Pizza lovers, rejoice! You can now order pizza through Facebook Messenger. That's right: Thanks to Messenger's bot technology, you can place an order with Domino's just by chatting with the modern equivalent of Smarter Child, no phone calls required. How cool is that? Whether you're a hungry college student or someone looking for a fast and easy dinner, there is nothing quite like ordering a delicious pizza... and let's be real: Not having to shout your order to someone on the phone makes it taste all the better, right?
According to VentureBeat, using the pizza bot is really simple; basically, you chat with Domino's as you would any of your Friends in Facebook Messenger. The app will begin by asking you what you need help with: You can place an order, you can track your recent order, or you can view your recent orders. From there, you're prompted to sign into your Domino's account (still within the app), and then you place your order like normal. And yes, you can even use the pizza emoji to initiate your order. That's right: You can order your food via emoji, guys. What a time to be alive!
According to a press release, this is just one update of many Domino's is now giving customers. You might remember, for example, that if you use the Domino's app, you can place an order with literally one click. You can also place orders through your Apple Watch and Amazon Echo.
To give you an idea of what the messaging system looks like in practice, I grabbed a few shots of the ordering process below. I confess: I couldn't bring myself to order a pizza quite so early in the morning, but this should be enough to get you started.
1. Start A Chat With The Facebook Messenger Domino's Pizza Bot
A conversation with the Dominos bot works just like it does whenever you have a conversation with a friend on Facebook, except they're always online. Clicking on the link above will take you right there; you can also boot up the Facebook Messenger app on your phone and search for "Domino's Pizza" to find the correct bot.
2. Sign Into Your Domino's Pizza Profile
This is key. The bot gets its order information from your Pizza Profile, so if you don't have one, you won't be able to use it.
3. Place Your Order
Once you sign in, you can either place your order via Easy Order, or you can repeat your most recent order. Easy Order, which rolled out in 2015, is a simple way to get your favorite pizza (or other Domino's option) delivered to you fast; the exact order is saved to your Pizza Profile, enabling you to get it sent to you again at the click of a button. If you don't have an Easy Order set up, though, you can also just tell the bot to repeat the last order you made to Domino's.
To place your order, you just have to click on the options the bot gives you: "Yes, repeat order," "See order details," and so on. Regardless as to whether you choose to repeat your order or use Easy Order, the bot will easily be able to get the information required for it from your Pizza Profile. For example, if you tell it to repeat an order, you'll be greeted with a message of what that order actually was, the cost, the address it was delivered to, and so on. All you have to do then is confirm it, and your order will be on its way to you shortly.
Unfortunately, the bot isn't yet developed enough to have a true conversation with it — you can't, for example, say: "I want to repeat my order, but also add onions on half of the large pizza," as you would if you were on the phone. The bot designed to make it easy to reorder what you typically get, not necessarily start a whole new order from scratch. Still, as the bot develops, I have a feeling we'll get more and more options to make the process truly seamless.
Happy pizza eating, everybody!
Images: Marissa Higgins/Bustle (3), stock.tookapic/Pexels
