Back in October, Stellar Loyalty CEO Kevin Nix offered his views regarding McDonald’s future customer-centric trajectory as the iconic brand has undergone a transformation in recent years to ensure larger growth and enhanced customer loyalty.
“McDonald’s recent move to All Day Breakfast and going to more natural ingredients shows that it’s adapting its menus to customer demand,” Nix explained to Loyalty360 at the time. “Generating true loyalty goes beyond simple points and rewards. True loyalty starts with the quality of the product and the entire customer experience surrounding that product.”
Fast forward three months to the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call and McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook is excited about 2017.
“2016 was a year of purposeful change,” Easterbrook said. “We dedicated our sales to the actions necessary to get a better, stronger McDonald’s. Our objective was to reinforce our foundation and that’s what we did. We are now in a position to prioritize initiatives so we can further accelerate our momentum.”
Last year marked the strongest year of global comparable sales for McDonald’s since 2011. Despite a 1.3 percent drop in comparable sales in the U.S., Easterbrook believes the company is poised for bigger and better things in 2017.
“The launch of All Day Breakfast 2.0 is re-energizing customers around our breakfast offerings and is living up to our expectations,” he said. “We are also seeing pockets of success in regions, but have doubled down on affordability while layering McPick offers alongside beverage value. In an effort to extend that momentum nationwide, we kicked off the new year with a national McCafé beverage value promotion, which leverages our scale advantages and further complements local McDonald’s office. Operationally, we are running better restaurants.”
Easterbrook noted improvements made toward a “leaner, more efficient, more nimble” company, stronger talent, and a sharpened focus. Easterbrook said company officials don’t manage quarter by quarter, but instead take a long-term, bigger picture view.
“We are moving faster, pushing harder, and taking smarter risks,” Easterbrook said. “For example, the pace at which we are expanding the experience of the future around the world continues to quicker. I recently visited Spain where I was impressed by the way they have started bringing the experience of the future to light in restaurants around Madrid. A rapid deployment model we are applying to the city has enabled us to dramatically transform the customer experience in a short period of time. And what’s happening in Spain is guiding our rollout strategy in other markets around the world, including the U.S.”
Across the business, Easterbrook said company officials are prioritizing actions that have the most direct impact on customers.
Fourth-quarter customer satisfaction scores rose 5 percent, compared to the fourth quarter of 2015.
“That said, there is more we need to do to reverse guest count trends in the U.S., and we are prepared to hit harder in 2017,” Easterbrook added.