Motivation
The dining experience is inherently social in nature. People frequently look to friends, influencers, review sites, and social media to help decide where to eat. However, Zomato's current offerings do not adequately facilitate this social sharing and discovery aspect of the restaurant selection process.
To better cater to this user need, we propose introducing "Zomato Socials" — a new feature that allows users to connect with others and get personalized restaurant recommendations based on the preferences and interactions of people they follow. By adding a social layer, Zomato can provide a more curated and trusted restaurant discovery experience tuned to each user's unique tastes.
This also relates to the "Social Media" module which covers that a major design goal of social computing has been to enhance online social interactions to mimic in-person interactions. We aim to make the dining experience as human-centric as possible with this.
Business Model
Social features are only available for Zomato Gold users — to increase the push for Zomato Gold subscriptions. Currently, Zomato Gold features are also the cost incurred for the company; the feature we are proposing provides special services to the Gold user without adding to the cost value for the company.
Innovation as no competitor has introduced a social element — a social element increases user engagement and loyalty, enabling a switch from other platforms to ours as friends are also on this.
Swiggy One vs Zomato Gold
Zomato's rival Swiggy also runs its subscription service called Swiggy One, which besides providing benefits for the food business, also extends them to its quick commerce arm Instamart. Zomato Gold benefits do not extend to BlinkIt.
Key Zomato Business Concern from Restaurants: how to increase discoverability for restaurants — this feature allows restaurants to get discovered.
We are creating an opportunity to become Zomato influencers via this feature — only if you are a Gold member — which will allow Zomato and restaurants to capitalize on the influencer economy and increase app engagement.
User Stories
User Story
"As a user of Zomato, I want to leverage social connections and insights within the platform to discover and share dining experiences, so that I can enjoy personalized recommendations, connect with friends, and enhance my culinary journey based on trusted social circles."
Acceptance Criteria
- Social Discovery and Connectivity — Given I am on the homepage, when I choose to find friends or follow new profiles, then I should be presented with options to connect with friends and follow other users on Zomato.
- Inspiration and Personalized Recommendations — Given I am looking for dining inspiration, when I select the "Get Inspiration" option, then a pop-up should generate personalized restaurant recommendations based on my and my followers' preferences.
- Profile Interactions and Content Engagement — Given I am browsing user profiles, when I choose to follow a profile, then I should be able to view and interact with the restaurants' likes and reviews posted by that profile.
- Enhanced Discovery through Social Filters — Given I am searching for restaurants, when I apply filters based on my social connections' preferences, then I should see a list of restaurants liked or recommended by people I follow.
- Network-Driven Recommendations — Given I am using the recommendation feature, when I request recommendations based on my followers' preferences, then I should receive a curated list of restaurant suggestions influenced by the dining choices of my network.
- Personalized User Profiles — Given I want to customize my profile with my dining preferences, when I add my favorite places and dishes to my profile, then my profile should reflect these personal favorites and be visible to others.
- Social-Driven Dining Insights — Given I am interested in the dining habits of my network, when I view the section showcasing restaurants loved by my social connections, then I should gain insights into popular dining spots within my circle.
- Culinary Identity and Preferences — Given I am exploring user profiles, when I view a user's profile, then I should be able to see their top cuisines, favorite restaurants, and preferred dishes.
Design Considerations
- UI Clarity: Ensure social features are seamlessly integrated into the existing Zomato interface, with clear and intuitive navigation. Icons and visual cues should be easily recognizable.
- UX Consistency: Maintain consistency across the platform, ensuring that new social features align with the look and feel of existing ones — consistent typography, color schemes, and element styles.
- Interactive Feedback: Implement interactive elements such as animations or visual indicators that respond to user actions, providing immediate feedback when users connect with friends, follow profiles, or interact with recommendations.
- Personalization: Leverage user data to create a personalized experience, ensuring that recommendations and content are tailored to individual preferences and social connections.
- Information Hierarchy: Organize content in a way that prioritizes important features, such as friend recommendations and popular items within the user's network.
Performance Requirements
- Load Times: Optimize the application to ensure fast loading times, particularly for features that require real-time data such as generating personalized recommendations or updating social feeds.
- Scalability: Ensure the backend infrastructure can handle a significant increase in user interactions and data processing as social features gain popularity.
- Data Handling: Implement efficient data retrieval and storage mechanisms to handle the increased volume of user-generated content and interactions without compromising performance.
- Responsive Design: The platform should be responsive across different devices and screen sizes, ensuring a consistent user experience whether accessed via mobile, tablet, or desktop.
