The hot Starbucks topic of the moment is the new Starbucks loyalty/Gold Card program, and so here I am joining in the conversation. Previously, I’ve already posted about this at Starbucks Gossip, but here’s another round of conversation on the new Gold Card. And I’d love to hear from others what you-all think about it? In short, the new program rewards customers with beverages after earning a certain base level of stars, and then free beverages every 15 stars. One star is earned with one transaction. This means that a customer purchasing a tall Latte, an oatmeal, and a Naked orange juice will be best served by splitting this into three transactions, thus earning 3 stars. If that same customer buys the Latte, oatmeal, and juice on one receipt only, he or she has only earned one star.
My take on the new program is that is structured as a beverage rewards program that will benefit the casual to fairly frequent espresso beverage customer who often purchases a latte with a small item. This is a large group of customers: They get a latte and a pastry, and now if they split it into two transactions, they’ve got two stars. Consequently, many folks will love this new program.
This new program is NOT a great benefit for the highly frequent customer who purchases a wide variety of items. Personally, I purchase an absurd amount of whole bean coffee each month. This is because there are two avid coffee drinkers in my home, as well as I use whole bean coffee as “prizes” often when I run twitter contests looking for comments on this blog. Many of the beans I purchase do NOT come in one-pound sizes, and can only be purchased in one-half size flavor lock bags, thus are not eligible for any standard current registered card reward. For example, if you go back and look at my blog on the Clover coffee experience, you’ll see that Guatemala Antigua Medina, and Aged Sumatra are only available in one half-pound sizes. This means that the customer who spends $12.00 on a half pound of Aged Sumatra is still earning just “one star” exactly the same as the person who is buying one cookie. (Yes, Aged Sumatra retails at $12.00 for a half pound at Starbucks). Another example of a bean that cannot be purchased in a whole pound size is Pike Place Special Reserve – which makes a great twitter contest reward since it is a coffee unique to Seattle.
I confess that now and then I buy other things at Starbucks too. I bought both Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band remastered Beatles CDs at Starbucks. I buy a new tumbler now and then. Again, I lose the ten percent discount and I’m still earning just one single star. Furthermore, I’m not totally sure I want to be rewarded with the same reward over and over again: a million beverages. I could soon be swimming in a sea of free beverages.
Having said all that, I still think that lots of people will love this new program, but it’s just not designed for customers like me. Sigh.
What do you readers think?
[And for further conversation on this, mystarbucksidea.com has had a number of threads on the topic, such as this one here.]
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I think Starbucks is confused. I bought Gold membership and I think it is ridiculous they are finally able to consolidate rewards now between registered and Gold. Also think its silly some of the rewards are designed the same.
@Alice – it seems like there are two distinct groups of Starbucks customers and the larger group probably complained that the Gold Card wasn’t for them because it wasn’t much of a benefit for their daily Tall Vanilla Soy Latte, but a core group of hard-core Starbucks customers saw great reward in the Gold Card. I just think that second group was the smaller of the 2 groups.
Hi Melody – what is the “fine print” associated with the asterick next to “use?”
(on the card that you have in the photo)
That’s a good question. I cannot figure out where that “use” asterisk goes to. I would have to assume that things like buying gifts cards with your card or some other limited kinds of transactions would be excluded from “use”. ??
a. those who paid for gold will likely be furious.
b. those who didn’t pay for gold will likely highly enjoy this new integrated version of the card.
i fall into category b, of course.
i thought the gold card was an awesome idea when it came out, but i never had $50 on me (one for me, one for sir) when i went to starbucks. i never carry that much cash anywhere in this city 😛
so, to finally be able to possibly work my way up to gold status is a great thing for me, except i don’t buy that many coffee drinks really. sir does, so he’ll be able to use the card to it’s full advantage. which, as starbucks explains it, will unlock gold on ALL 3 of my cards, so i kind of get to mooch off of sir’s coffee habit 😛
i have to say i like it.
(now if starbucks would actually send me my free birthday drink postcard, i’d be set)
Getting one for my mom so she can keep getting 10% off.
