 5 which explains the popularity of apps like FourSquare/Swarm, Hoppr and Facebook Check-in Feature.

Suggestion

If only Zomato detects that I am at within 1 km radius of a particular restaurant, allow me to check-in and post on my social media feed and at the same time give me quick tips on what to order (which it does for popular restaurants based on crowd wisdom), it would be perfect. There is a been here feature which hardly gives me any gratification or social currency. Let me check-in through the same app, complete the user cycle

Been here done that?

Been Here, Done that?

If  I have already rated a restaurant, shouldn’t by default my “Been Here” be highlighted? Just wondering.

  3. Enough with the following already!

Let me make a case here first

1. There are enough websites and mobile applications already that are asking me follow, re tweet, like, comment, share and be a part of the herd. I don’t want to follow people on one more website to keep track of reviews in restaurants where they eat.
2. Zomato is not a website that I visit on a daily basis for me to follow people. Standard user behavior might be majorly on weekends or when I have to order in.
3. And in any case there is not much to look forward to after following people apart from the reviews that might not even be a timely information for me. it’s not like I am seeking expert advice from anyone.

Suggestion

You have successfully convinced people to be comfortable with their social logins on your website and app compulsorily. Since that has happened, instead of asking me to follow people it would be great if you could just show me 3 things

• If any of my friends or “friends of friends” have visited that particular restaurant (using the been-here or above suggested check-in feature)
• If any of my friends or “friends of friends” have written a review about that particular restaurant.

A small widget on the right which will say something like

50 of your friends and friends of friends have been here and 13 have something to say about it, read their reviews now.

This would help me trust the reviews more, probably take the conversation offline and ask him/her more about it. This feature might also be a critical step in taking Zomato one step towards being a platform for decision making than mere shortlisting.

Tell me why should I follow this person. Why?

  4. Wont Review Ratings become obsolete in days to come?

Correct me if I am wrong, but according to me 8 out of 10 restaurants on Zomato.com have ratings between 3.5 to 4.5. In that case wont the whole objective of having ratings become futile as it wont help the user make any sort of judgment depending on the same. A small tweak in this could be the concept of relative rating.

Suggestion

A restaurant with an average rating of 3.5 from 1500 users, shouldn’t it be rated above a restaurant which has an average rating of 4 from 50 users.

If Zomato could figure out a way to normalize this it would help users give a more accurate picture of restaurants they should compare and decide to visit.

One more amazing addition to ratings would be asking users who review one simple additional question

Would you visit this place again? Answer in Yes or No.

Results from the above data point could be shown in the below way

67% users who reviewed said they would like to visit the place again

  5. Showcasing the menus on Mobile App

On the mobile app, as soon as I tap on the Menu, I see the below screen.

What’s the point of this screen?

That is one tap wasted and disturbs the user experience as this screen means nothing to me. Also, when I am ordering from a particular restaurant a lot of swiping and navigating needs to be done to figure out starters, main course, beverages, veg, non-veg etc.

Suggestion

Zomato can probably bucket and arrange all restaurant menus by major categories such as Appetizers, Main Course, Snacks, Breakfast, Beverages which will not only help in easy navigation but also enhance user experience by making life simpler.

Now time for some appreciation

3 Features on Zomato that will make you stand up and *slow clap*

  1. Oh! Collections

I was totally impressed when I first saw this particular feature on the app and website. This makes things so much simpler. It often happens that there is a particular cuisine, an ambiance, a type of setting that you crave for in a place and if you give me them organized neatly in categories that I completely relate to, nothing like it. Trust Zomato to do something always out of the box be it product or marketing.

Deciding where to eat, made easy, since 2008.

There are times when you just don’t know what to search. Don’t you wish someone would just tell you the place because deciding one is such a huge hassle. In fact, Zomato  has always been very particular about how users navigate and search their website to decide a place since the start. Their search navigation is not your typical search bar, it’s there for a reason, to make search simple and faster.

Wow! You knew what I was thinking and you are not Google!

   2. Personalization

Zomato is the probably the only Indian brand who truly realized the importance of the most commonly used buzz word in internet industry. So-Lo-Mo.

Zomato in the truest sense is all about Social, Local and Mobile.

They did enforce compulsory social login which miffed a few users but slowly all of them got over it with the way they were using that data to personalize your Zomato experience. Also, for the time that I have been using Zomato, for the fear of integrating my social login with any website whatsoever, they have not spammed either my facebook or my email with a single piece of communication which wasn’t meant for me. This also works for Zomato, because its more about the pull than the push.

How does it make things personal?

• Gives me a cool widget that showcases my standing on Zomato

I should post this somewhere when I am more famous

• Gives me a list of recently viewed restaurants with an option of adding them to wishlist

Hey! Let me visit that again

• Gives me easy navigation to view my network, see my lists and been here and every other possible activity that I might have done on Zomato.

It’s like a mini food social network

• The clincher, just tell me, who wouldn’t want to participate more and more after seeing a dashboard that is as interactive and simple as below.

Must write more reviews!

And this is not it…

While it is personalizing things, it makes sure that privacy is not being compromised.

Its private and confidential

  3. Need for Speedy Dial

This is without doubt one of the best features for people who frequent a place and more so for people who order regularly from a particular place. Again, its all about making things simpler for Zomato users. Don’t make me go through the entire process of searching the same restaurant whose menu I know by heart. Brilliant innovation!

Make it quick!

Zomato – where it stands?

Having said all the above, Zomato is one of the most loved brand in India today. Their small little hiring campaign becomes a national debate, they have provided users a platform that can practically kill restaurants, remember Lemp Brew Pub incident. Finally when a hard day at work ends you can simply sit back and smile ear to ear looking at their amazing social media campaigns.

Whatever you say Zomato, Love you, Hate you but you are too big to be ignored now. All the best!

Love us, Hate us, But we know you cant ignore us – Zomato