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'Auto-greeters' welcome McD's drive-thru customers

By: Geoff Kirbyson

Posted: 02/6/2012 11:35 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

In our world of instant gratification, a few seconds can seem like hours and be the difference between keeping a customer and losing them to the competition.

That’s why McDonald’s restaurants continue to roll out their "auto greeter" technology at their drive-thrus throughout Winnipeg.

If the employee with the headset is in the middle of packing up an order, the next customer is greeted by a pre-recorded message welcoming them to McDonald’s and recommending a particular item on the menu.

This buys the drive-thru team a few valuable seconds, says Crystal McElrea, manager of the south Pembina Highway location.

"We all know how frustrating it can be to pull up to a drive-thru box and you don’t get greeted right away. You’re not really sure what’s going on. (The auto greeter) frees up the hands of our employees so if they’re busy doing something, they have a little bit of extra time to put it down and get back to the window to take your order," she says.

It works seamlessly except for the odd time when the voice at the box doesn’t match the person at the window, she says.

"There’s sometimes confusion but I think our customers just want to be served by a friendly voice. They don’t really care whose voice it is, as long as it’s friendly," she says.

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