Guess I’m too late for your give away Melody. Oh well have a nice Halloween my friend and thanks again for your kind words on MSI! The new rewards program really stinks and sucks with a capital S. Most every comment I’ve read on the subject is negative. What was Starbucks thinking? Guess they were thinking more about enriching their bottom line than rewarding their loyal customers and might come back to haunt them. And those “stars” are pretty phony. A free drink after 15 drinks? If you buy 15 drinks that cost $3.00 each you spend $45.00. Even a cave man could figure out that after spending 45 bucks you have paid for your “free” drink. Is this the “enhanced benefits” they promised us? Seems they are like politicians talking out of both sides of their mouths.
Steve – The devil’s advocate argument here is that for many years Starbucks prospered w/ no free stuff or rewards. I bet Starbucks regrets opening Pandora’s box.
From a barista’s point of view, this sounds like I’m going to be on the front lines of a battlefield between the customer and SBUX. First, I’m going to have to deal with all those people who want to ring up each item separately– can you just imagine this during a morning rush?!? Second, what about the little guy or gal who just wants to hop on the internet for a while? They won’t be able to do that any more if they don’t already have a registered card that they’ve used 5 time– am I right about this?
I think that this is an excellent example of Starbucks not fully understanding their customer base and the different segments that frequent Starbucks.
To be sure, much of the growth earlier in this decade came from the “treat in a cup” type of customer that increasingly paid extra for the latest whippped cream-topped flavor craze (pumpkin spice, cin. dolce, etc.) but there was also (and always has been) the “core” type of customer that preferred the company’s bold flavor profile and the “art and romance of coffee” that Starbucks taught them to appreciate.
The economic downturn has made it more difficult for the “treat in a cup” type of customer – and quite frankly, the novelty (or cache) has worn off for many of them.
More sadly though, the “core” customer has been pushed away by the company itself. PPR, inconsistent “espresso excellence” standards, the lost focus on whole bean, and this change to the gold card are just a few examples of how Starbucks has alienated this “core” group.
Starbucks needs to take a moment to understand its customers and to determine who they really want to be. We’ve got enough McCafe’s already. We don’t need Howard and company providing any more.
to CD: the ‘*’ after the word ‘use’ in Melody’s picture refers to: “By use we mean every time you pay for a transaction with any Starbucks Card registered to your account (at participating Starbucks in the U.S.).” it’s in very tiny gold print at the bottom of that page on the new Star booklet.
to Patsy: re: the wi fi, it does appear that unless you have already reached the”green” 5 star level, there are no rewards, except the “welcome level” which is the birthday drink. However, anyone who already HAS a registered card NOW, starts out at the “green” level with 5 stars*****! automatically and then “sips their way to Gold”. seriously.
Having been a Gold card holder and hater of PPR and a consumer of Starbucks for 20+yrs, I feel totally scammed by ALL OF THIS. The only pleasure (except I feel so sorry for the baristas, because I think they will be in hell with alot of this….trying to get it to work! are you kidding me! it’s crazy!) anyway, as I was saying, the only pleasure I get around this STAR program is I just feel sure it will be crazy to implement. I say, if you want to really get your “16th” drink, you’d better get a paper receipt every time. because: WHO IS GOING TO BE COUNTING THE STARS?
I am not affected by the new program, since it’s not offered in Canada. However, if I had the choice between the new system and the gold card, I’d definitely take the gold card. I agree with all the above comments. The thing I don’t like about the new system is that it limits your reward to only a beverage. With the new system, you could buy 15 solo espressos to earn 15 “stars” and then for your free drink get a Venti caramel frappuccino with 4 shots of espresso. Personally, I think Starbucks has made a big mistake on this one.
My God…What’s next… coupons in the Sunday Paper??? Next to the toilet paper coupon.
Hey Nathan I think the big mistake Starbucks made was thumb their noses at Canadians by shutting you out for two years in a row and expecting you to patronize their stores. I sure as heck wouldn’t. If everyone boycotts Srarbucks just watch how quickly the gold card comes to Canada.
