Blog

Here at Key Lime Interactive we are constantly monitoring how consumer needs change and evolve over time. And of course, we track—with great interest—what industry leaders and innovators are doing to push technology forward, and how that influences consumer expectations, and improves the user experience.

More than two years ago, in April 2014, Panera announced their Panera 2.0 program. It contained a series of technological initiatives designed to allow customers to interact with Panera in new and innovative ways, including advance ordering and pick up, fast-lane kiosks to order in while dining, ordering from your table within the restaurant, and the ability to save customized orders within the restaurant. While this was slated to roll out in all stores by the end of 2017, Panera is already seeing rising stock value¹ from the initiatives in the last few months. We believe that these new developments really show that Panera is forging a new path for the customer experience in restaurants. To confirm that, we decided to take a look at some of these initiatives from a customer’s perspective, with a quick field trip to the Panera location near our Miami office.

To-go ordering has been around since the first caveman hollered to his neighbor that he was coming over to eat, but things have gotten more complicated in the last 50,000 years. Instead of asking for the flank or rib-eye of the woolly mammoth, now we’re thinking about geolocation, Apple Pay, and an awesome UI. Read on to hear about the top 5 usability mistakes in to-go ordering sites, and how to avoid making them in your app.

When it comes to fast food, speed isn’t all that matters – but it making fast food faster certainly helps. Some people have favorite brands, and would never go to Burger King if they could get McDonald’s, or vice versa. But with all things equal, the most efficient or convenient option will often be the winner. Recently, we covered a trend in fast food apps where companies are allowing users to customize and place orders directly from their app, addressing this customer desire for efficiency. We dissected the act of customizing orders on four major apps to tease out how the user interfaces were serving customer needs. One company we did not cover is White Castle, whose most recent update came after our publication, but has gained our attention as something special.

Last Minute Deals

Industry leaders are tapping into Millennials impulsivity and desire for savings by offering prices that are only good for the last 48 hours before building. Booking.com now has an Apple Watch app that offers up hotel rooms based on your location, but only for the next 48 hours. With one touch you can book the room, and they offer reduced pricing for the last minute booking.

Looking for a cutting-edge, quick and easy way to get your designs from concept to interactive prototype? Working in an agile design environment and need insight

into the usability of your concept prior to wireframing? If you answered yes to either of these questions, the POP (Prototyping on Paper) is a design methodology and app you’ll want to check out.

I received my Apple Watch this past Thursday. I chose the space grey Apple Watch sport with the black band, which was worth the wait. It’s fairly subtle, with one person (okay, a kid!) thinking it could be a real watch. Overall, I am impressed with its performance, especially for a v1 device with limited connectivity options. Powered by my iPhone 6, even on LTE instead of wireless, there is very little lag in most apps. However, the remote app has some issues connecting to iTunes libraries. It’s fantastic as a remote for the Apple TV, but very limited and challenging to sync with my computer’s iTunes library. Here is a day in the life with an Apple Watch.