Yesterday my Customer Experience world got shaken again when I walked into a McDonalds on my 5 hour drive in rural Alabama / Georgia / South Carolina, USA and was faced with this machine. Not downtown NYC or Atlanta or San Fran but the middle of nowhere.
The new McDonalds ordering kiosk. I don’t eat at McDonalds much but their McMuffin and coffee is often my staple travel breakfast.
It was new .. apparently a week or two old and wasn’t exactly a smooth process. The cashier was a little confused and made me show her my ticket and they were having problems with the server concept (rumor is supposed to come to my table but instead they stood behind the counter and shouted for me to come and get the meal). For anyone who doesn’t understand what McDonald’s role is in the USA (and global) food business this will shake it up and set a new experience standard for everyone. You don’t have to like McDonalds food or the company to understand like Walmart or Amazon they are a transformational force.
It made me think about one of my favorite brands, Panera Bread, and the 9 journey and experience related steps they took that transformed my expectations of Customer Experience in Fast Food / Fast Casual Food and truly speak to me .. across all 3 E’s of Experience, Effectiveness, Ease ad Emotion .. real Customer Understanding and CX transformers.
- The free Wi-Fi – it’s what got me in there the first time in Nashville Tennessee 10 years or so ago. I travel a lot and used to go to Starbucks for free Wi-Fi but sometime around 2003-2004 Starbucks decided to amp up the music volume and I couldn’t hear myself think. I discovered Panera. Effectiveness – check.
- Healthy food (and the great bagels) – a nice bonus and what has really has had me coming back 5-10 times a month and telling everyone I know. If they could do something about excess salt I would be even happier. Hits me on Emotional Empathy every time.
- Loyalty program – Not the reason I go but a nice touch.
- Tipping – It took a while and it was awkward for a while having the cashier stare at me as I decided to tip or not. Needs to be more consistent on the kiosk (see next)
- The kiosk – I think it has been about 18 months since we saw our first kiosk at Panera at home on the beach. We are a big tourist destination so ‘in season’ it is a massive accelerator vs the long lines. Easy Easy Easy.
- Emailed receipt – I eat at Panera a lot on business .. they send me the receipts for my expense report. A tiny thing technologically these days but really makes my life. Easy & Effective and Emotionally Empathetic for a business traveler like me,
- Delivery and Catering – a big deal when we struggle to find something cost effective, vaguely healthy and pretty much nationally available to cater our frequent business meetings. Easy & Effective and Empathy for my healthy brand.
- Online / remote ordering – haven’t used it much for personal orders .. mostly for the catering pickup and delivery but Easy & Effective.
- Table service – I have to admit this seems to be a confusion point at many Panera’s I visit. It is a nice touch and works 90% of the time
And while I am here . 2 things that Panera could do to improve that Experience I am sure they are working on.
- Integrated order preparation signage – The board they display customers doesn’t show all orders being prepared ..only pickup to-go’s. I have to ask where my order is in sequence.
- Pagers and notifications – Because the whole pager thing is 90% effective. Once or twice a month I sit with a pager on my table waiting for it to buzz only to realize that someone is yelling my name. Not a huge deal unless I am sitting outside.
Keep leading they way Panera .. it is becoming impossible for anyone else to keep up
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