Hey Melody – congrats on the article in the Seattle Times! It makes my above point much better than I do (and they do it while spelling “cachet” correctly!)
Starbucks must not forget (or alienate) their core customer base while they search for that next new thing that will put them back in the “top of mind” category for the masses.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2010171954_starbucks01.html
Neat article Melody and good picture of you and you should use that picture on twitter instead of your current picture. I would love to know what you said to Howie. There is alot I would like to say to him.
CD, thanks for the Seattle Times link and Melody even more thanks for such a well constructed site.
I am still ruminating on the upcoming Gold Card/Registered Card changes.
As a longtime Starbucks patron (since 1979 when I moved to Washington State) I am greatly saddened by the steady decline in Starbucks quality, experience, and customer center.
I considered myself special when I was rewarded with one of the first-off complimentary Gold Cards. I greatly appreciate the many great Baristras at “my” Starbucks and mainly continue to patronize this particular Starbucks because of the “experience” they provide, in spite of Starbucks misguided business changes. Because of these changes and the unreliabilty/inconsistency of product and service I very seldom patronize other Starbucks–I’ll take my chances with an “indy” first. Are you listening Starbucks? Get a clue!
DadCooks (aka Eric)
Good article in the Times, Melody.
I can’t recall ever really having a bad experience in a Starbucks. Some have been very good! But at some of the indie coffee shops, I’ve had GREAT experiences. Some of those indie shops I go in to (usually early mornings), not expecting much – the counter person was >so< upbeat, friendly & cheerful, it would jolt me out of my ruminations, waking me up, as much as the coffee would! Some places I've only gone to once (ages ago & out-of-the-way), but I haven't forgotten the wonderful service. Whatever Starbucks does in the future, focus on excellent service first & always (as well as good product), then on to other diversions (people DO have a tendency to like new things!).
The Times article stated that "…cachet does not last forever."
But excellent service and excellent product does.
Melody, I posted in one of the MSI threads that they really need to keep both plans. The free one for people that don’t want to do anything, and just want their free drink, and the gold card (as it currently is) for those that buy daily or get more (beans, machines, etc.) and don’t want just a free drink. (As you and I don’t.)
As I posted in the MSI thread: Does SBUX not know what a focus group of current customers is? Get current gold card users and see what they actually *do* before doing this sort of wholesale revamp. This is the wrong answer.
And, as has been noted in MSI, the baristas will be swamped with people wanting to ring up every drink/cookie/pastry as a separate transaction. How dumb can SBUX be not to say ‘one visit is one star’? This is the sort of thing that was worked out by other companies’ loyalty programs many years ago.
(Never mind that I’m still getting the ‘is there money on your gold card?’ question when the POS system was upgraded to handle that weeks ago at all locations.)
Now I see why the new “stars” deal is such a rotton deal for people who patronize Starbucks quite frequently and it is even a not so good deal for people who just go to Starbucks occasionally. See my latest comment on MSI under “Don’t change the Gold Card program – or lose the most loyal customers”.
Melody: Good job with the article. am just wondering, were you unable, or did you feel it not relevant ? to say anything about the effect of serving PPR all day, as of last spring…and the effect that has had on Star *****bucks?
Every time I start to think about this, I get pissed. I have no idea why this rubs me the wrong way, but it really does. I know the free drink idea was VERY popular on MSI and no one wanted to listen to reason on why the gold card was a better option…it just feels like Starbucks threw this out there to make the masses happy and completely irk those constant spenders that really are the base of Starbucks.
And you know what? Baristas WILL get pissed over people ordering everything separate- and I don’t blame people for doing that, really.
@Katherine-Yes, soon it will become the norm that every purchase is its own receipt. But we’re going to go through a phase too where baristas describe confused benefits. Maybe things will get better but even now, lots of baristas have no understanding of what the 2 programs are, and it is so simple!
