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Timeline
12 weeks (Sept- Dec 2023)

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Role
UX Researcher |  Academic Project

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Context

Improving the McDonald's mobile ordering experience 
 

McDonalds is the top fast food restaurant in the world that makes food quick, convenient  and affordable. The mobile ordering app makes receiving food quick, easy and convenient. By conducting research regarding the McDonald's online ordering experience, problems and opportunities for improvement have been found that will benefit the user and business.

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Summary

Overview of Research Findings​​​​​​​

5 main problems were found throughout the mobile ordering process

Competitive Analysis

  • No visible help or accessibility options in the ordering process if users require assistance

  • Inconsistency in McDonalds menu layout

  • Purchase Path Issues

  • Does not show estimated time of delivery once in checkout

  • Limited error prevention

User Interviews

  • Poor visibility of estimated delivery time

  • Poor visibility of nutritional information

  • Difficulties locating menu item

Ethnography Visits

  • Poor organization and layout

  • Limited order time information

  • Difficulties locating information

Process

Mixed Research Methods
 

A total of 3 research methods were conducted to gain a deeper understanding of problems and opportunities of the market, product and the user.

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Phase 1: Competitive Analysis

Analysing the Competitors 

A competitive analysis was created for the McDonalds mobile app, along with their top 2 competitors in the market under the following criteria: Business Heuristics, User Comparison, usability Heuristics and a SWOT Analysis

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VS

Understanding Business Goals 

3 Main goals for the business are similar across all the platforms

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Key Findings

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Problem #1

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Problem #2

Problem #1

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Problem #3

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Problem #4

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Problem #5

Defining Focus

Problem #3
Purchase Path Issues

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One significant problem has been chosen to be further researched and tested from the competitive analysis.

In order to better comprehend the problem, the following steps will go deeper into the qualitative and expiratory research stage of gathering first-person accounts of experiences and opinions of users regarding their attitudes.

Phase 2: User Interviews 

Understanding the Users

These valuable insights will serve as a foundation for developing effective solutions that enhance the overall online experience
 

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Method Outcome & Benefits:
 

  • Gaining insights into user and their needs

  • Identifying constraints and frustrations of the design

  • Prioritizing features

  • Identify users typical workflow

  • Unbiased feedback based on participants' behaviours, opinions, feelings, frustrations, insights ect.

By conducting user interviews, the aim is to reveal users' actions, emotions, and observations including its the apps strengths and pain points. By doing so, we aim to understand their requirements and gather their views on the online food ordering process.
 

  1. What the ideal purchase path of an online food ordering app looks like?

  2. What do users expect to see within the purchase path?

  3. What environment or factors influence users when ordering?

  4. How should the new product be designed to meet users' needs?

Research Questions

Interview Logistics

  • 5 participants recruited through a screener

  • 3 in person and 2 remote

  • Sessions ranged from approximately 30 mins to an hour

  • Data stored confidentially on researchers cloud

  • Included with warm up questions, main questions, task analysis and usability testing

Meet Jennifer

A user persona was created to assign a person of the target audience. This helps us keep in mind who we’re designing for

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Jennifer's Journey 

A journey map was created as a combination of all 5 participants experience during the usability testing. This allows us to determine where the pain points are in the ordering process

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Key Interview Findings

Poor visibility of estimated delivery time

  • Current delivery time is poorly located and visibly hard to find

  • Most users expect to see this information at the last page

Poor visibility of nutritional information

  • This information is not displayed where users expect

  • Problematic for users with allergy or dietary restrictions

Difficulties locating menu item​​

  • Lack of item visuals for certain menu screens

  • Overwhelming layout of items, too many options at once

Phase 3: Ethnography Visits

Analysing the Physical Ordering Process

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By conducting an ethnography research, we are able to reveal users' actions, emotions, and behaviours on the physical food ordering process, linking back to the mobile app in the end.
 

These valuable insights will serve as a foundation for developing effective solutions that enhance the physical and online food ordering experience
 

Method Outcome & Benefits:

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  • Gain an Empathetic understanding of users context and environment

  • Identify user’s unmet needs and goals

  • Validate assumptions between user and business goals

  • Able to observe users in without interring with their natural process

  1. What does the ideal McDonald’s ordering process look like?

  2. What do users expect to see when ordering in a physical environment?

  3. What environment or factors influence users when ordering?

  4. What insights can the physical ordering process provide to the digital experience?

Research Questions

  • 3 ordering methods at 2 different restaurants​

  • Session lasted approximately 15 mins

  • Agenda included an overview of session, ordering task, follow up questions and wrap up

  • Observe participants and asked intercept questions throughout

Ethnography Logistics

Differnt Ordering Methods Journeys

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Key Findings
Identifying Common Themes Between the Physical and Digital Experience 

It’s revealed that both the mobile and physical ordering experiences have similar problems along the purchase path, however these can be improved
 

Poor organization and layout​​

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Physical 

  • Line to take and receive order interferes with each other, causing confusion and blocked traffic​

Digital

  • Layout of certain menu screens is overwhelming and causes confusion and frustration

Limited visibility order time information

​trgh

Physical 

  • Does not indicate time of order completion, only sequence​​

​Digital

  • Current delivery time is poorly located and visibly difficult to find 

Difficulties locating information

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Physical

  • Information regarding store location is not displayed where users first expect to see it​

Digital

  • Nutritional information is not displayed where users expect to see it 

Note: This problem can be eliminated as McDonald’s does not take displaying nutritional information as a priority, therefore leaving problem 1 and 2 to focus on

Recommendations

App Redesign

Improving Organization and Layout​​
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In the current state, each size of an item is displayed as an individual item causing an overwhelming list of choices along with a lack of visuals. To solve these issues I displayed each item once with a size selection along with adding an image of the item beside the name. 

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Improving Visibility of Order Time
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The current state does not display the delivery time on the last review and pay screen, which is where most of us would go to look, as confirmed in the previous interviews. Instead, I have moved this important information under delivery details where users can easily view it. 

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Conclusion

Conducting these research methods helped us understand McDonald's mobile ordering method and how different users interact with it. We were able to uncover key insights and understand the issues within the purchase path. From there, solutions have been created to make for a more seamless customer experience.

Why does it Matter?

Value for the User

  • Improve the ordering experience

  • Saves time and effort

Value for the Business

  • Increase loyalty & user accusation

  • Increase revenue

  • Decrease costs

Next Steps 

This project can be further refined by conducting additional research and design methods if time wasn't a constraint. The next steps would include:

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  1. Develop Hi-Fiedelity Wireframes and Mockups of the prosed sketches

  2. Conduct usability tests on the overall app and identify any possible recommendations for further improvement 

Thanks for reading
Check out my other work!

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