If you’ve ever sat in a drive-thru at a fast-food restaurant you know how it feels.
The massive menu, the kids clamoring in the backseat and somewhere in the back of your mind, snippets of a recent TV commercial advertising a “saucy” (“S'Awesome”?) burger that sounded good. But one glance in the rearview at the line of cars behind you seals the deal – you recite your “usual” order and pull forward to the first window.
And this experience, Michael Mancuso, head of digital analytics for The Wendy’s Company, told the crowd at Acquia Engage, is one that creates anxiety and regret.
The pressure of making a quick decision without really having the time to explore the menu, and the feeling that you didn’t get exactly what you wanted – you didn’t have the chance to try that saucy burger or request your Baconator without cheese – leave room for improvement in the customer experience.
Wendy’s Journey Toward Personalization
Wendy’s is ultimately working to eliminate this friction point as part of its journey toward delivering personalized digital experiences. Its initial focus, Mancuso said, is on its website, which the company has worked to streamline in terms of technology and content.
The company has been engaged in extensive A/B testing of featuring different product combinations, colors and other assumptions on the website, and lets the data guide its decisions.
“The website is where the brand team learns new lessons,” Mancuso said, indicating that although around 80 percent of people like fries and Frosties, and 30 percent like chicken nuggets, the nuggets dramatically outperform the fries/Frosties on the website.
“The brand team would’ve defaulted to fries and Frosties if they weren’t testing,” he said.
The Wendy’s team is also personalizing content based on different user criteria, including: