HungerStation Android App Usability Crtique
What are they missing?
Hunger Station has been my go-to online ordering service for the last two years I believe, the only one I used. Until Carriage came, now I use both.
Now, I'll try to ignore the service they provide, as someone might argue that it's CX more than UX, so I'll just talk about the application on Android, which is the one I currently use.
I would say the application lacks a lot, and that's okay, considering it works for me. But that's not why we are here, we are here to say what's bad and what can be improved. I will start referencing Hunger Station as HS. And no, it's not high school.
First thing I would like to see changing in HS is that it asks for my GPS to be enabled, if I have set a delivery place, and I'm going to use that in this order process, why do I need to turn on my GPS?
What's the use of this introductory screen?
Jump to the business, make the top bar have the location information from at least the last place, or give them a notification asking have you changed your last address? And if they answer no, tell them they can always change it at the top.
And menus in HS have really weird places, first you have a bottom bar, with a menu sliding from the right. I would add the menus to a sliding menu in the restaurants page and take out the whole introductory screen entirely.
Then we go to the restaurants page, this needs to be decluttered, too many information in one place it's overwhelming. I guess this is not their direct issues, but some restaurants just have annoying pictures that are not appealing at all. I like the offers mentioned at top, I honestly wonder how many people click on that. It should be tested, maybe it should not be there. I would put restaurants with offers at the top of the list, as advertisement for the restaurant and the users.
The cash and credit cards icons are actually confusing, the cash one can be interpreted as a credit card from its look, which I would avoid with a clearer icon.
The filter icon here is lost, it is not sure of its job and it's left the bottom right wondering what to do.
Let's dive in the filter page, so after clicking the filter icon we get this filter page, overall this is a good design on the most part, but as for the minimum order slider, I would invest in one with definitive incremental values, 10SAR->20SAR->30SAR and so on. This slider goes to 800SAR, I wonder if you actually put your minimum order price to be 800, why would you offer that at HS? I love the clear action button bottom of the page to apply the filter.
HS offers a 10% for people using credit cards in their order, and a pop up notification is sent saying that everytime you enter the page of the restaurant. I used it today, and found a place I liked and saw the pop up and proceeded to order until I noticed that the restaurant I'm ordering from doesn't offer credit card payment, which goes saying that HS shows everyone that pop up even when the credit card option is not available. This is poor experience.
The menus with the horizontal sliders are not bad, I got the hang of them real quick and I dare say I actually enjoyed them. It's also given that lack of photos in specific orders are due to the restaurant not HS, so I will not comment on that. But I would invest in showing the images bigger, so the user sees the item better, and it motivates the user to order it, unlike how small it is now, and it needs you to click on the item to see it. Also HS should invest time in having a standard naming convention for some of the famous items, it's not acceptable to see misspellings and weird namings in the application, even if provided by the restaurant.
The 3 dots on the top right shows you an option to add this restaurant to your home page, which is nice, but the question is why would I? And why isn't it just an add button not a 2-step move. What I would like to see is favorite orders option, that is more useful and it shows association with the application.
So let's say we order, we will get to this page, which is the checkout page. Good order details, clear total order price, but there's a huge investment in making one clicks to two-clicks or taps in this case. Instead of having Cash on delivery with an option to change by clicking change, just offer the credit card option underneath it. And add the field for a coupon code. Where notes are is just another main issue, it took me time to realize there is a note option, I even complained before to a friend saying why don't they have a note option! The placement is just wrong. Also, add a note field for every order item, which will clear things for the user and the restaurant.
Let's go back to the restaurants page, tapping on the 3 dots button shows a small menu that has repeated items from the introductory right slide menu, which is just unacceptable, could be easily replaced with a sliding menu in the restaurants page.
So let's check the profile page, it shows that I have a ranking which says Hero/King Kong which apparently is a gamification part of this app that I never knew about, and I don't know what it benefits me with. I'd have the locations in this page as well, avoid having them in a separate page as much as possible. I know that decluttering and combining as much as you can in one page feels like an impossible job, and it can be sometimes, like facebook now. But for an application like HS it feels to me like it's a possible chance.
The chat page is another story, and this story is something I will always dislike in HS, the no agents available, where it asks you to leave a message, there was not one opportunity where I actually found an agent, I don't know why. If it's not working, just let it go and keep the customers sane. And once, I left a message only to be answered after two days, this is food delivery to Mars. Also, I don't know if there is any mention of HS call center number in the application or not, because until this day I can't find it, and I actually Google the information.
If we go back to the introductory page and choose the settings there, you get a slide menu sharing half the items with the menu inside the restaurants page. Profile is mentioned here, while in restaurants page it's called my account, which shows inconsistency which invites discomfort. I see invoices, I have none and I still don't know what that is. Payment options, here's where you add your credit cards, which you can add to the profile page. No comments about the support and live chat. Settings share the same thing with the restaurants page so no comment.
In the introductory screen there is a button in the bottom bar saying offers, and it doesn't take you seconds to realize it's not necessarily offers in your area, and I just wonder what's the point of that?
What I would like to see added is the order time, I want to know when I ordered, so I can see the progress.
HS used to have a 10 minutes rule, if the order is not approved by the restaurant in 10 minutes the order is canceled, and that apparently is gone, as once after 5 hours a restaurant decides to accept my order as I don't have an authority to cancel my order, nor their support is willing to answer.
There are many things that can be done here, the food ordering applications have a huge gap when it comes to usability and no one seems to invest time in making a difference, and I believe the first one who does, will surely lead.
HS has come a long way, and they definitely have faced a lot of issues, but I would love to see them investing more of their money and time on design, as it is a huge barrier. Also, they can use their new designs to promote new objectives. New designs are not always created for aesthetics, they are usually created with purpose and success criteria, so work well on that before you go to the next designer.