We developed the strategy, concept and design for Taco Bell's mobile ordering program.
We started with a single, yet powerful insight: approximately 70% of Taco Bell customers want to create custom orders, but less than 50% actually do so regularly because they feel anxious that this time-consuming task will hold up the line. Our solve? A multi-faceted mobile app for ordering ahead that features item customization at its core. We used customer-inspired product photography, a patent-pending, one-step reordering method and in-app payment and pick-up preferences to give Taco Bell fans the mobile ordering experience they want. To connect with customers on their terms, we also included a dedicated, time-based promotional space to inspire their hunger as well as an easy-to-navigate menu to help get them fed fast.
With over 300,000 app installs in the first two days and 2.5 million to date, the Taco Bell app reached the top of the App Store Food & Drink category and made into the top 15 apps overall. The mainstream, digital and food-industry press was just as impressed. FastCoCreate called it one of the twenty best ads of the past year—the only app to receive this distinction. And sales soared with a 25% increase in the average check amount within the app. Perhaps the biggest success of all was the love expressed by Taco Bell's fervent following. They flooded social media to share their favorite features and awarded it four and a half star rating in the Apple App Store.
