From NPS to Complaints per Million: How McDonald’s Turned Customer Complaints into a Revenue Driver
McDonald’s Australia has fundamentally changed how it handles customer complaints. What was once a cost centre is now a growth engine. Under the leadership of Michael Dominish, Customer Experience Lead, the brand has turned negative feedback into a powerful commercial asset.
Previously, complaints were scattered and untracked. They were often handed back to store staff, where they lacked structure and accountability. Consequently, customer issues lingered unresolved, and loyalty quietly slipped away. However, things have changed.
The Big Shift: Centralisation and Digitisation
To begin with, McDonald’s centralised its complaint resolution process. Instead of expecting restaurant staff to juggle operations and complaints, a national digital customer service team now handles all issues. This move has yielded quick and consistent responses. In fact, resolution times have improved by 96 per cent.
Additionally, this new system is fully integrated into McDonald’s InMoment platform. That means the business now has real-time visibility across all stores. Each complaint is tracked from submission to resolution. This reduces ambiguity and increases accountability.
Restaurant staff can now stay focused on front-line service. Meanwhile, customers receive faster, more effective support. That’s a win-win for both sides.
Turning Apologies into Opportunities
While speed matters, it’s what happens next that truly transforms the customer experience. Instead of a mere apology, customers now receive digital vouchers when their complaints are validated. Whether it’s a cold coffee or a missing cheeseburger, compensation is not just offered—it’s strategically designed.
And it works. “We’re seeing this really awesome impact on spend from those customers,” says Dominish. Customers don’t just come back—they spend more than the value of their replacement item. This shift transforms service recovery into a reliable sales channel.
Before this system, a bad experience could cost McDonald’s a customer. Now, it rebuilds trust and drives repeat visits. In other words, complaints are no longer the end of the story—they’re the beginning of a deeper customer relationship.
A New Metric for a New Era: CPM
To measure this transformation, McDonald’s moved beyond traditional Net Promoter Scores (NPS). While NPS offers insight into customer sentiment, it doesn’t tell you where things go wrong. That’s why McDonald’s introduced Complaints Per Million Guest Counts (CPM).
CPM tracks how many complaints arise per million customers served. It allows stores to benchmark performance on a consistent scale. More importantly, it focuses on issues that can be acted upon immediately.
Dominish explains, “We’ve come from a top-box view of the world… now we balance that with impactful metrics around complaints.” CPM brings clarity, accountability, and focus. Stores no longer chase just positive sentiment—they actively work to reduce friction in real time.
Data That Drives Action
Embedding CPM into the existing Moment platform has sparked wider adoption. There has been an 11 per cent increase in dashboard access by store teams. This isn’t just about metrics—it’s about culture change.
Franchisees are now leaning into data instead of running from it. They can see where they’re falling short and address those gaps quickly. In a high-volume business like QSR, that makes a big difference. The CPM dashboards aren’t just informing store teams—they’re empowering them.
Consistency Replaces Chaos
Under the old system, resolving a missing cheeseburger could vary from store to store. As Dominish describes, “There were 1,000 different ways one simple inquiry could have been handled.” That inconsistency led to confusion and, worse, lost business.
Now, every complaint follows the same process. Automation handles the routing. Human agents handle the response. The loop is closed quickly and consistently. Importantly, customers no longer feel ignored—and stores no longer waste time reinventing the wheel.
This new standardisation has cut hidden operational costs. Managers reclaim valuable time. Training becomes simpler. Most importantly, the customer experience remains consistent regardless of location.
CX as a Revenue Generator
What makes this approach remarkable is not just the operational efficiency—it’s the financial return. Dominish notes, “We absolutely led with the benefit to our customers… but we also highlighted the financial gain.”
By investing in a better complaints process, McDonald’s Australia is seeing higher average order values from returning customers. Each resolved complaint now has tangible commercial value. CX, once seen purely as cost control, has become a strategic growth lever.
A Blueprint for the Future
McDonald’s Australia’s transformation is more than a system update—it’s a mindset shift. The organisation has recognised that every complaint holds a clue to improving service, operations, and revenue. Rather than hide from feedback, the brand now seeks it out.
The CPM metric has helped teams focus on what matters most—reducing negative experiences at scale. Digital tools have enabled faster and better responses. And customer trust, once damaged by mishandled complaints, is being actively rebuilt.
Final Thoughts
McDonald’s used to treat complaints like problems. Now, they treat them like opportunities. With the right mindset, right systems, and right incentives, they’ve turned CX into a measurable profit centre.
Other businesses would be wise to take note. Because in today’s fast-moving market, the brands that listen and act will always outpace those that just talk and wait.
