Planet Money : NPR
This NPR Planet Money episode explores how Domino's Pizza Tracker revolutionized customer expectations for real-time delivery updates. It examines how this tool became a standard industry model and discusses the potential for deception in modern tracking systems.
Why it matters
It provides insight into the psychological and economic impact of digital transparency and user experience design in the service industry.
Nick Fountain Did a pizza restaurant's humble status page change how we wait forever?
When you order a Lyft or Uber, you get texts every few minutes about your car approaching and arriving. When you have a package coming, you get a notification when it's shipped, when it's en route, and when it's out for delivery. Why do so many companies send these constant updates?
We have a theory: It's because of Domino's. In 2008, Domino's launched the Pizza Tracker, a novel tool that delighted customers by allowing them to obsessively monitor their pizza's progress from order to oven to delivery. The Pizza Tracker became a canonical model for other companies trying to improve their customers' experiences of waiting for all kinds of products and services. And now? Pizza Trackers are everywhere.
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