McDonalds are trail blazers for the digital technology revolution. They have lead the way in the adoption of self-service technology and have transformed the general perception of kiosks and touch screens.
There are three lessons that other customer facing organisations can learn from the McDonalds revolution and it began by McDonalds recognising the problems they were facing.
- Delays deter. Customer flow and queue management was their biggest problem. More damagingly, there was evidence that many customers would walk through the door and leave to eat elsewhere if the queue looked too long. They needed to reduce the walkaways and bring order to the queues.
- Time is precious. Given the opportunity to save time and take control of a process which benefits them, most customers will seize it with both hands. If they can avoid standing in a queue by using a touch screen, then they will.
- Perception trumps reality. It’s unclear if orders from the kiosk are served quicker than orders placed at the counter. But the customer perception is that it’s a quicker and better process. Why? Placing an order is a transactional process which can easily be automated. Once the order is placed, the buying psychology changes; customers are prepared to wait because they have been ‘served’. Waiting time has moved down their priority list.
What does this mean for your business?
Improving customer flow, queue management and throughput remain huge challenges for any organisation with a direct customer interface. If you can automate the process and change the perception of the customer, everyone wins.
Combining software, engineering innovation and specialist equipment design can deliver a more self-sufficient customer experience, and better resource management.
If you want to learn more about how you could improve throughput and the same time improve the customer experience, contact Graeme today.