Panera Bread

Mobile Apps: Designing a better ordering experience

Summary

At Panera Bread, I worked to iteratively improve the customer ordering experience on Android and iPhone mobile apps. Because these apps were coded in a way that made changes surprisingly labor-intensive, it was important for me to find solutions that required minimal code changes.

Below are two case studies of improving the customer order experience. Although both had a solid research component, the first case study required minimal code changes, while the second one required more significant adjustments.

Use Case 1: The quick implementation

The challenge

Anecdotally, there were reports that many customers were ordering from the wrong store. My mission was to verify whether this was true and, if so, to find a way to correct the issue with minimal development effort.

The analysis

For customers ordering from the wrong store, I first needed to demonstrate to stakeholders that this was a significant issue by analyzing how often this was a customer complaint. Below is a sample of feedback from customers.

Heuristic evaluation

Next, I conducted a heuristic evaluation of the customer ordering experience to identify where customers were getting confused in the process.

The solution

Finally, I recommend solutions that can be implemented quickly and easily to reduce customer confusion.

Use Case 2: The deep-dive

The challenge

At Panera, we wanted to enable customers to order quickly and easily so that more customers complete their orders successfully. The Panera app required customers to take multiple steps to place an order, increasing the likelihood of customer loss and revenue loss.