Just the other day I ordered a vanilla milk (tall milk + vanilla syrup) and I handed the barista my Gold Card and told her there was money on it. So I paid with my Gold Card. Just before baristas swipes it she says, “well the vanilla will be free, because you get free syrups…” And I just said, “uuuhhhh no. Not with a Gold Card” and left it at that because though I tend to believe I am right (whether or not it’s true) baristas don’t like to be argued with. Of course, I got ten-percent off the Vanilla Milk which is fine by me, because I know that in the large scheme of things, I save way more with the Gold Card’s 10 percent off than any other Starbucks loyalty program.
I bought my pound of Thanksgiving Blend today with a registered card because I was in a weird mood for a latte- and might as well get that for free. The barista saw my gold card in my wallet and asked why I wasn’t using that- I explained why and she still insisted I could get both discounts. Not quite. I hate when I know the programs better than the employees.
And I also hate nosy baristas who peer into my wallet, but that’s another rant.
I will trade you a Starbucks California mug for some of that Aged Sumatra…maybe I will tweet you some pics of CA stuff.
As for the 10% discount going away, I was kinda upset last week about it, and have kind of mellowed. I figured I bought about 60 lbs. of beans last year for work, which is a lot for a single customer, but not for Starbucks.
I will probably buy a different variety of beans instead (Peet’s, Caffe Vita, Intelligentsia, Stumptown) just to taste the variety.
That said, I will probably buy a 5 pounder of Christmas Blend as a final Gold Card discounty sendoff!
I’m sure I’m alone in this but when did we as customers, as generations, as humans become so entitled? I understand that the idea of “customer recognition for patronage” makes you feel special but the reason you decided to go somewhere was because you liked it. Why do we expect companies to kiss our asses by showering us with gifts? No one does that for me at work and I’m a darned good framer!
Now Starbucks has missed the mark on the whole experience for a few years but even on their worst day, I’m still treated better than a a best day at Cafe Ladro or Stumptown where the coffee burns a hole in my stomach aftewards.
I can see how it sucks to have taken away a discount that was easier to use but honestly, I never needed a bribe to keep going to Starbucks and I probably still will.
Hi Melody,
I’m a Sbux partner and with all the different directions we are being pulled, have only had a very small opportunity to read the communication on the changes to our rewards program. My take was that current GC owners would still keep their 10% discount benefit until their card would be up for renewal again. While it my not be the most ideal, I’m actually glad that they are keeping that instead of changing things altogether. I kind of think that they should have rolled this new program out to new card owners only. One of the main selling tactics that we used during the initial rollout was keying in on the 10% discount. ah well, only time will tell.
Love the blog!
Wongster
PS. if I’m a winner, you can pass the TGB on to somebody else :-p
Melody I think the focus of the core of this company has been lost. Coffee. Nothing else should take precedent over this but it seems that over the last couple of years Starbucks Coffee is the last thing on the CEO’s mind. Great to C U in Tx. Liked the article w/ U in it too.
As I’ve posted here and on MSI, I still hope SBUX will make modifications to the new program. Perhaps combine the old and new, to the extent of allowing those that want to prepay the same $25 to add on the 10% discount.
Or not. :). As Melody says, we’ve only had the GC program for a short while and I agree if we never it we’d not be complaining now. But there’s nothing so upset as those who have a perk ‘snatched’ away!
I had a Starbucks Gold card given to me as well – I’ve been a Duetto card holder for about five years and spend probably $150 a month at Starbucks.
Above and beyond the monetary reason for ending the Starbucks Gold program, this decision encourages more people to get and load money onto Starbucks cards.
This will result in fewer people using credit/debit cards at Starbucks. This leads to several things:
1. Fewer fees in the form of credit/debit card payment processing
2. Better data collection on individual customers – who eats what pastry with which drink – don’t fool yourself if you think they aren’t collecting this.
3. There’s probably a hope that fewer people will be using cash, resulting in better register throughput, because there is less need to make change. Cashless society, here we come
No matter what they say, no corporation truly acts out of entirely selfless benefit for its customers. That goes against the basic principles of capitalism. Starbucks is doing this to make money.
And we’ll all keep spending it there. Where else is there? Those awful McDonald’s coffees? *shudder*
Melody- Thanks for sharing your post from MSI. I appreciate your comments re: Starbucks and your 20 year relationship. I suppose I was freaked out by the sheer number of folks whom it had *appeared* this 10% discount thing was becoming a real life crisis! Maybe I’m too C’est la vie, but there’s little in life that shakes me up…unless it concerns my family, of course.
