Customer Experience

Overview

This article walks through the customer journey in the Tappya online-ordering app, useful both for understanding the product and for answering "how do I do X?" questions from your diners. It mirrors the v2 app currently in production.

Landing on your menu

Whichever way the customer arrived (QR, link, or URL):

• They see your cover image and logo with your brand colours.
• The menu is laid out by category with item cards (image, name, short description, price, nutrition badge if available).
• A language toggle (English / Arabic) sits in the header, picking Arabic also flips the layout to right-to-left.
• A search bar filters items by name client-side.

If the customer arrived via a QR code on a table, the app knows the table and immediately offers either:

• Join the table's active order (if other guests have already started one), or
• Start a new order for the table.

Browsing items

Tapping an item card opens the Item Detail screen with:

• A bigger photo.
• The full description.
• Any variant picker (size, etc.), required to add to cart.
• Any modifier groups (toppings, sauces, etc.) honouring the min/max selections you configured.
• Item-level notes (free text, "no onions please").
• Nutrition panel (KSA SFDA-compliant) when the item has nutrition data.
• A quantity stepper and an Add to Cart button that shows the running line total.

The cart

• Per-branch, persisted in the customer's browser. They can close the tab and come back to find their cart intact.
• Shows line items with chosen variants/modifiers, subtotal, applicable taxes, service charges, and any active promotions.
• A promo code field lets them try a code; it validates against the promotions you have currently active.

Signing in

Sign-in is OTP only and only required at checkout (or when the customer wants to manage addresses, view past orders, or use loyalty).

1. The customer enters their phone number (international format, picker provided).
2. Tappya sends a 6-digit code by SMS.
3. They enter the code. Done.

There's no password, no email-required step. A first-time customer becomes a saved customer purely off their phone number.

Profile and saved data

A signed-in customer has:

• Saved addresses: with map pins, dropped using MapLibre / AWS Location services. They can edit, delete, and pick a default.
• Saved payment methods: depending on the payment provider enabled for the branch (Stripe / Paymob / Fawry). Saved cards are stored at the provider, not in Tappya.
• Order history: orders they've placed, with re-order shortcuts and live tracking for in-flight orders.
• Loyalty wallet: points balance, points history, cashback wallet, available rewards.

The customer's email is optional everywhere. Many of your customers will never set one. Don't assume an email-based recovery path exists.

Checkout

For pickup and delivery:

• Customer confirms the order, picks ASAP or schedules a time (where you allow scheduled orders).
• For delivery: confirms an address. The app validates it's in one of your delivery zones; if it isn't, they get a clear message and can pick a different address.
• For pickup: just confirms the branch.
• Customer picks a payment method and pays. For card payments, Stripe / Paymob / Fawry handles the actual card capture; Tappya only stores success/failure plus a reference.

For dine-in:

• The bill is added to the table's running ticket. The customer can keep adding throughout the meal.
• At the end, the bill can be settled either via the same online-ordering app (where you've enabled in-app payment for dine-in) or at the till.

Order tracking

After placing an order the customer lands on the Tracking screen:

• Shows the current status (Received → Preparing → Ready → On The Way → Delivered, with steps adapting to order type).
• Polls the order until it reaches a terminal status, then stops.
• For delivery, includes the assigned driver and (where enabled) a map.

Loyalty and promotions

If your tenant has loyalty enabled:

• The customer accrues points based on your earn rules.
• They can redeem points for rewards from the in-app Rewards screen.
• Cashback balance, where you've configured cashback rules, sits alongside points.

Promotions (auto-applied) show as line discounts in the cart with a labelled badge. Promo codes appear the same way once entered and validated.

Reorder, history, and groups

• Re-order: one tap on a past order copies it back into the cart.
• Group orders: for dine-in, multiple devices can join the same table session, each customer adds their own items, the bill is one shared ticket.
• Split-pay: at dine-in checkout, the table can split the bill multiple ways (evenly, by item, or by amount).

Errors the customer might see

Related articles

• Online Ordering Overview
• Merchant Setup
• Troubleshooting

Key Concepts

• OTP sign-in: Phone-based; the only sign-in method.
• Delivery zone: A polygon you draw around a branch; addresses outside it can't order delivery from that branch.
• Table session: A shared ticket at one dine-in table that multiple guests can add to.
• Terminal status: An order status that won't change again (Delivered, Picked Up, Cancelled). Tracking stops polling at this point.