Vino Volo App Review

After yesterday's class with Doug, I downloaded the Vino Volo iOS app and have been playing around with it. I thought I'd share my impressions and ideas for improvement here:

The Good

1. I love that it let me login with Facebook. First, it streamlined the sign-up process to basically one click. Second, it provides future opportunities (see below) to layer on social within the app, leveraging the Facebook account info that is already being collected.

The Bad

1. Finding the nearest location is a bit of a pain. Even though I gave the app permission to access my location when I first installed it, the store locator tab merely presents itself as an alphabetical list of locations. I don't see anywhere in the app leveraging the location information I gave it access to. This is a missed opportunity, as I imagined a world where the app would know as soon as I walked into an airport with a Vino Volo location and send me a push notification either reminding me about Vino Volo or even sending me a location-specific offer. (*Note, I haven't been to an airport since I installed the app. It's possible the location functionality only kicks in when you're close to an airport.)
2. I have to scan my receipts?! I'm thinking an integration with Apple Pay that would allow me to make my Vino Volo purchase within the app could streamline this part of the process, automatically tracking my purchases for loyalty point accrual.

Opportunities

1. In class, we talked about adding a social layer to the Vino Volo mobile experience. My favorite implementation of incorporating social is done by TripAdvisor, and it is something I believe Vino Volo could implement to great success. What TripAdvisor does, assuming you have linked your Facebook account, is surface any reviews that come from your Facebook friends first. This could be added as a layer on top of a Vivino-esque wine review section of the app. As I'm sitting in my airport's Vino Volo, I could be scrolling through other customers' reviews of the wines being poured that day - and any wines reviewed by one of my Facebook friends would jump to the top of the list.
2. I think there is more opportunity with the app to send customers targeted offers. For example, the app right now has no option to enter my flight information (ideally this could be automated by linking either my email, or by linking individual airline accounts). With this information, the Vino Volo app could send me targeted offers about the Vino Volo location at either/both my origin or my destination, timed perfectly to my flights. This could also facilitate travelers making pre-orders, as you could prompt them to place their order in the days leading up to their flight.
3. As pointed out in class, we're all super bored when we're at the airport. Give me stuff to read about wine in the app, while I'm sitting in a Vino Volo killing time. You don't need to write your own content. Just drop a curated RSS reader into the app that pulls from popular wine publications. This could help increase the longevity of my Vino Volo visit, perhaps leading me to order a 2nd (or 3rd!) glass of wine.