As for the lack of brewed coffee in Starbucks, I’m on your side. I did like having the ‘coffee of the day’, and then the ‘coffee of the week.’ Now it’s just ‘the coffee.’ Not very exciting, but this Clover stuff sounds cool. Thanks for tip of a new product, I plan on trying a cup!
I have to say, I’m seeing a lot of confusion about the new program, even here in the comments on this post.
I see a lot of talk of “one star per receipt” and people purchasing every single item separately[1] … but then I see “one star per drink” or “a free drink every 15 drinks”. If the marketing says a free drink every 15 drinks then they’re going to get a lot of customers unnecessarily angry if those customers buy 4 drinks at a time and then find out that they only get a single star for each purchase. That’s both kind of asinine and asking for trouble such that I rather suspect they may have to change the system pretty quickly to try and make disgruntled customers happy.
They could have made it either literally just be per-drink and ignore other items or make it be “for each purchase, at least 1 star; for purchases over $4 (or $5), 1 star for each $4 (or $5)” or something.
Whatever they do, I really hope they get rid of anything encouraging people to split purchases up into many small purchases. Oy…
I do it less frequently than in the past, but I still sometimes go out and buy 6-10 drinks at Starbucks to bring back to the office for people. If I did that I would feel like an ass if I purchased each drink separately and I’d feel like I was being cheated out of my Rewards benefits if I didn’t. Lose-lose situation.
Regards,
Stephen
[1] I rather suspect that the people doing so will be in the minority even if they do know about this, since most people probably just don’t have the patience to bother doing it … but I can see it slowing lines at busy times and just generally being a waste of customer *and* barista time.
FWIW, I should probably note … I would be perfectly ok with Starbucks not having a rewards program. I would still go there. It’s just that if they *do* have one it shouldn’t be structured in such a way that it causes wasted time or adds obnoxiousness.
What it comes down to is that we pay regardless. Rewards are part of their costs (like any marketing effort), and so they’re amortized across all our purchases. I’d just rather the system be fair enough that I’m not paying for someone else’s rewards — or vice versa — through unwillingness to waste people’s time.
No rewards program and lower costs passed on to me in terms of lower prices (or less frequent increases in prices) would be preferable, to me, to a system which causes problems.
Great stream of comments, Melody.
Unfortunately for me the “new” rewards program will really not provide me with a “better” reward than the “Gold Card”…. I drink mostly drip coffee, buy beans, and now and then a novelty… The 10% was a much better “reward” for me in the long run.
But what is more disturbing is the inconsistent marketing that Starbucks has subjected its most loyal customers to. It’s like they are chasing the next best thing without any regard to the customer…. Bold coffee – no bold coffee, decaf- no decaf, gold reward- no gold rewards, some prices up-some prices down, and all this in a matter of 18mos…. These practices are showing the customers that “they don’t know who they are” and if they don’t know who they are how are we supposed to know.
Good Coffee Day to You!
While there is lots of discussion elsewhere, it appears that your blog has a more thoughtful take on the changes and so I decided to post my ideas here.
Being a creature of habit, Starbucks has been part of my morning ritual for a long time now. I visit 5-7 times a week and, to be honest, the changes are basically a wash for me. The 10% discount was nice but the free syrup will offset that benefit once it is gone. I was one of the lucky participants in the initial launch and my card was complimentary. Starting my day at Starbucks will not likely change because of this.
It s my opinion that most of the people who say that they will stop coming are bluffing. They really do mean it at the moment but, come January when the GC program ends I expect that they will still be coming. The reason is this, it isn’t actually about the money.
When it was first introduced,the card really was special. It was kind of fun to go into a store and pay with it when some of t he baristas hadn’t even seen it yet. Once it was available for purchase there was no novelty to it any more.
