The Zomato nightmare, spurious loyalty, and the limitation of data.

The Zomato no cooking January has turned out to be both an opportunity and a nightmare for me. The opportunity to save a few bucks is always good, never mind the increase in consumption of ordered food. Pray what’s the nightmare? The damn Zomato App gets my delivery location on the map consistently wrong. This then requires me every time I place an order to call the delivery person so we can give out the right location. Plus almost every time I do this I also have to WhatsApp the right location to the delivery person. Do this one too many times, and you’ll know what an actual nightmare is!

Now here’s what’s to learn from the Zomato experience. One, my multiple orders this month shouldn’t be seen as any exhibition of loyalty to Zomato. In fact the order frequency and the number of orders say nothing about my loyalty. Once the month ends, I will shop for the best deals from all the ordering Apps on my phone. Now this is a classic exhibition of what is termed as spurious loyalty. Here are some more lessons on the issue of spurious loyalty.

Another lesson is the limitation of what quantitative data can tell you. Assuming any loyalty from the numerical data I have generated, including number, frequency and average check of this month’s orders is flawed. To really know what my state of relationship as a buyer with Zomato is, you have to look at qualitative data. Go read my multiple chats with the Zomato service people and you will know how frustrated I am. Do a content analysis of my chats and you will see someone waiting to bolt from Zomato once the month is over. In fact here’s a good read on the risks of quantitative studies.

Don’t get me wrong. It's not like I won’t order from Zomato again. If the guys at Z can fix the App problem, I’ll go back. Oh and if they can get me the best rates for food, I’ll stay. For their sake, I hope that happens. For now, I guess the nightmare continues till the end of the month, eh? 

Fingers crossed, I hope I don't tear my hair out at the next order from Z. Wish me luck, folks!