Zomato – What I like about you and what you can do better!!

Ever since Zomato announced that it needed feedback to upgrade and was willing to give away an Ipad for the most constructive feedback, I’ve been so excited. To see what I like, I first browsed through your entire site, that’s exactly what you asked us to do!!

What I like most;

1) Featured User reviews: Ofcourse, this is the live wire of your site. People visit your site to read which restaurant is offering good food. Your user reviews are the most valuable asset of your site.

2) Your Blog section: I like your blog sections. You’ve tried to add a lot of useful information and your experiences which make the blog section a good read.

3) Newsletter CRUNCH: You keep your newsletter updated which is what I like. I read the Chefspeaks article and liked it. I always like to listen to great chefs and understand how they feel about flavours.

Here’s what I didn’t like;

Your open spat with your competitor. I understand you may have 100 issues with anyone. Just because you have the internet and because there are no rules to web journalism doesn’t mean you will wash your dirty linen in the open. Honestly why would your visitors care if someone is copying your listings. It’s your problem, deal with it and don’t make it my headache.

What you can add;

1) When a user wins the review contest, try and give the meal vouchers of the restaurant they wrote a review for. It’s a whole different delight. The restaurant will also be able to feature this customer and send you snaps of the visit. This will increase the number of people wanting to write reviews.

2) Add thumbprint pictures of the restaurants featuring in your website. Similarly let your users also be able to upload their pictures.

3) In your CRUNCH section introduce Chef’s favourite recipes sections. Make sure the Chef gives a rather simple recipe of what he likes. Your users should be tempted to try this at home and send you feedback with pictures preferably. Also add tips from the Chef.

4) Ask restaurant owners to list top 3 popular dishes from their menu. Ask them to provide MONTHLY DISH COUPON in your site giving a 10%-20% off on those dishes alone. When a customer visits their restaurant they should have the MONTHLY DISH COUPON printed or have the coupon name/number.

5) For similar starred restaurants compare prices and publish them on the site. Let the customers know what they are paying for.

6) If a user writes a bad review for a restaurant, contact restaurant owners and let them know. Coax them to understand the complaint and make changes accordingly. If a restaurant does listen to you and make changes, publish it as a success story and encourage visitors to visit the restaurant.

7) If you are not doing this already, pick up an orphanage for a social cause. Instead of commuting food to the orphanage, coax huge restaurant owners for a dinner or lunch in their restaurants for these kids at least once in every 6 months. Publish your cause for everyone to read.

I like your website, and feel you can do a great deal in helping improve restaurant conditions all over India. Most of them charge a bomb and let pests eat along with us at tables.

Susmita Vavilala

www.greatlivingtips.com