I was pleasantly surprised by McDonald’s and because they handled a “situation” the way they did, I’ll continue to be a loyal customer.
My children love to order the kids meal with chicken nuggets. They like sweet and sour sauce and an orange soda or a milkshake and they like to eat inside the establishment so that they can play in the playground. I remember when I was a child and my mother took me to McDonald’s for lunch…it was a treat and a fond memory I will treasure into adulthood and with my own children.
My MIL likes to take my two oldest over to McDonald’s to get them their Happy Meal treat and let them burn off some steam. This is especially nice during the colder months and at times when I need some quiet time. Anyway, the last two visits to our local Rochester McDonald’s were far from fun or friendly, to say the least and the second visit lead me to tweet my frustrations at the local fast food establishments “best practices”.
This angered me because my MIL who had taken my girls to McDonald’s that day was asking for sauce because she needed it. She’s a 65+ lady that was asking for one more sauce and instead of utilizing great customer service, the employee was rude and told her that to have an extra sauce, she would need to pay 30 cents. She paid the 30 cents because like I said, she needed the sauce, but when she got home, she had then and there declared that she would no longer take my girls to “that” McDonald’s.
Her reaction caused me to utilized the fastest resource I know of getting in touch with a company…Twitter.
It worked and within minutes the conversation went like this:
Their social media customer service guy saved a client from not going back to that particular McDonald’s and because it is the closest McDonald’s to our home, he literally saved a customer period. If you think about it, he saved the company from potentially losing about $480 a year. This may not seem like much,since they serve 47 million customers daily all over the globe, but in the end, every customer should count.
My suggestion for McDonald’s:
- First, if you are going to charge for extra sauce, make it something all McDonald’s adopt. I personally have always asked for an extra BBQ sauce to dip my fries in and have NEVER been asked to pay extra. Consistency is key.
- Give up charging for sauce altogether. If this is a way you are trying to cut costs, have employees make a habit of asking EVERY customer if they will need sauce for their food. Then ask, “How many?” McDonald’s has been around for SO long, and has been consistent in their selection of food, so most people know what they like on the McDonald’s menu and how many sauces they will need for their meal. The customer is always right.
- Make the customer happy by listening and responding. This is what Nick from McDonald’s social media team did. He listened, responded and the rectified the situation. He saved a customer that has been frequenting McDonald’s for 28 years and because of the frustrations she had with a particular McDonald’s, was about to end a relationship with the popular fast food chain.
McDonald’s has taken the time to listen to what their customers are saying on the digital level. This is by far one of the most important things a company can do to maintain their customers and gain new ones. By nurturing the relationship with existing customers through engagement, companies are going back to the basic teachings of customer service.
