It is not a secret that today the great battle between the brands will be fought in the field of experience and although perhaps McDonald’s is one of the brands that best handles this field, it could now be making a huge mistake.
Despite the fact that a large part of companies (90 percent) assure that customer service is a priority within their businesses, only 3 percent are capable of generating positive experiences for consumers, which, to a large extent, has to do with the relationship that the customer has with the employees of a brand.
In fact, providing good customer service increases brand loyalty (69 percent), increases brand recommendations (59 percent) and increases the average ticket (30 percent), according to estimates by NewVoiceMedia.
Covering this aspect will now be more complex. Consumers expect to face experiences where friction is kept to a minimum. Customers will only be concerned about getting what they want, when they want it without interruption.
This will imply having a better and greater view of the shopping journey, where it will be crucial to manage the data in the best way to create truly relevant experiences.
In this sense, it is clear that there can be many ways to give this unique experience that audiences now demand and although this opens up many opportunities to generate business, the truth is that the balance between experience, consumer freedom and opportunities to generate greater income it must be especially balanced.
It is right at this point where McDonald’s could be missing its strategy at least around its mobile application in the United States.
Inc.com indicates right now that in order to use the McDonald’s mobile application it is necessary to agree to join the brand’s rewards plan, MyMcDonald’s Rewards.
As reported by the media, there is no way to place an order without first signing up for this service which, logically, should be optional and a product aimed only at the most loyal customers.
The truth is that by forcing users to register on this platform, the brand would be precisely slowing down and hurting the customer experience.
If recent marketing history has shown anything, it is that the consumer wants to have the freedom to choose what, how, when and where consumer and interact with their brands. The best lesson in this regard has been given by the streaming industry.
Although it might be thought that McDonald’s decision to force users to sign up for its loyalty program only translates into benefits for subscribers, in reality it is an issue that limits customer freedom at the cost of obtaining greater routes for fairness. connect with the consumer.
As noted by Inc.com, “a rewards program is not required for the app function, not even for the McDonald’s ordering function. By asking you to join, you are demanding that you provide more information than would be necessary to use the application. I understand why the company wants to force you to use the rewards program. It allows McDonald’s to track your ordering habits and show you offers. And, as a marketing strategy, that’s very smart ”; however, in customer service you can lose points.
At this point, the mistake lies in the lack of care in the customer experience that should be fluid and unimpeded. Additionally, what is done by McDonald’s can put the brand in a position where it would not want to play: abusing user data.
It is true that people decide or not to give their data if they want to use the application; However, the brand cannot forget that an abuse in the collection, use or protection of this data is now especially punished.
Just for reference, it is pertinent to mention that, according to a study carried out by Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF), AVG Technologies and On Device Research, more than 50 percent of mobile users worldwide claimed to have deleted an app due to privacy issues and security. Also, 34 percent stopped using an app for the same reason.
Today we cannot forget that we are facing a consumer who is increasingly concerned about the protection of their data. To this must be added the demand of the consumer to be an increasingly free muse in their choices, an issue that undoubtedly collides with the issues of personalization and recommendation in more than one sense.
The challenge for the marketing and advertising teams will be to capitalize on their own properties and give the value they deserve to the media, platforms and other offline assets. The balance between both spaces of interaction will be vital to build our own supra platforms capable of making the message a concert on all platforms, but not necessarily the same, in order to diversify the sources of information about the target in favor better knowledge and the development of more strategic campaigns.