Melina Palmer Png

Creating an Irrational Loyalty Program at McDonald’s

Melina Palmer

In today’s conversation, I am joined by McDonald’s Lauren Kemp and Stephen Springfield from the Aspen Center for Consumer Science. Last fall I saw them give a talk at IIEX Behavior on how they used behavioral science to create an “irrational” loyalty program at Mcdonald’s. It was instantly clear they had to be on the show to talk about this project, its insights, and what you can learn from it.

It is such a great case study showing how real people inside organizations (and in this case, working with a great consultant), can create a program that infuses behavioral insights in a smart way — that is often counterintuitive – to find a win-win for the company and its customers. 

You’ll also hear tips from Lauren about how she did her literature review and lots of other great insights. And, do know that while we joke about not loving the term “irrational” as it is popularly used in behavioral science, if there was ever a program that proved a lot of the choices people make aren’t exactly rational this would be it. You’ll see what I mean as they dig in on the story in the episode…

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