TicketSpice’s Post

At Starbucks paying by card prompts you to tip. If you want to add different or no tip as default you have to push buttons and type. This uses several sludges. #darkpatternseverywhere?

It happened again. How will I ever turn this around? Why do I keep doing this? My Starbucks coffee grenaded itself into my lap and all over the interior of my truck as I was picking it from my cup holder this morning. This happens to me maybe once a quarter. It seems like the cup and lid cannot maintain it's structural integrity once hot liquid is added for more than 5 minutes. I will continue going to my local Starbucks shop because they acknowledge me by my name and build rapport, the product is consistent, and ordering through the app is so convenient. I think the lesson is providing exceptional customer service, a consistent product quality, and making your product/service easy to use is key for business success, but once the big things are moving, getting granular to solve the little problems will make our brands in destructible and accelerate growth. #coffeelovers #businesslessons #customerexperience

I ran into Brian Niccol, the new CEO of Starbucks, last week. Well, sorta. He was walking out of my favorite coffee shop, Devocion USA, as I was walking in. He seemed impressed by the place, and it got me thinking about my last Starbucks visit and how it could be better! I ordered a black #coffee via the mobile app. It promised my order in less than 10 minutes via the drive through. If only - I finally received my coffee 30 minutes later! Sure, it was a perfect storm of peak demand plus drive through limitations, but there’s got to be a better way for Starbucks to process orders! There’s a great chapter in Algorithms to Live By by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths that discusses #strategies optimal #scheduling. Options include First-In-First-Out (FIFO), Earliest Due Date, Shortest Processing Time, among others. In general, there are no “best” strategies, but some will be more optimal than others depending on your goals. Starbucks has the challenge of balancing a few competing goals. For example, the optimal strategy for maximizing store revenue may be very different from maximizing customer experience. For the former, you could let your most profitable customers go right to the front of the queue! Not great for everyone else, though. So which algorithm is optimal for Starbucks? Don't forget they also have up to three lines! Counter, mobile, and drive through orders. Starting with a computer simulation and then physical store tests, here are some idea's I'd test optimizing for customer experience: 1) Self-service drip and iced coffee (Shortest Processing Time) – if my drink can be served in just a few seconds without additional labor, why not have a self-serve area? Start off with manual self-serve and perhaps graduate to digital if results are positive. Want to go even lower tech? When the lines get long and orders are backed up (and adding more complex orders just lengthens the queue), have cashiers ask for anyone ordering only drip or iced coffee to step forward to have their orders fulfilled immediately. 2) FIFO for drive through with no mobile ordering allowed at peak times – drive through lanes are FIFO anyway, so don’t allow orders to come in ahead of time unless you want to redesign drive through flows (and pour new concrete). 3) Smart scheduling of mobile orders (variation of Earliest Due Date) – for mobile orders, Starbucks could use device location services to estimate how far the customer from the store. Use the estimated travel time and estimated fulfillment time the order to assign it a priority. The customer is in-store? FIFO in line with counter orders. 10 minutes away? Delay the order (and let the customer know a reasonable ETA). Better yet, if the mobile order is complicated, try suggesting faster alternatives at cart review if they want their drink(s) sooner which could improve both experience and throughput. What would you do to improve the Starbucks #customerexperience? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

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First Starbucks flyer rec'd in '24. - No visible cap rate (which steers buyers & brokers away from even engaging) - Asking Cap: 5.00% - there are 116 Starbucks on the market that are better priced. Little tip: Make it easy for your readers to engage with your product! Which includes: - Providing all relevant data an investor needs to size up a deal. - Proper price positioning

