Having faced some problems with the Zomato UX, I was intrigued to study it's UX and suggest some solutions. Here's an attempt to grab some insights into the product. I'll appreciate feedback or a discussion!

1. bit.ly/kunalanand

2. ● You are a product manager at Zomato, and you believe that “
” is the feature that needs urgent
attention.
● Propose a UX change. Define user journeys, problem and propose few solutions.

3. To quote zomato’s Mid Covid Report :
● Customers are now relying on food delivery even more than usual
● Customers, who had not ordered since the first day of lockdown, are
20% more likely to order for the first time during such festivals and
occasions.
● As customers spend more time with their families, group ordering has
become more relevant than ever
● Overall spends on such premium restaurants have grown by over 25%
over pre-COVID levels.
● Metros such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai are still behind
the curve (~80% of pre-COVID) in terms of recovery.
Could a newly introduced feature be the reason behind slower recoveries?

4. Kumar Varun, 20
A student with a tight
budget, he prioritises
discounts over brands and
ratings. He lives on the
outskirts of the city and
has to make do with
nearby restaurants.
Nishant Tanwar, 53
Father of two, he usually
orders food on the
weekend. Safety and
hygiene are top priorities
for him in the Covid-19
era. For him, rating tops
the price.
Atul Khatri, 68
A retired banker, he lives
with his wife. For him,
ordering from zomato is
the only alternative for
eating outside now. He’s
not good with his
smartphone but he
manages to figure it out.
Jessica Jones, 34
A software developer who
works from home these
days and has a hard time
cooking for herself. She’s
often late to order dinner
and is often left with few
choices.
Here’s a quick look at the user personas of zomato in the current scenario.

5. :
● This feature acts Zipf’s law or the cognitive principle of least effort. It reduces
the number of steps a user has to take to select a dish.
● It by providing a premade filter.
● It opens a window of opportunity for smaller/less recognized restaurants to be
explored by the user.
:
● A user’s intent to open the app is to order a dish rather than eat from a particular
restaurant.
● The user’s choice may be influenced by displaying a number of different dishes.
● A user may be biased towards smaller restaurants and may not consider them.
This section provides visibility to these smaller players.

6. SEARCH BAR
CUISINE
RESTAURANT
MENU
VIEW CART
PLACE
ORDER
PAY
HOME
LOCKDOWN
CRAVINGS
FILTERS
QUICK LINKS
TOP BRANDS
POPULAR
JOURNEYS
ORDER
AGAIN

7. ORDER AGAIN
HOME SCREEN OF USER 1 HOME SCREEN OF USER 2
PRE-MADE
CUISINE FILTER
PRE-MADE
CUISINE
FILTERSDominates the
screen with an 4
row expandable
scroll menu
Covers 75% of the
entire screen with
dishes/cuisines
2 rows of
horizontal scroll

8. User journey through the “Lockdown Cravings” section
CASE 1: LIST OF
RESTAURANTS
CASE 2: RESTAURANTS
UNAVAILABLE
CASE 3: RESTAURANTS
CLOSED
No coffee? :(

9. HOME SCREEN
COFFEE
PIE
DISH
SELECTED
RESTAURANT
SELECTED
RESTAURANTS
CLOSED
PIZZA
MOUSSE
NO
RESTAURANTS
AVAILABLE
VIEW CART
PLACE
ORDER
PAY
DISH SELECTION
THUMBNAILS
FILTER RESULTS CARD CONVERSION SUCCESSFUL
REDUNDANCY

10. 1. Reduce user interactions
2. Reduce cognitive load of decision making on the user
3. Combat prejudice towards unfamiliar restaurants
… all of which the current UX works against
1. The section is static in number (16) - thereby leading to unsuccessful conversions on dishes that aren’t available
2. The intended idea of reducing the number of interactions fails, and the user performs more than required
interactions. Thereby acting against the Zipf’s law
3. It works against the backbone of UX, the Hick-Hyman Law by providing unnecessary/a lot of choices
4. Puts the user into decision paralysis thereby reducing conversions from familiar brands/restaurants
5. This leads an “illusion of completeness” in the feature and the user may not utilize the original filter option

11. Solution 1.
Static and redundant display of 16 dish thumbnail
: The thumbnail should be displayed only in case restaurants are available and open.
: This can be achieved by a simple logic of restaurant availability in the filter.
:
1. Thumbnail = filter (parameters) ; where parameters = (dish,delivery)
2. If filter returns null => Hide filter
3. If for filter, # of restaurants with the available dish = # of closed restaurants => Hide filter
4. Else display filter

12. Solution 2.
Static and redundant display of 16 dish thumbnail and violation of Hick’s law.
: The thumbnail should be displayed only in case restaurants are
available and open. Introduce horizontal scrolling thumbnails to preserve aesthetic disfigurement due to
dynamic menus.
: Same dynamic logic in a single row horizontal scroll. This provides more room for
familiar brands/nearby restaurants menu.
QUICK LINKS
TOP BRANDS
LOCKDOWN CRAVINGS
} Dynamic Horizontal scroll

13. Solution 3.
Static and redundant display of 16 dish thumbnail and violation of Hick’s law and Miller’s
law by inducing cognitive load on the user.
: A horizontal scroll does not provide the same visual cues that a vertical scroll does,
to preserve that replace the current thumbnails with 7±2 cuisines. Ie: Pastry, Mousse, Pie etc can be grouped
as confectionary/dessert.
How to solve the problem: Add a broader filter/categorize current dishes and cuisines/courses
QUICK LINKS
LOCKDOWN CRAVINGS
} Cuisine filters listed

14. Solution 1 Solution 2 Solution 3
Redundancy
Unnecessary
choices
Extra user
Interaction Steps
Providing visibility
to smaller players
Increasing
conversion on
familiar players

15. An hour of research on the thumbnail
section, finally found a coffee
Kunal Anand