If you are contemplating launching an application for your brand or business you will want to take note of how NOT to do it with the Dunkin’ Run app. Dunkin’ Donuts had an original idea that would help streamline the process of order taking for the office coffee “runner” (see video of how it works here). In Dunkin’ Donuts’ press release they describe the service as “an innovative interactive web site and iPhone application that will enable customers to solicit and place Dunkin’ Donuts group orders in just a few clicks with unprecedented ease, speed, accuracy and fun.” Sounds great, right? Dunkin’ Donuts was positioning itself on the cutting edge, as a more consumer friendly brand than the increasingly indistinguishable competition McDonalds and Starbucks.
The Pitch to Users
Dunkin’ Donuts had stumbled upon a unique opportunity, to further their customer engagement while actually delivering value to users through an iPhone and web application. And the marketing team at Hill Holliday crafted a powerful narrative around the groundbreaking innovation. Hill Holliday’s Chief Media Officer was quoted as saying the app “perfectly complements the ‘we’re in it together’ ethos of the Dunkin’ Donuts brand” and their site goes as far as to quote an internal employee who says that “Dunkin’ Donuts doesn’t just serve coffee, it also fuels the “hope and ambition and energy and drive” of America”. Wow.
The Negative Response
The problem with such bold positioning and a large launch hype-fest was that the app does not actually work from a user’s perspective. So the narrative comes across as a naive oversell and a typically “corporate” attempt at marketing. What has followed has been UGLY – I have seen very few iPhone applications with such poor ratings and reviews. Users are angry, at the time of writing this 225 of 376 (60%) ratings are ranked 1 out of 5 with 298 out of 376 being 3 or below (79%). User rejection has been nearly unanimous. So why did the application fail? Because its designers ignored the very thing that it was offering to users, “speed, accuracy and fun.”
“What Did I Do Wrong?”
To describe the problem all you have to do is look at the first screen input screen of the app. Imagine you are a user who has read about this revolutionary app that will help make your life easier, and then you open it and you wonder what to do next. You think to yourself, “Do I have a password? Maybe I can just enter one and it will work. Who knows?” So you try and it says invalid password, and you look for clues as to what to do next but there are none. Most users just deleted the app at this point (probably most of the 225 1-star ratings happened at this point through Apple’s ratings prompt that occurs upon app removal). In 10 seconds Dunking Donuts had managed to anger and alienate some of its most loyal customers.
What is worse is that the web experience for those who do go the extra step is even more frustrating, where the problems can be summed up with this one review: “You have to register from your computer which is stupid. Secondly, why does it need my address, phone number, and mother’s maiden name? We are talking about a dough nut order here, not banking information.” Well said.
The shame here is that the application, once you get past the sign-up hurdles is actually nicely thought out. This is not worth anything though if the most important step, the first one, is made so cumbersome that 60% of your users decide to delete your application and give up.
The Solution: Talk Less, Deliver More
The app store is all about user expectations. And in a place where reviews and ratings come all too easily, you need to be careful that you actually deliver on your what you offer. And while the Dunkin’ Run idea is a great one, it was oversold too soon and that only contributed to the user backlash.
The point is that you can deliver value and create a truly useful application for your users without risking your brand, and the way you do that is to launch something useful and complimentary to your business but first make sure it works! Good app design has little to do with a huge project or marketing budget and more to do with listening to your users. Whether it be through Beta testing before launch or iterative improvements after a soft launch, it is a fundamental step that can’t be ignored if you dare to claim you have created the next big thing.
To check out the latest ratings/ reviews for the Dunkin’ Run app press here to be directed to iTunes.
Update: The app has been updated to 1.1 and now includes a prompt at the bottom of the screen (shown above) that allows the user to sign-up. Still the reviews appear to be very poor (as of 7/18 34 of 76 ratings are still a 1 with an average of 2.5) and the comments reflect that the app is still more work than it is worth.
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