Does McDonald's homepage McDeliver?

James Flory

Introduction

We use our Levers™ Framework to perform a heuristic analysis on the fast food giant’s US homepage.

As part of our Levers™ Framework White Paper release, we wanted to show you how powerful the framework can be for diagnosing and fixing conversion issues.

McDonald’s is one of the world’s most beloved food brands – so we decided to run a heuristic analysis on their US homepage, using the framework as a lens through which possible improvements make themselves known.

Methodology: The Levers™ Framework
The Levers™ Framework: Click to enlarge

In this analysis, we aim to identify the top 3 Master Levers that we believe could be used to positively impact conversions on this page.

Additionally, at the end provide the outline of 3 experiment concepts that McDonald’s might want to test in order to optimize the page further.

Worth noting:

Almost every single call to action on this page is geared towards persuading users to download the McDonalds app, so we’ve provided our recommendations with that in mind.

Overview of Levers used in this analysis
Lever: Comprehension

Comprehension is about how well a website explains the information about the company, product, and industry that might help a user feel comfortable in coverting.

Common user questions around Comprehension
  1. Do I understand enough about this industry and type of product to feel comfortable purchasing this service/product at all?
  2. Do I understand everything I need to know about this product and company to convert on this site?
  3. Do I understand everything I need to about the transaction I’m agreeing to, to convert?
Lever: Usability

Unsurprisingly, the Usability Master Lever is all about how easily users can progress through the website, from arrival on the site through to fulfilling their desired goal, i.e. converting.

Common user questions around Usability
  1. Do I know where I am, and what I have to do next?
  2. Does this look like it’s going to take a lot of effort?
  3. Do I feel like persisting with the difficult parts?
  4. Are my product options arranged in a findable and easily understood way?
  5. Is my attention being focused on genuinely useful things?
Lever: Motivation

Motivation is the broadest category of change in our model. It is concerned with the ‘upside’ of the product or service. Fundamentally, it is asking “What’s in it for me, and or the person for whom I’m purchasing?”

Common user questions around Motivation
  1. Do I feel inspired and excited by the benefits of this product?
  2. Do I feel a sense of obligation to convert?
  3. Do I feel a sense of urgency to convert?
  4. Does this product/service give me access to an imagined community?
  5. Is there a way to try it out?

We’ll now move down McDonald’s homepage from top to bottom, using the three above Master Levers to analyze…

Applying the Levers
Lever: Comprehension

At the top of the homepage, McDonald’s is promoting its exciting new offer – but there’s a problem:
It’s not actually clear what’s being promoted.

Is this the promotion of a limited edition sauce?
Or a new menu?
Or of something else entirely?
Moreover, what’s in it for the user?
Do they receive a free meal?

It doesn’t actually say.

As an added obstacle to comprehension, the extremely long second sentence makes reading the copy particularly difficult.

Lever: Usability

In the second viewport, lots of page space has been dedicated to an extensive list of all the blockbuster hits that have featured McDonald’s meals in them over the years.

This shows the huge cultural influence McDonald’s has had – but the content as it is currently displayed is not at all engaging for a user, and it pushes lots of valuable content further down the page, reducing the likelihood that it will be seen.

Moreover, this is the entire second viewport, and yet there is no call to action at the end of it.

Lever: Motivation

In our view, this is a strongly done value statement. Explaining a unique and compelling benefit that users stand to gain from downloading the app.

This is likely to boost motivation and increase the number of users who are willingly clicking on the call to action.

Lever: Comprehension

McDelivery is an exciting new(ish) options for McDonald’s aficionados. The fact that ordering a McDelivery through the app will generate points is likely to persuade a distinct subset of users to download the app and start ordering their deliveries right away.

One downside, through, is that it’s not clear exactly how many points people will receive – nor what specifically they can redeem them for. We believe that adding specificity here will aid with comprehension and make the offer that much more compelling.

Lever: Usability

In our view, of all the specific information and promotions on offer, this is one of the most compelling – after all, who doesn’t want a free box of delicious fries?

Unfortunately, this offer is very close to the bottom of the page – where almost nobody is likely to see it.

Lever: Comprehension

This section is at the very bottom of the page, and in out view, it struggles from a lack of comprehensibility.

Firstly, the sole sentence in the body copy is long and windy, with numerous prepositional phrases lined up one after the other. This makes understanding its meaning quite fatiguing.

If you are able to parse the sentence, it is then unclear as to what deals are actually on offer. Is contactless Mobile Order & Pay the deal in question – or is this unrelated to the exclusive deals mentioned at the start?

Recommended Experiments
1. Sub Lever: Benefits (Lever: Motivation)

The free large fries offer is compelling – but its too far down the page, beneath other elements that are less likely to drive conversions. We would recommend testing moving this up into a high view port.

2. Sub Lever: Distraction (Lever: Usability)

In the second viewport, rather than simply listing all the movies in which McDonald’s meals have been featured, try a shorter ‘Top 5’ list that includes the specific meals that were featured in those movies – plus hyperlinks to their pages on the menu.

2. Sub Lever: Value Proposition (Lever: Motivation)

The ‘A-Listers Only’ value statement struggles through lack of clarity. Try sharpening this up by creating a clearer statement that clearly describes what the user stands to gain from your offer.

Conclusion

The Levers™ Framework is an incredibly powerful tool in any optimizers arsenal for diagnosing and fixing conversion issues. As part of this teardown series, we will be providing an in-depth analysis on pages for some of the most popular global brands.

Also, if you would like to learn more about different proven use cases for the Levers™ Framework, like how it can help you compare user experiences between brands, check out our newest Subscription Benchmarking Report 

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