McLaren turbocharges its customer experience

In 2019, Adobe interviewed David about McLaren Automotive's customer experience transformation: making every digital touchpoint feel as advanced as the cars themselves.

Speed as a principle

McLaren was growing quickly, with its Track25 plan promising new models and a larger retail network. David explained that the customer experience had to feel as advanced as the cars, and that the team tested every decision, from page load times to the buying journey, against one idea: “Every second counts.” Rather than benchmark against other carmakers, McLaren looked to the best of luxury digital experience as a whole.

Joining up the showroom and the screen

The first phase focused on aligning online and offline. MARC, McLaren’s real-time 3D configurator, had just rolled out to most retailers, letting customers build their car in detail on a large screen. The next step was to bring that excitement online, and make moving between the two seamless.

Foundations for growth

Behind the scenes, McLaren’s front-end services ran on a mix of separate systems. Bringing them together was the key to a consistent journey, proper governance of customer data and genuinely local content as the brand moved into new markets.

A small team with a wide brief

To do it, McLaren merged its CRM and digital teams into one customer experience department. A team of seven looked after 140 websites, seven apps and the configurators, as well as digital, retailer and data strategy: small enough to move quickly and decide together.

Storytelling beyond the car

The longer-term aim was digital storytelling to match McLaren’s real-world experiences, from driving events to lifestyle programmes, so that every visitor, whether buying a car or simply admiring one, had an experience worthy of the brand.