Mcdonald's

*Evaluate methodologies for gathering and responding to customer feedback *and analyze the impact of feedback on strategies Introduction: In order to accomplish this, the first part of the report explores the different methods of customer feedback system in McDonald’s. Second part explains the impact of customer feedback in McDonald’s customer care strategies. Technology: Using the technology that McDonalds have in place, they are able to receive and record customer feedback in a variety of ways. Every customer contact, be it by internet, phone or letter, is captured onto a customer services database which is also used by other major retailers in the customer service industry. By properly using this type of technology, they are able to ensure that each and every customer receives an accurate, personal and timely response. The largest single feedback channel is the internet. The ‘Contact Us’ page was introduced onto the McDonald’s Website in 2000 and ever since then it has been the most favoured way for their customers to provide feedback. The general increase in internet usage and the ease speed made this feedback channel simpler. The remainder of contacts are received by letter and telephone. These contacts are then coded to reflect the type of feedback being given, a system that then enables McDonald’s to analyse and report on this information. Letters are received into the department, manually logged and carefully coded to reflect the main cause of concern or query. The telephones calls they receive are sent through an automatic call divert system to ensure that they are tracked, monitored and timed. Unlike other systems, after the initial welcome message there are no further messages, menus or queues. The customer or McDonald’s employee is put straight through to a member of the Customer Services team for assistance. Mystery customers: A frequently used method of acquiring hands on information about the standard of service delivered to customers of the McDonald’s restaurant is to use the services of a ‘mystery customer’. Usually employed by an agency, this is a person (also known as ‘mystery guest’ or a mystery shopper’) who undertakes to sample the service offered and then reports back using set of agreed criteria. The mystery customer acts as far as possible, as a normal customer, selecting and paying for goods or partaking of services as any customer would. A report is then sent to the relevant authority in the McDonald’s on the standard service, usually covering the whole of the experience from entry or exit (R. Cartwright, 2000 P.63). All these methods address the customer about satisfaction levels, but another very important element in quality analysis is monitoring the times when the customer addresses the organization directly. In particular, it is important to monitor customer complaints. Finally, one of the most important benefits of customer feedback is that it can be used and fed back into the business. The impact of customer feedback in the customer care strategies of McDonald’s In McDonald’s food and beverage service is one of the main department where gaps can be identified and filled. Because it’s a fast food outlet and they must provide their quality service in many ways to exceed their customers’ expectation. McDonald’s researchers say that only 5% of customers with a complaint ever put their complaint to customer services department. A further 45% of customers with a complaint take time to raise their concerns on the spot and speak with an employee. McDonald’s ensures that for such customers, their complaint is resolved satisfactorily there and then. If this is not achieved, then McDonald’s runs the risk that these customers will not voice their concerns in the future; thereby losing for McDonald’s an opportunity to gather important customer feedback. The remaining 50% of customers, who encounter a problem, don’t make a complaint. Regional Links At McDonald’s, individual restaurants fall within geographical regions for management purposes, and they have mirrored this approach in the customers services arena in order to support individual managers in aspects of complaint reduction and customer care. Each restaurant manager is assigned to a particular customer services region and is encouraged to liaise with that region in order to fulfil their particular customer services needs. In turn, our regional teams are heavily focussed on supplying each restaurant with reports and analysis to assist them in identifying key areas of improvement. Conclusion McDonald’s delivers the highest levels of quality, service and cleanliness to all of its customers in each and every restaurant. The key to McDonald’s continued success is continually monitoring and acting on the given feedback to them by their customers. McDonald’s strive to be a progressive market leader and we can also identify that they can only stay ahead of the rest by listening to the most important ambassadors of their brand – customers! McDonald’s is a classic example of a good service system design. Because the industrialized service delivery system of this fast food operation ensures high speed, high volume with high consistency and with a limited product ranges. They have achieved its remarkable success by intensive service system to satisfy customer. Word count: 1183 Bibliography *D Jobber. 2007. Principles and practice of marketing 5th edition.* Berkshire: McGraw Hill Education. *H Woodruffe.1995. Services marketing*. London:* Pearson educational limited*. *R Cartwright. 2000. Mastering Customer relations.* London: *MacMillan press Ltd*. http://www.mcdonalds.com/ Accessed 12th August 2009.