When Slalom got involved on the project, the internal team was making progress on menu ideas and starting to establish principles for how the business concept they had been given would translate into a meaningful brand experience for Gen Z.

Josh Wesolowski, who leads digital product and experience for CosMc’s, had created a service blueprint for a four-lane drive-thru experience, detailing every step in the customer journey and drilling into each one by function-what the CosMc’s crew members or “explorers” would do, what technology needed to do, and so on.

“That document helped build common understanding and alignment early,” Josh says. “And then Slalom layered onto it, making it much more tangible.” After collaborating on storyboards and experience maps, the united team had a roadmap for how each touchpoint should function in the end-to-end experience.

The CosMc’s experience is designed for younger customers that love trying new things and want the freedom to personalize everything they do. The menu takes risks with bold flavors and combinations, and the digital experience needed to make customization fun and easy.

“We built the menu so everyone in our target audience can find something they love, but not everyone will love everything,” says Sheila Hamilton, who leads menu and marketing for CosMc’s. “We also looked at customization through that lens.”

That meant partnering with Slalom to tailor all of the digital interfaces for different menu items, narrowing down and prioritizing options to create the strongest possible customer experience. Customers may love the intense flavor of a Sour Cherry Energy Burst with extra Fruity Popping Boba, but most aren’t going to like it with black pepper sprinkles or whipped cream on top, so those options aren’t suggested.

By focusing on guided exploration, we designed customization that inspires curiosity and confidence, key attributes of the CosMc’s brand. Whether customers are interacting with the online ordering menu, app menu, drive-thru menu board, or walk-up kiosk, adding and removing options is easy and intuitive, and pricing is transparent. On the mobile app, customers are rewarded for their loyalty. They can save their favorite customizations and see their recent orders, so when they find a combo they like, they can get it again in one tap.

As the team raced toward launch, we focused on getting the core experience right and prioritizing the digital features that would have the greatest impact. We knew we’d be able to learn “in the wild” and iterate. Still, even for the pilot, everything had to be polished enough to earn trust as the first brand ever launched from the McDonald’s Universe.

A big part of Slalom’s workload was making sure all the features and interactions were cohesive across not just across the touchpoints we were building, the website and the mobile apps, (Apple iOS and Google Android), but also those components that involved technology from other vendors, including the point of sale, restaurant screens, kiosks, pre-sell boards, and drive-up menu boards. We also integrated key capabilities such as a full-featured loyalty program, payment fraud prevention, email and marketing campaigns, and customer relationship management.

“We helped to connect and bridge all of the gaps,” says Allie Renko, Slalom solution owner. “We were there on-site collaborating with everyone to hold the vision, manage dependencies, and guide when decisions needed to be made to maintain momentum.”

"Each channel had its own unique journey and experience, so we focused on developing a shared set of services and utilities using a common framework. This made it possible for us to move quickly even with changes happening on an almost daily basis. I think a lot of people would love to know how a team can do that.”

Dan Managlia
Senior Delivery Principal, Slalom

“The CosMc’s team embraced customer research and testing,” says Diana Ahn, the experience design lead on the Slalom side. “They already had it teed up. They made the plans and tweaked them with us and regularly opened the door, ‘Hey do you want to ask some customer questions?’. To have that be so intentional, especially on an accelerated timeline, is incredibly rare.”

Testing ranged from getting feedback on early design prototypes and setting up a mock drive-thru to riding along and interviewing customers post-order. For Josh, iterative testing at multiple levels of fidelity was key to moving so quickly, along with the clearly defined vision and the focused, empowered team collaborating across functions. “By testing early and making sure we were taking action on the insights that were gleaned each time, we were able to learn a lot really fast.”

The commitment to learning made the entire journey an adventure. “There were no ‘this is how we do it’ preconceptions and no assumed answers,” adds Miheer. “We genuinely had permission to ask and challenge anything.”