McDonald's
Virtual Gaming x Social enhancements
The Client
McDonald's is one of the largest and most well known fast food chains in the world.
The brand aims to offer a friendly, fun environment for everyone.
The Problem
In light of local and national government regulations due to the current Covid pandemic, there is many restrictions whereby restaurants across the UK & Ireland are currently closed to eat in, however only takeaway services can resume. Covid has greatly impacted the restaurant and hospitality industry, restaurants have closed, staff have lost their jobs and supplies are faced with a surplus. For fast food chains such as McDonald's this has impacted predominately the profit and sales as revenue is created purely from takeaways via Drive-thru and pre orders through the McDonald's app.
McDonald’s have a robust delivery usage that will remain to stay elevated and continue to play a large role in the business. Providing food makes the brand responsible for one of the key bonds of social interaction in a functioning and dynamic public sphere which is a challenge the brand will face to target with closures and changes due to the pandemic. McDonald's digital orders have grown by 23% over the last four years, digital is transforming global retail. It’s vital that large corporations like McDonald's, continue to push brand awareness and drive more attraction to their loyal customers, to continue ordering food, whether it be for collection or delivered via third party apps. Despite the Covid pandemic the company still needs to continue to satisfy their customers cravings so it’s important they keep customers connected with the brand, brand news and the food options available.
The Solution
Created a revised app with the intention of utilising social capabilities, current technologies and enhancements to the app with virtual gaming at the forefront. The app has been designed to be easy to use and engaging and is a fun digital space that merges virtual social interactions and the ability to order food. Staying connected with friends and family is a key area many users need, especially in this current Covid pandemic and I feel that my revise app meets the user’s needs. All games have been custom made which uses the phone’s technologies, allowing users to have fun, and the ability for games to be played independently or as a group echoing McDonald’s friendly, fun environment.
The Result
My strategy was to enhance the digital experience of the McDonald's app to increase customer engagement, and this was executed with virtual games, McDonald's stories and options to see your friends review and ratings as well as explore the digital world of McDonald's. All these elements will drive sales growth within the app and will allow more opportunities to reach a larger range of customers and encourage social interactions within the app, so it can have more uses beyond the main objective of purchasing and ordering food.
The product blends current tech and is extensible for added features as time goes on and is a safe digital space that merges two needs, social interaction without physical interaction and basic expectations for fast-food. With the strategies applied it allows a secure platform to push out marketing material for events and promos and encouraged continued access, and increase in sales for all meals.
Design Thinking Process
Empathise, Define, Ideate, Design/Prototype, Test
Research
Business Research: Competitor Analysis, Social App Analysis.
User Research: Red Route Analysis, Personas, Surveys.
Ideate
Card Sorting, Crazy 8's, Mind Mapping, Straw Man Proposal.
Design
Wireframes, UX Laws, UI Fundamentals, WCAG and Accessibility Design.
Deliver
Personalised homepage with the use of iOS emoji, Memoji and social statistics. Users can seamlessly scroll through the homepage to navigate to relevant sections.
Personalised products page with the use of social enhancements where users have the ability to view current watchers, see likes and dislikes and discover friends’ reviews of the food item.
Virtual gaming section where users can stay entertained while they wait for their food or play with fellow McDonald's lovers on the app. This will allow more opportunities to reach a larger range of customers and encourage social interactions within the app, so it can have more uses beyond the main objective of purchasing and ordering food.
Virtual gaming - McSlots. This game can be played with 2-4 players.
A sample of the game Four in a row. Can be played with 2 players.
McDonald's Stories feature to help keep users and friends stay connected and spread brand awareness.
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Users can send messages and reactions to friends’ stories with the use of emojis.
Being hungry but spoilt for choice is a common theme for McDonald's lovers. This feature allows assistance for users to discover and help pick what they should order from the McDonald's app.
