Mobile is H(app)ening

In today’s modern world, people are either asleep or connected – Janice Hiromi Reinold

We have all dreaded what would happen when we lose or are disconnected from our priced possessions. We’d be locked out of home without keys, moneyless without wallet and now a day’s lifeless without a phone. It’s like our heart and soul is wrapped up in our phone; from contacts to notes, from food to photos, from maps to apps. Mobile is the key access point into our lives. Everything is available on the phone and accessing everything is possible from the phone. Hence, it leaves us with an important question as to what do we want to access from our phones? Among factors such as security, utility, availability of memory, efficiency and others, convenience plays an important role too. It refers to the ease and effortlessness with which it is possible to access and use an application.

Last week itself, in the blog Food for Thought, we were talking about Chipotle’s omni-channel marketing and discussed how effortless it has made food ordering for millions of others like me.  The credit to the success of Chipotle’s omni-channel marketing is shared with its highly functional mobile app. Chipotle’s mobile application allows us to locate the nearest store, view the menu, order on the go, make mobile payment, save the favourite order, view nutrition and allergy information and much more. The execution of these processes has been simplified by efficient navigation tools. For an app to be truly effective, it must also be an essential part of someone’s routine. Hence, Chipotle’s user-friendly, easy to navigate app makes it to my home screen.

    

As much as I insist that it is a good app, user-friendly, easy to navigate and all other things, why would one want to download it? Why block that much needed extra space on the phone? The answer is simple – Saves Time. I am sure we all agree that our lives are an infinite race against time and in this race it would be great if we don’t have to wait. That’s exactly what the app helps us to do. Skip the prolonged line and head directly to the cashier.  Skipping people could cause stares, but hey, the app is available to everyone and guess what, it isn’t difficult to use. It improves the customer experience beyond the regular brick and mortar through the innovative and strategic use of technology. Chipotle’s mobile app is simple as its menu and pleasurable as its food.

To upgrade the technological chapter in its omni channel marketing, the brand has also launched an app for the Apple Watch. The Burrito Button is convenience in its purest form.  Once you have a recent or saved order from ordering on the phone version of the app, all you have to do is select your location, a preferred order from the past on the watch, press the Burrito Button and your order is placed. A few taps of the wrist and orders are set up with a countdown clock letting customers know when it will be ready. Hopefully other brands will introduce and improve upon to provide their customers such greater perceived value as well. Life is constantly changing, evolving and updating; certain things sooner than later, certain brands sooner than later, certain people sooner than later.

The same thing happened today that happened yesterday, only to different people – Walter Winchell