Will McDonald's rue the 'lost years' when they failed to develop a loyalty/rewards program?

Well, it’s finally happened.

McDonald’s has finally implemented a rewards program!

The MyMaccasRewards program rewards customers via points for $ spent. Points that then go towards what is at the moment, a limited number of items to choose from to redeem.

Why so long in waiting?

Has the delayed timing to launch a rewards program for customers meant that the impact and once-potential level of success of the program is reduced?

I think it most certainly has.

As an experienced marketer I cannot fathom why it has taken McDonald’s this long to develop a suitable program.

Loyalty programs amongst other things, primarily work to increase visitation ($) frequency, and surely in this case that would have been a priority before now?

You know with McDonald’s reluctance to introduce a true rewards program, it almost felt like a prevailing internal view that ‘Everyone else does loyalty and reward programs, so we won’t lower ourselves to that’ kind of feel about it.

Of course, I may be wrong about that, but I can’t think of another viable reason why it could possibly have taken this long.

Locking in loyalty buffers you from competition

Let’s face it, while all companies talk about ‘rewarding’ customers, the purpose is to;

• Get our contact details, 
• Build that customer database in number and information, and 
• Engage with us in a meaningful way to hopefully encourage us to come in more often and spend more money!

I wonder how many once loyal customers have been invisibly enticed away from the McDonald’s offer while a key plank of competitor strategy - a loyalty / reward program, kept them going elsewhere or less often to McDonald’s?

Maybe that customer never considered going back again for that Guzman Burrito, that Starbucks Coffee, or that Domino’s Pizza, but that incentive just got them interested enough.

If McDonald’s had taken that first mover advantage, or anything like it, with their vast resources and reach, perhaps this may have buffered them more from the ever-increasing food competition we have seen. And seen in drive-thru offers in particular most recently - right on their doorstep.

Sophisticated loyalty / reward programs are not new

Some of the tech we use now to support programs is ‘newer’ yes. 

But while I was the Marketing Manager of the Zarraffa’s Coffee franchise a while back now, we introduced a ‘Z card’ point of sale system loyalty program back in around 2005!

Perhaps covid has exposed an urgent McNeed to get closer to customers?

Did McDonald’s realise that so many other food competitors had personal with transactional contact with their customers?

All of this to make more sales and build deeper habits and routines with them.

Covid was quite the contact details boat to miss for a fast-food brand.

John Dwyer, a leading Australian marketing guru would often say to his audiences over many years;

“Build a database no matter what the size of your business is. 

McDonald’s as an example, they had around one hundred thousand+ people through their restaurants nationally this week, and guess what? 

They have no idea who any of them are, nor any ability to contact them about an offer for repeat visit - crazy!”

Customer data capturing in food was already the future 10+ years ago.

Start-ups are already doing it better

I had a family dinner only a couple of days ago at a small but growing Australian burger-focused franchise business. 

The brand is called Milky Lane, and I know it’s one of innumerable brands leveraging win-win customer contact in a positive way.

It’s in a different niche to McDonald’s high volume business, with Milky Lane’s boutique burgers, cocktails, specialty thick shakes and more, but the broad principles are the same for the purposes of real and positive action with my contact details.

We booked online so I gave them my contact details and opted-in to receive emails from them.

Rather than explain it, take a look below to see the email I got the following day:

Pretty impressive huh?

And it is not even a loyalty program - it shows what sort of impact you can have if you simply grab customer contact details!

McDonald’s clearly had no urgency whatsoever to get into the customer contact details data game. Yes they had the Monopoly Game at times that gave them some forms of data, but not in the way a true loyalty or rewards program does.

They’ve been missing this turbo charging power for the last decade + when it was patently available to them if they chose to use it. 

I truly wonder if some of the damage is already done…