Three Questions with Chris Arnold of Chipotle
Several of my friends were asked to test out the iPhone Chipotle application earlier this year. I was intrigued by the thought of ordering food with an iPhone and was wondering how successful the app would be. It appealed to me because on a tight lunch schedule, getting your food and avoiding lines can be a lifesaver. Chris Arnold, the official Chipotle spokesperson, agreed to answer some quick questions about the app below. With more corporate branded apps hitting the store, it’s great to see one with great utility behind it.
1) What was the impetus behind Chipotle launching an iPhone application? Many of our customers are iPhone users and it’s a device that offers such a remarkable user experience. Building our ordering app on the iPhone allowed us to give our customers a new way to interact with Chipotle using technology that provides a great experience. The app is proving to be enormously popular (it’s been downloaded some 700,000 times now) and our customers seem very happy with its performance.
2) Would you consider Chipotle’s iPhone application as successful? What other social media channels are you considering using? The app launch has absolutely been a success. It has been downloaded some 700,000 times, it’s getting great user reviews, the feedback we get from customers is overwhelmingly positive, and we have seen a spike in online orders since it came out (orders coming in to our restaurants from the iPhone app read the same way as online orders from our web system). In addition to the app, we’ve got a robust Facebook presence (half a million fans) where we really engage with our customers, and we’re exploring some other channels and owned media, so there will be more to come for sure.
3) What would you recommend other marketers consider before launching a corporate brand iPhone application? Before launching an app, be sure it is going to work in a way that is useful for your customers. With a franchise restaurant for example, be sure your franchisees are on board. If you can only order at some restaurants but not all, it may confuse customers. Or taunt them if they want to use it but can’t. All or our restaurants are company owned, so that wasn’t an issue. Also, be sure the app does something of real value, like allowing customers to order food. If it’s just a store locator for example, people may not want the app after they’ve found you.
Categories: iPhone
Chipotle, iPhone apps
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