How NOT to Move Your Business to Mobile

Mobile is a great platform that has worked exceedingly for some companies, but the platform is still young and going through some growing pains; this means that your results from mobile marketing and design/development campaigns can be hit or miss.

Which takes us to the sorrowful case of Pizza Hut's new mobile campaign. Don't get us wrong, we love Pizza Hut, especially Pizza Hut's new Crazy Cheesy Crust Pizza, which is already up for an award from our staff. However, their new iOS app is -- in our opinion -- ugly, lacks a quality user interface (UI), and is cumbersome.

From The Intro Screen, Pizza Hut App Looked Promising

We downloaded this app, and were excited from the get-go. The intro video included very good high resolution graphics and delicious toppings flying around the screen of our iPads and on AppleTV, but the awe soon worn off when we arrived at the first functioning screen.

Where it All Starts to Unravel

To the left, you will see the screen we are talking about. While the graphics still look okay -- though you can tell that less work was put into this screen than the intro -- the functionality goes to pot. 

Don't worry about which button to choose, as the flow of the app is so bad, that you will be taken to the same screen no matter which you click on. The page you are brought to is the hideously designed order page, which will be the exhibit B that we get into next.

Simply Unattractive Design

(To the Right) Exhibit B is here for you to see, where a sliding app development project goes from bad to worse. By this point, design wasn't much of a motivating factor. The over-sized buttons could have been made more attractive, but the patterned red background is what really kills this screen. 

I wish we could say that the app got better from this point, but we would be lying.

As if the previous screen weren't designed bad enough, expediting our request as either delivery or carryout only brings further shame. That lovely picture box of flying toppings plays host to shadow-box fields where you must immediately enter in all of your information before even seeing a menu or having any other option to move forward. (See the nightmare image below).

Almost Illegible Before you Start Typing in Black Font

And here is where Pizza Hut is certain to lose more customers than just we that are testing this app... The information fields. Whoever had the idea to make this a black shadow box on dark red with black type is criminally insane. When you start typing your personal information, the black type is nearly impossible to decipher, making corrections frustrating (A huge problem for iPhone users, but still a concern for iPad users). It was at this point that we did not want to continue further in the app, as we felt this was the pivotal point where the entire idea of the app -- and certainly millions of dollars of design and development work -- were wasted. 

Disappointed, we decided to compare the ordering process of the application, to the ordering process of the mobile website for Pizza Hut. Only then did we find that the mobile problems were across the board for Pizza Hut.

To the right, you will find the mobile landing page for pizzahut.com. Even worse than the application, this mobile site should have been first and foremost in the marketing department's eyes and should have been optimized before anyone brought up the idea of an iOS app. Not only are they trying to divert us (the customer) from ordering through the mobile site, and downloading the app, but ordering through this platform is even more convoluted than the interface of the application.

All in all, we have to classify Pizza Hut's entire approach to mobile marketing and interface as a FAIL!!! With all of the money spent on the app alone, the business should have had a clearer strategy from the get-go, and could have avoided this altogether. This is why it is so important to 

really think about your mobile marketing strategy, 

and avoid an embarrassing situation.

We must re-iterate though, that we love mobile marketing and apps, and believe that they can truly benefit a business. However, remember that the platform is still in its infancy, and even designers and developers don't have a full grasp on the capabilities and standards of mobile platforms. Be sure that you have a solid strategy for your app before you begin development; and please, please, please! Develop your mobile landing page before even considering an app.