Cutting Costs and Enhancing Efficiency: Revolutionising Customer Address Validation at Just Eat

Project outcome:

17% Reduction In Address Errors

2.59% Contact Reduction To Call Center

4.53% Reduction In Late Orders

The Problem: Addressing The Impact Of Inaccurate Address Validation On Just Eat

Currently, customers can proceed through checkout on all Just Eat platforms without validating their address. This oversight leads to significant issues for both customers and the business:

For Customers:

• Inaccurate addresses can cause delivery drivers to struggle to find the correct location, leading to delays and sometimes even cancellations.

• The frustration of delayed or canceled orders can diminish the overall customer experience.

For the Business:

• Unverified addresses reduce the accuracy of delivery times and impact restaurant delivery fees.

• Manual address entry increases the risk of mistakes and inaccurate data.

• The increased need for contact with the call center incurs substantial financial costs for the business.

Who Were Our Target Audience?

Our primary focus was on new and returning customers entering a delivery address on the UK apps. Returning customers constitute a significant portion of our traffic, with 90% on Just Eat apps and around 64% on the web.

Benefits Of Address Validation For Just Eat And Its Customers

Customer Benefits:

• Relevant Content Earlier: Customers would see accurate ETAs, delivery fees, and confirmation of being within the restaurant’s delivery zone earlier in the ordering process.

• Timely Deliveries: Orders would be delivered more promptly, improving the food quality upon arrival.

• Fewer Rejected Orders: Reducing the number of late deliveries would decrease the likelihood of customers rejecting their orders.

Business Benefits:

• Increased Revenue: Solving this problem would reduce rejected and bad order rates, which currently lead to significant revenue loss. Even a small decrease in these rates would result in substantial financial savings.

• Operational Efficiency: There would be a reduction in manual overhead for the operational team, lowering operational costs.

By improving address validation, we can enhance the overall customer experience and achieve significant operational and financial benefits for Just Eat Takeaway.

How Can We Seamlessly Capture Accurate Customer Locations?

Workshop Facilitation And Strategic Planning

I created and facilitated a workshop involving relevant stakeholders and a cross-disciplinary team to discuss the logistics of Just Eat and its delivery partners. We explored customer feedback, reviewed the current Just Eat flow, and analysed competitors, with materials I had prepared in advance.

To align the team, I guided them to envision a successful outcome, providing a sense of direction and a common goal. We then used an affinity mapping exercise to group these ideas into themes.

Imagine We Are In The Future And The Project Went Wrong

Following the “Perfect Future” activity, I led a second session where the team identified potential issues and implications that could derail the project. This proactive approach allowed us to address concerns early on, ensuring a smoother path to success.

Ideation Workshop Facilitation

On the same day, I facilitated an ideation workshop with stakeholders and the team. The workshop agenda included Crazy 8’s and storyboarding activities, fostering a diverse range of ideas (diverge) before the product owner made the final decision on which concepts to explore first (converge). This approach ensured a broad exploration of possibilities, leading to innovative solutions.

From Ideas To Wireframes

Based on the outcome of the ideation workshop, several ideas were then stitched together into a wireframe. This helped me visualise and understand the user’s flow through the new feature. Additionally, it allowed me to start reviewing the design with engineers at this early stage, ensuring alignment and feasibility as the project progressed.

Usability Testing And Prototype Refinement

Following the wireframing, I conducted usability testing on the happy path flow for both new and returning users, utilising a high-fidelity prototype constructed in Axure. The testing involved five participants who had used Just Eat Takeaway within the last two weeks and was conducted as unmoderated sessions using the usertesting.com platform.

Testing Insights:

• Positive Feedback: All participants praised the prototype for its ease of use.

• Next Steps: With this positive feedback, I proceeded to explore a range of other potential scenarios and their respective flows.

This thorough testing and iteration process ensured the prototype was user-friendly and ready for further development.

Detailed User Flow Documentation

After further usability testing of different scenarios and flows and reviewing with engineers, I created a more detailed user flow document using the Whimsical web platform. This comprehensive map displayed all happy paths, error states, and edge cases, serving as an excellent visualisation tool for the entire team.

Final Design Screens And Annotations

Below are the final design screens and annotations, ready for engineering. These designs utilise components from the Just Eat Takeaway design system, PIE (Principles for Interfaces and Experiences), ensuring consistency and adherence to our established design principles.

Successful Evaluation And Rollout

After evaluating the proposed feature in an A/B experiment, the results demonstrated a significant positive impact on all key metrics tracked (figures shown below). Given Just Eat’s customer base of approximately 60 million in 2020, this represents substantial financial savings for the business. Following these successful results, the feature has been rolled out to 100% of traffic, continually enhancing the experience for Just Eat customers, restaurants, and delivery partners.

Reduction In Address Errors

Contact Reduction To Call Center

Reduction In Late Orders