Dive Brief:

• DoorDash announced the addition of several new app features Monday, including new ways to rate, review and find local restaurants.
• Users can now find recommendations from local customers through the “most liked” tag; read customer reviews and share their own; access curated lists that feature the most popular, trending and top-rated restaurants nearby; and find restaurants that are rated highly across the board from food to service.
• DoorDash hopes these features will make the shopping experience more relevant while saving customers time, Helena Seo, head of design at DoorDash, said in a statement. Seo estimates the Most Liked Items feature could save consumers over 400,000 hours annually.

Dive Insight:

DoorDash isn’t the only third-party delivery company to include customer reviews. Both Grubhub and Uber Eats have five-star rating systems that allow users to include comments about the restaurant, for instance.

However, DoorDash’s focus on restaurants popular with local customers could differentiate its features from competitors. DoorDash’s “most liked” feature also curates menu items that receive the most positive reviews. The company notes that consumers submit more than 2.5 million item ratings per week, so this feature could allow users to sift through top-rated items more quickly.

DoorDash’s new Top 10 lists also pull in data from ratings to showcase the most popular and best-rated restaurants nearby. The lists change based on real-time reviews.

BrightLocal research shows that more consumers read online reviews than ever, and that 77% “always” or “regularly” read online reviews when they’re looking for local businesses. Older data from BrightLocal indicates 79% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Recommendations and reviews can help reduce decision fatigue, Seo said, which has grown during the pandemic. Access to curated reviews could also reduce the need for customers to go to other apps, such as Yelp or Google, to find such information.

Still, DoorDash may find it difficult to keep users in its app for reviews and discovery. Yelp’s user base is quite loyal, for instance, with 90% of users trusting Yelp reviews for decision making. The app is also downloaded to 33 million unique devices. Still, DoorDash has a 59% share of the meal delivery market, giving it significant access to consumers.

Notably, DoorDash’s new features are also intended to help operators collect constructive feedback from customers. The company says, for example, that operators can identify their most popular items and adjust inventory and training accordingly.