CASE STUDY
Curbside Pickup for Pizza Hut
Creating a global playbook for Curbside Pickup service of Pizza Hut Websites worldwide
MY ROLE
- Sr. Product Designer
Design thinking, UX Research, Experience design in collaboration with Operations team + UX Researcher
TIME & LOC’N
- March 2021
- Remote (Vietnam, UK, US)
TOOLS
- Figma, Miro
- Usertesting.com
- Google Slides
Background
Back in 2020 as COVID-19 started to spread across the globe, Pizza Hut rolled out a recommendation guideline for implementing “Contactless Pickup & Delivery” across all its stores worldwide. It was a response to the growing concerns for security and safety, and allowed customers to receive their deliveries or pick-up their orders from Pizza Hut stores while keeping their customers and staff protected. Among the options that were outlined for picking up orders was in-store (via counter) or by bringing them to their cars, a.k,a Curbside Pickup.
The Challenge
A year later, Pizza Hut noticed that there hasn’t been many stores implementing Curbside Pickup. Aside from a few select countries, majority of Pizza Hut’s markets worldwide hasn’t adopted this method even when there’s clearly a demand for it. The operations team is fully aware that a huge opportunity to leverage Curbside Pickup even beyond COVID-19, as it has been proven to be a more profitable channel compared to deliveries.
Thus, we were tasked to create a new recommendation guideline on how Pizza Hut stores worldwide could implement Curbside Pickup for their respective locales. Specifically:
- How might we introduce or scale-up the Curbside Pickup offering within existing websites of Pizza Hut globally?
- How might we make this easy to understand for our new and existing customers?
- How might we increase opt-in for Curbside Pickup?
Also, we have to lay out the future of Pizza Hut’s Curbside Pickup service for practicality and usefulness beyond COVID-19.
Solution
Global Website Audit
Since this is not the first time that Pizza Hut advocated this service, the first thing we did was to go through various Pizza Hut websites all over the world and do a systematic audit of which markets are implementing Curbside Pickup and which are not. For those already implementing Curbside Pickup, the next step was to compare how they currently do it and find out their strengths and weaknesses. We also looked at previous designs that were built by the initial designers for Pizza Hut’s Curbside Pickup in 2020. We used it to find areas that can be improved for this year’s iteration.
Pizza Hut US bundles their pickup time along with the curbside offering upon checkout.
Pizza Hut Puerto Rico implements a simpler interface. It asks for vehicle details only when user opts in.
Pizza Hut Malaysia looks similar to Puerto Rico’s while trying to emphasize a block of text by making it larger.
Gathering Feedback from Stakeholders
We asked feedback from select stores to identify what their biggest issues are in implementing curbside pickup. We found out that aside from logistics (i.e. lack of parking), they also noted the lack the manpower needed to operate such service. Another thing to note are the technological challenges. Some stores don’t have an advanced POS system that could take in extra information for Curbside Pickup.
Defining the Task Flow
To address the operational issues we are facing, we introduced different levels that local stores can choose from according to their technical capabilities. It is important that operators of the Curbside experience have clarity over what they need in order to implement this successfully. For this particular service, we designed 3 levels of implementation that would address our stores’ capabilities globally. From the simple “call to notify” up to a geo-fenced live tracking system that would allow us to identify the customer’s location in real time (with their consent).
Prototypes
Based on the user flows, we constructed an initial prototype starting with the most basic features. We made sure that these cover insights that we got from the local stores, our users, and our basic assumptions on how to roll out this service easily. We tried to simplify the process as much as we can, with the goal of converting more users in the shortest time possible.
The initial prototype accounts for different scenarios for various Pizza Hut stores worldwide.
Usability Test
We tested the prototypes with 10 participants using a moderated usability study. For this iteration, we specifically targeted users based in UK as we initially plan to roll out the new experience there. After rounds of remote sessions, we arrived at the following insights, among others.
We’ve learned that:
- The option to get orders without getting out of their cars was well received by almost all participants. Given a choice, customers would want their orders brought to their vehicles for a variety of reasons. It may be to avoid parking fees, avoid a bad weather, or bringing an extra companion to stay in the car while picking up orders.
- Most customers would prefer to wait outside the restaurant rather than come late and get a cold pizza. This means that one of the main motivation for Curbside pickup is the quality and freshness of their pizzas.
- While the term “Curbside” is common in the US, it’s not easily understood in the UK nor in other non-US markets. Having a localised term for “Curbside Pickup” is more preferred by customers; i.e., “Bring order to my car” is very easily understood by all participants in the UK vs “Kerbside Collection.”
- Since Curbside Pickup is still relatively new to many, customers would want to get an early peep on the process of this service before they opt-in. Also, it’s better to over-communicate than under.
- Customers are turned off with having to call their store when they arrive. They’d rather just push a button or be tracked if it means they won’t have to call.
Results
Improved Designs
Based on the feedback we got from our Usability Test, we were able to come up with improved designs that we rolled out our global market. We also implemented this on Pizza Hut UK and we’re waiting for more data to kick-in that we can use to improve the overall experience of this service. We compiled all these insights and resources in a digital playbook that was sent out by the global operations team to their regional counterparts.
Here’s a few screenshots for the mobile view supported by the insights we’ve collected. (I obviously can’t include all variations for all markets here. 😅)
When a user chooses to pickup an order, they will be informed about the availability of “In-car pickup” of Pizza Hut stores around them.
We introduced a simple infographic to educate users of this new feature. We learned that a clear and simple detailing early in the journey increases their confidence to opt-in during checkout.
We decided to adapt the Malaysia/Puerto Rico model as a standard because of its simplicity and clarity. We also made sure to keep the copy simple to address the problem that “users don’t read.” Based on our research, users found this checkbox clearer compared to having toggles or radio buttons. To track the success of this feature, we set this unselected by default.
A user opts in to get their orders in-car by checking the box, and they will be asked of their car details. This is based on our research where users who put in their car details feel more confident that their orders won’t be given to a wrong vehicle or that they won’t get a wrong order. A few users would even want their plate identified to avoid these mentioned risks.
We also redesigned our confirmation page and email to clearly instruct customers with their chosen pickup option. We deliberately moved the more relevant information on top – pickup location and instructions – instead of their order summary. We also highlighted the ETA for pickup, and a singular CTA that will inform the stores of the customer’s arrival.
For stores that offer multiple pickup spots, we also prepared a version where users can indicate their specific location inside the parking lot. This information is sent to the store when users confirm their arrival.
Standard Playbook for Global Stores
We also sent out a standard playbook for Curbside implementation using Google Slides. Included in the presentation are the principles we have learned from interacting with our stores, operations, branding, and of course the insights we got from our user research.
Achievements
This solution has since been recommended to all Pizza Hut markets worldwide. While many markets haven’t implemented this yet, we have already increased communication and interest by providing a clear roadmap for implementation.
As of now, we are also waiting for the results of the pilot markets who implemented our recommendation.
Personal Thoughts
This was quite challenging for me as this has been my first project within PHDV. Collaborating with our US counterparts meant a lot of late night meetings for me. But after seeing the results of this project, I felt really happy that we were able to provide a solution that’s useful and beneficial to a lot of our customers. Also, this project continues to evolve as we gather more insights from CRO and Analytics, so constant improvement shall be expected.
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