McDonald’s

A human-centered approach to transformation

Services

Industries

Improving the customer experience

An iconic brand explores how to deliver even more value

  • Challenge

    McDonald’s envisioned a new omni-channel experience for every customer: an enhanced offering that is globally connected, locally relevant, and always convenient.

  • Solution

    Method helped McDonald’s research, design, and deliver operational service enhancements in front of and behind the counter.

A golden omni-channel experience

  • Results

    Over a four-year engagement, Method partnered with McDonald’s to envision a new experience for every customer. We defined the customer journey and the role of various channels at each touch point. This was supported by experience principles that crystallized how the iconic brand would express itself in a digital context. 

    A global digital design system ensured a consistent and coherent experience across all touchpoints. A robust research process involving rapid iteration and prototyping in controlled and real-world environments enabled teams to observe, understand, and better serve customer behaviors. 

    Overall, we helped McDonald’s design and deliver operational service enhancements in front of and behind the counter. Method’s work has manifested across the global ecosystem in all digital touchpoints that a customer might encounter.

Discovering and delivering new value

  • Frameworks

    Method established a series of frameworks to guide thinking and decision making on the digital ambition. These frameworks helped executives, product owners, and design teams with internal alignment around:

     

    What is the customer’s experience with McDonald’s today, and how might we transform it?

     

    How might we build a relationship with customers over time?

     

    How might we evaluate the experiences we create and not lose sight of these principles when technology and operational complexities overwhelm us?

     

    How can we use data across the entire customer experience?

  • From fragmented to flawless

    Additionally, Method guided the shift from a fragmented design language to a consistent, coherent, global expression of the McDonald’s brand. This shift was enabled by a Global Digital Design System that scales across products — mobile app, web, in-store kiosks, and digital menu boards. We created a global design toolkit that became a living repository of design at work.

  • The secret ingredient: empathy

    With Method’s help, McDonald’s moved from traditional marketing research to consistent inclusion of user-focused design research. We conducted remote and in-person global research across the US, UK, Australia, and China markets to identify opportunity areas.

     

    By establishing the customer as a core ingredient of the research process, we leveraged iteration and rapid prototyping in controlled environments and in restaurants to evaluate the impact new experiences would have on the restaurant operations. Ultimately, customer empathy is the secret to McDonald’s digital transformation’s success.

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