Many companies are badly missing out on the opportunity to connect with their customers, or to acknowledge that not all customers want the same thing. While the Internet of Things is going to help many companies get to know more about their customers (as has already happened with Disney and many others), that’s not the only thing that will help them align their brand promise with the opportunities that are out there.
In the spirit of that, this is the first in a series of Customer Experience Review pieces where the six elements of customer experience objectives outlined in this Harvard Business Review piece (https://hbr.org/2015/06/the-internet-of-things-is-changing-how-we-manage-customer-relationships) are assessed based on what their opportunity is.
So looking at the first point of experience that could be the #1 goal of the customer, McDonald’s has the opportunity to sell to customers who want the best price, but that’s not what companies like Apple or Starbucks, or Nordstrom (who will be covered in future blogs) realistically have the opportunity to offer, in large part because it’s not part of their brand promise (the second color bar – red). The third colored bar, yellow here, represents how they are executing relative to the opportunity and their brand promise.
Before I start on the review of each item for McDonald’s it is worth saying that for a company that seemed destined to die as recently as a year ago, bravo for the success of all day breakfast and some of the other changes implemented. I don’t know who deserves the credit for taking them off life support, but well done there. Having accomplished that – there do seem to be some painfully obvious other changes they should make ASAP, so read on.
#1, Best Price, is easy for McDonald’s. A big part of their brand promise and they do a great job there, and they seem to offer increasing customization and personalization options for some items, which cost more, but that’s a new choice, probably aimed at a different group of customers, which is very smart.
#2 is Speed of service is something that almost seems like something McDonald’s invented, so for people who want that more than anything else, they should be high on the list of those customers. I will admit that in the balance of quality of food and speed of service, I often go for speed of service during the work week.
For #3, products or services you can’t get anywhere else, that starts to get a bit subjective, but there’s only one Big Mac and one Filet-o-Fish, so if that’s what someone wants, you can only get them there. Like my friend Manny, I have come to call all breakfast sandwiches Egg McMuffin, even when I eat at Starbucks. There probably are people who just want a quick burger and their don’t really care about where they get it, but even if it’s not exactly what you want, another thing McDonald’s does is that items seem EXACTLY the same anywhere you get them, and there’s a lot to be said for that kind of predictability in an unfamiliar place.
For #4, the customer who wants to be recognized for their loyalty, McDonald’s misses on this – badly. That’s why there’s such a big gap between the opportunity line and the brand promise and current state lines. They have an app they are promoting, and given how successful Starbucks has been with their app (not that there’s probably a huge overlap in customer base), it seems like McDonald’s would want to copycat that success. Knowing that McDonald’s is a franchise model and Starbucks is not, is not enough to justify this gap. There are so many easy ways for McDonald’s to get to know who their customers are and what they buy so they can thank or reward them, it is a little bit shocking they do not. Coupons only work for a certain group of customers, and there are lots of apps people use where they get recognized in ways that don’t cost anything. McDonald’s could easily implement the notion of “badges” where you get recognized for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a given period of time, they could have the notion of “hitting for the cycle” of eating a chicken, beef, fish, or pork item. Lots of fun, familiar, increasing expected ways to engage and recognize customers that will create loyalty and probably increase visits. The airline model of frequent flier miles is probably not the right model to copy here, but it really depends on which of the six items a customer falls into – once you know that, you can be a lot smarter about how they want to be recognized or rewarded.
#5 Control. This should’t be the first think McDonald’s looks at for lifting revenue, but it’s worth some time and energy to give customers some control, especially in some of the new authentic ingredients that, at first, seem complicated. If customers could “pre-build” their sandwich with some of these new ingredient choices, or if they could build them at a kiosk, that would take some of the pressure off and I bet sales of those items would surge.
#6 Anonymity. There are several experiences I have written about previously where customers at places like Jack-in-the-Box and Starbucks behave very differently when they are anonymous. It seems likely the same would happen at McDonald’s and it seems that’s worth some experimentation.
I am open to adjusting some of these scores based on your feedback, and I am also willing to add a brand based on requests. Brands that are coming up next include Alaska Airlines, Disney World, and Nike.
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