Alex Bovee

Hotpot, Google’s new product for local search and recommendations, was released a few days ago to mixed reviews.  Some were great (Mashable) and others were less than stellar (Wired, GigaOM, SEW).  Personally, I like the idea behind Hotpot and think there’s potential.  Personalized recommendations for places to go to, businesses to patronize, and interesting things to do is something that would add a lot of value to my life.  Furthermore, since Google has a plethora of personal and user behavior data, they’re uniquely positioned to provide accurate and interesting recommendations.  Gmail, for example, is a holy grail of information about my personal preferences, hobbies, and passions.

Given the mixed reception, I sat down and thought up a few ideas on how Google could improve Hotpot.  Here they are:

Idea 1 – Call out the Benefit

aka: What’s the Catchphrase?

Hotpot needs to clarify the value proposition and benefit for consumers.  I felt like this was missing both at signup time and within the application.  The signup page says: “Start rating now with Hotpot”.  That sounds like work.  Yuck.  What’s in it for me?  Once you’re inside the application, it doesn’t get much better.  Hotpot’s catchphrase is … well, there isn’t one.  Under the search bar it says: “by Google Places”.  The first flip card says: “Recommendation for here or to go”… I’m not sure what that means.  Conversely, a glance at Yelp’s homepage yields the following catchphrase: “Real People, Real Reviews”.  That doesn’t sound like work and I understand the value that’s in it for me.  Hotpot needs to do a better job of explaining what it is and how it’s going to make my life better.

Idea 2 – Provide Immediate Value:

“Now eventually you might have dinosaurs [recommendations] on this dinosaur tour [recommendation engine]?”  Dr. Malcolm, Jurassic Park

Google has access to a plethora of my information via gmail, buzz, and a host of many other services that I use.  But once I was on the Hotpot site, I sat and scratched my head wondering exactly where the recommendations were on this “recommendation” engine.  It wasn’t intuitive even after rating a handful of businesses.  I spent my first 5 minutes clicking star ratings for several of the businesses that I recognized, but nothing seemed to get better. No additional businesses popped up.  No changes in my existing card set happened.  After a handful of reviews, I wondered what the heck I was doing. It took me logging back in a few days later before I actually saw any recommendations.  Hotpot should start providing users with valuable recommendations from the first click.

Idea 3 – Focus on User Experience:

“Think in Flows, Not Screens” Jason Putorti

Right now, the only flows in Hotpot consist of signing into the application, clicking reviews, and clicking businesses.  This experience feels awkward and stuffy - like I’m interacting with a databot whose job is to suck valuable review information out of me and shove it into a large database.  Hotpot is Google places with a weak social (friend connect), game mechanic (leaderboard), and input/recommendation engine (flipcards) layered on top.  The application could be dramatically improved by focusing on user engagement and flow.  Hotpot could initially ask a user to select a category of business they would like to explore.  The user could then scroll through that category and spend time on things that are relevant and meaningful to them.  That would also help avoid situations where a user is presented with completely irrelevant places.  After six reviews, I was surprised to get a card for: “Encinal High School”:

I’m not in high school.  I just graduated with my MBA from Chicago.  My little one is 2 years old and unless she turns out to be a Doogie Howser, MD, she won’t be in high school anytime soon either.  Hotpot needs to design flows that maximize value for the user and engage them relevantly.

Excited to See What’s Next

Despite some shortcomings, Hotpot did a lot of things right on this release.  Signing up for the service was painless and easy.  It’s layered on top of Google places and uses Google authentication, so if you already have a Google account, it’s just a few extra clicks to get started.  I was also really impressed with the review aggregation functionality.  They’ve sourced reviews from several different locations and boiled all of that information into an easy to understand, 5-star based review system.  Awesome.

All that said, Hotpot is certainly no Yelp killer and will need some work to better engage users.  Some of these changes will be small tweaks, such as clarifying their marketing message for the application.  Others will take substantial investments in time and money.  It will be interesting to see what Hotpot does next.