4 Ways McDonald’s Marketing Makes You Spend More Money and How To Avoid It
Written by
Chris Adam
Edited by
Jenna Klaverweiden
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If you’ve been to McDonald’s lately, you may have noticed some more affordable options. According to Fast Company, its meal deals are bringing in customers, but spending is still down. McDonald’s has been doing some marketing work to get customers to spend money while still taking advantage of special offers.
GOBankingRates talked to some experts about specific ways McDonald’s marketing may be used to get you to spend more — and how you can avoid it.
Also see three McDonald’s deals that really are a good value (and two to skip).
Menu Placement
Where do you look first when reading the menu at McDonald’s? It may be time to change it up.
“They deliberately put their highest-margin items in the top-right corner, that’s where your eyes naturally go first,” said Andrew Lokenauth, a money expert. “Cheaper items get buried at the bottom.”
Clever Pricing
Lokenauth explained that McDonald’s is also clever with pricing. For example, McDonald’s prices its drinks with small differences between medium and large sizes. “That tiny difference makes you think you might as well get the large size. I’ve seen conversion rates jump 25% when using this strategy,” he said.
Christopher Stroup, CFP, founder and president at Silicon Beach Financial, said McDonald’s and other restaurants and stores use upsells that target emotion and not logic. He said to apply the same scrutiny to your personal spending as you would to a business expense.
App Offerings
Lokenauth said the McDonald’s app is brilliant but sneaky.
“Sure, you get the ‘free’ fries with a $1 purchase — but data shows 90% of customers spend at least $7 to get that freebie,” Lokenauth said. “I’ve designed similar programs and the psychology is perfect — they load the app with time-sensitive deals that create urgency.”
Reward Strategy
If you use the McDonald’s app, you probably look at the rewards you earn and think you’re saving money.
“These rewards are meant to encourage overspending,” Lokenauth said. “They track what you buy and send targeted promos for your favorite high-margin items.”
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