- Testing and Optimization: Regularly test the platform for performance bottlenecks and optimize code, databases, and server configurations to maintain and improve response times.
Security Considerations
- Data Privacy: Ensure strict adherence to data privacy laws, protecting user information, especially regarding social connections and preferences.
- Authentication and Authorization: Implement robust authentication mechanisms and ensure that users have appropriate authorization to view and interact with others' profiles and content.
- Input Validation: Safeguard against security vulnerabilities by validating user inputs, especially in social features where users can post content or send messages.
- Secure Communications: Use encryption to secure data in transit, particularly when personal information or social interactions are transmitted.
- Regular Security Audits: Conduct regular security audits and updates to protect against new vulnerabilities and ensure the integrity and confidentiality of user data.
Localization & Accessibility Considerations
- Language Support: Offer multilingual support to cater to a diverse user base, allowing users to interact with social features in their preferred language.
- Cultural Sensitivity: Adapt content and recommendations to reflect cultural preferences and sensitivities, ensuring relevance and respect for local norms.
- Accessibility Features: Ensure the platform complies with WCAG guidelines, with features like screen reader support, keyboard navigability, and sufficient color contrast to accommodate users with various disabilities.
- User Education: Provide guidance and support materials in multiple languages to help users understand and make the most of the new social features.
User Journey
The "Cognitive Models" and "Methodology" modules also pushed us to deeply understand the role of the consumer while designing for them. Hence, we opted for a user journey map to cognitively track how an ideal user would interact with Zomato.
Awareness and Discovery
- The user becomes aware of Zomato through advertisements, word of mouth, or app store recommendations.
- They download the app from the app store and complete the initial registration process, which may include providing basic information or linking social media accounts.
Exploring Restaurants and Menus
- The user opens the Zomato app to explore nearby restaurants and cuisines.
- They use search filters such as location, cuisine type, price range, or ratings to narrow down their options.
- The user browses restaurant profiles, reads reviews, views menus, and checks photos to make an informed decision.
Here's where there's scope for engagement and personalization that Zomato doesn't currently offer: social features. After the implementation of Zomato Socials in phases, we can expect this part of the User Journey to look a bit different:
Placing an Order
- After selecting a restaurant and deciding on their order, the user adds items to their cart.
- They proceed to checkout, where they can review their order details, apply any discounts or promo codes, and choose a delivery or pickup option.
- The user completes the payment process securely within the app.
Tracking Order Status
- Once the order is placed, the user can track its status in real time through the app.
- They receive notifications at various stages of the delivery process, such as order confirmation, preparation, and delivery updates.
Enjoying the Meal
- Upon receiving the order, the user enjoys their meal either at home or at the chosen pickup location.
Post-Meal Interaction
- After the meal, the user may choose to engage with the social features of the app.
- They can rate and review the restaurant, provide feedback on the food and service, and share their dining experience with friends or followers.
- Users may also interact with other users' reviews, liking or commenting on them, and following users whose recommendations they find helpful.
Design Process
Overall design considerations:
- Integration with existing Zomato UI features: the new feature should seamlessly fit into Zomato's current interface so that it's the least amount of change for end-users.
- Iconography and font consistency: Zomato's branding is a vibrant and memorable feature of the company; this needs to be maintained with any new feature.
- Multiple calls to action and purchase nudges: since Zomato is a commercial app at the end of the day, new features should not detract from its primary purpose which is to deliver food.
Overall, the aim is to introduce this feature in a way that allows for interested users to interact while also keeping disinterested users happy. The feature is consciously accessible but also easy to hide away if the user is not a fan. Design choices were made keeping in mind the "Design Process", "Design Tools", and "Content Creation" modules of our course.
This is the initial testing phase so minimal and guided changes are prioritized. Here, the feature is gently introduced to the users. Since Zomato has an existing user profile page system, the first push just links the profile to restaurant recommendations. It displays who in your following list likes or follows a restaurant and when you click on their marker, it opens their profile so that you can see the list of restaurants they like.
The feature is now a more integrated part of the user journey, which begins the seamless transition from an experimental functionality to a permanent one. This is implemented in two ways: the aforementioned linking to user profiles is now explicated with the inclusion of a filter on the home page. The filter allows users to search for restaurants based on whether at least one of their following has some positive interaction with the same. Second, restaurant reviews left by a user's following are also highlighted so that they can be differentiated from non-following reviews.
In the last phase, the feature is represented on its own merit with a separate banner that introduces it and acts as a nudge for users to explore the new feature. This then leads to a dedicated Zomato Socials page which sources restaurant recommendations for a user based on the recent interactions of their following list.