Helping friends order DoorDash together on the go

Food is meant to be shared. DoorDash’s desktop group order feature worked well for offices, but not for friends on the go. Eventually, Mobile Group Ordering became the most-requested feature for customers. While bringing group orders to mobile involved translating existing web features, the new form factor also let us create a more dynamic and integrated sharing experience.

There are two actors in a group order: a Creator, and Participants. Creators need control to pick the restaurant, set order limits, and checkout for everyone. On the otherhand, Participants who join a group order need to be strategically restricted to prevent order-wide mistakes. We needed to balance these needs while creating a great experience for both groups.

Advanced Controls

Creators connect their credit card to the group order, so an extra level of control is necessary to reduce risk. Creators can set order limits, remove items from the cart, and remove participants from the cart. Also, only the creator has the ability to check out the order.

Sharing Orders

The original web group order experience produced a link that creators could copy and paste. We knew copying/pasting links wouldn’t be convenient enough for the average user.

For mobile, we could leverage more powerful operating system components and patterns. We decided that creating a group order should open an action sheet loaded with native applications like iMessage, Facebook Messenger, and Slack. From these apps, creators could pick participants and send a pre-populated message containing the group order link.

On iMessage, the group order link converts to a custom message that deep-links participants to the restaurant menu. This keeps participants focused on the options available to the group order and makes ordering easy for participants who are new to DoorDash.

Easy Sharing

We made it possible for Participants to share the orders with others so it's easy for everyone to quickly join an order. If necessary, the group order creator can remove participants before placing the order.

Group Order Tracking

When you’re already hungry, waiting for your food can be very tedious. To make this process less stressful, we added group orders to each user’s personal order history queue so they could track group orders for the first time. Participants also receive updates via push notifications or text messages, so everyone is well informed about where their food is.

Access to Support

I was most excited for new functionality that let participants get support on their order. Before, there was no recourse for participants if their food was missing or incorrect. Being the only person to not receive your food is a terrible experience. Now, if anything went wrong, participants could request a refund for their part of an order.

Simplifying Content

Information about delivery price, pricing promotions, and delivery address isn't relevant to group cart participants. Actions for creating a group order and changing a menu also aren't necessary. Removing this content let us put food front and center for a more focused ordering experience.

Making orders easier to share seemed like a great way to introduce new customers to DoorDash, which we believed would lead to more customer sign-ups in the long run. Because the order Creator entered delivery and billing information, we decided to let anyone to join the order without creating a DoorDash account. We also chose not to limit this user experience. Guests could add items, track the delivery, and contact support if necessary.

Apple partnership


For mobile group orders, DoorDash built custom integrations with iMessage. As a result, DoorDash’s Mobile Group Order was featured prominently during the keynote at WWDC. Apple also featured DoorDash above competitors throughout the AppStore.

First-to-market

DoorDash was the first delivery app to offer mobile group orders, which became an effective differentiator from DoorDash and competitors. The company received positive press at the feature’s launch.