The power of a hungry crowd - when people buy your stuff even if you have high prices, middle quality, and long delivery time! This is 30-minute line in Starbucks next to Web Summit - attended by 70k people! It indicates that the market has the greatest impact on any business. Demand for the product [in this case, coffee and snacks] was so high that: PRICE doesn't matter. Imagine going to a second full-day conference when you have to stay active. I would pay up to 3 times the usual price. TIME: waiting time - I waited about 30 minutes in line [if I had to, I would stay up to 50] QUALITY: If there is no alternative, you take what they have. You can tell: there are always crowds at Starbucks because of the brand, etc. The day before, I bought coffee at a no-name stand in the mall. It's a little cheaper and of worse quality. The crowd was as huge as at Starbucks! So, what I learned from seeing this? If there is a hungry crowd [great market], you can have high prices bad quality long delivery time... and still have customers! #powerofgreatmarket #howcustomerbuy #brand30

What’s in a Name? Since 2012, Starbucks has made a habit of writing customers’ names on their cups (https://lnkd.in/d3t9iZRB). This past weekend, while waiting for my order, I reflected on what a brilliant campaign this is. I recall a customer care workshop where I first learned how powerful it is to address people by their name. Have you ever tried talking to a cashier or petrol attendant by using their name? If not, give it a try, and you’ll see how the interaction changes—it becomes more personal, more connected. For me, it never mattered if my name was incorrect . What mattered was that for a brief moment, we were on a first-name basis, sharing a connection. Keep it up, Starbucks ! It’s the little things like this that set you apart. #marketing #marketingstrategy #powerfulcampaigns #starbucks #brandpower

How Starbucks mastered this underrated growth metric. The secret? It's not just their coffee. They turned CLTV into an art form. Here’s their formula: Personalization → Their app makes personalized suggestions ↳ You click that suggestion = you're coming back to the app Loyalty Points →Every dollar spent earns rewards. ↳It's about frequent, happy visits. You feel like you're spending less because you have a reward. Consistency → Same quality, every location. ↳Keeps customers walking in even when traveling. Beyond a Coffee Shop → A place between work and home. ↳Emotional ties strengthen customer retention. Ever-Evolving Menu → Seasonal treats, constant innovation. ↳ Always a reason to come back and try new things. Starbucks didn’t just sell coffee. They cultivated customer journeys. For your brand/business? If you improve CLTV and Retention - you have room to experiment. High CAC (customer acquisition costs) become less stressful if you know a customer is coming back again and again. Your turn: Are you leveraging CLTV like Starbucks?

Starbucks has a problem that most companies would love to have - they have too many customers and people aren’t willing to deal with their crowds and wait times. Starbucks seems like a case study in how big can you get before the wheels fall off. Should you try to please everyone for the sake of continual growth, or should you maintain quality and make sure your most devout are taken care of? One interesting snippet from this article is that app orders were only being completed in the 15% range. In other words, the people that care enough about the brand to keep a Starbucks app on their phone were throwing up their hands and giving up because of wait times. I understand they want to sell as many cups as possible, but not prioritizing their most loyal customers is bound to cause trouble down the road and open them up to competition. I’m all for growth, but you can only squeeze so much juice out of one lemon. Maybe instead of overloading fewer locations, they need to add some more stores to their fleet? The current approach to fulfilling walk-ins, drive thru, and online orders in one location is making it difficult to fulfill any of those options well. —— Article in comments 👇

Most people might not realize that Starbucks offers free refills on brewed coffee – but there's a catch! To qualify, you need to be a part of the Starbucks Rewards program and have made your initial purchase in-store. This little-known policy could lead to significant savings for regular customers. So, what's the story behind it? Starbucks implemented this strategy to encourage more foot traffic, turning their stores into cozy spots for lingering customers who might indulge in additional purchases. It’s an interesting move that not only boosts customer loyalty but also enhances their experience, making a simple cup of coffee feel more generous. There's something to consider about the implications of this policy: Could it redefine how we view loyalty programs? It's about more than just discounts; fostering a welcoming environment leads to longer visits and ultimately more sales. What do you think? Is this model sustainable for other businesses to adopt, or does it only apply to coffee shops? https://lnkd.in/gd4hC7Sb