So, with the introduction of the new program, here is what I think was done right:
– Merging the programs. The primary benefit of the GC was the 10% discount. Having a registered card also had benefits and the difference to me worked out to about 3 cents per drink on my typical visit. Being able to get all of the benefits and carry just the mini-card if I want is a good thing.
– The change was announced well in advance. I kind of suspected that something was up when I didn’t get a notice to renew in September. While there is the expected (you did expect this didn’t you) backlash now, it should be a pretty calm transition when it actually happens in January.
Here is what I think is wrong with the way that this was done:
– Conversion from a loyalty program to a discount program and not a very good one at that. For what ever reason, Starbucks attracts some pretty loyal customers. With the introduction of the GC program I felt special…now, not so special. Actually, not special at all. Someone has overlooked the fact that loyalty needs to go both ways.
– The announcement. I got the email announcing the improvements in the program. I was left still looking for improvements when I got to the end. For most GC holders it isn’t an improvement and no marketing hot air will change that. Treating us like we have limited intelligence doesn’t help when the message is so obviously false. Once more thing…the GC announcement had a real person as the owner. This one is from the team. The message here is that no one takes responsibility.
– The punch card program is fundamentally flawed. Start with corporate promises that “we will never have punch cards” but that just speaks to the never say never rule. One star per card use rather than per drink is just going to make people angry. Sending me a card when I have “earned” a free drink is not only a waste of resources, it sends the message that you really hope that I will not redeem them. Even worse, how special is the experience when I hand the coupon to the cashier? Right, might as well be food stamps.
To a large degree, the problem is with a discount based loyalty program. On the one hand there is the desire to recognize and, yes, reward customers who visit frequently and spend significantly on you product. On the other hand is the fact that most of those people would visit and spend whether you give them a cash reward at all. The goal, of course, is to cause us to visit more often. The likelihood that this new program will accomplish this is, in my opinion, low.
As for predictions, I see a fair number of people gaming the system to maximize the number of stars that they receive. This will lead to longer waits in line. A significant line is about the only reason that I will forego my morning coffee BTW. The response will probably be to limit the number of stars that can accrue per hour or maybe, per day
It is really sad that one of my favorite brands seems so lost and confused.
lynn.
I’m very disappointed that the 10% off feature is being removed from my Gold card. I really liked that – especially for buying CDs, coffee by the pound and the occasional cup or gift.
I wonder if individual refills will qualify for a “star”…???
Confused? Clarity here:
https://www.starbucks.com/card/rewards/faq/
And pls pls pls try to be understanding of your baristas who will receive little or no communication about these changes or any kind of training or tips for customer satisfaction during this transistion. Those of us who care and are articulate/knowing/show compassion do so because we take our own personal time to listen and learn as much as we can on sources like here and not because we given paid instruction by the company.
For all of the company’s hype about how “hip” they are with social media- they forget their first and most important in-person (not on-line or virtual) community in their stores.
Melody here I am on your blog. I guess why most people seem to be in favor of a punch card system is they see the word FREE and think the 16th drink is actually free but they don’t stop to figure that burried in the price of the first 15 drinks or items you must buy the price of the 16th drink is figured in so naturally it’s free bacuase the customer has paid for it. Remember the saying THERE IS A SUCKER BORN EVERY MINUTE. Starbucks is counting on a plethora of suckers that think that the 16th drink is actually free. Also I understand that Starbucks will mail you a post card to inform you of your free drink. Don’t really think that is such a good idea. It is a lot of post cards, stamps, and labor but mainly because since it is a post card anyone can see the back and see it’s for a free drink and steal it and then they would actually get a free drink that some poor schumck has paid for. My birthday drink coupon, for example, came on a post card. Someone between when Starbucks mailed it and it arrived in my mail box could have stolen it and then they would be enjoying my free birthday drink.
Hi Melody, More thoughts:
The more I ponder the idea of having a “postcard” mailed to me for my free drink the more disappointed I become in this new reward program.
Why, again, like “brew on demand”, would Starbucks put their customers in such a vicarious position? Why do I have to be put in an uncomfortable position to retrieve my “reward”? I fell uncomfortable presenting a “coupon” for a free drink… it just does not sit right with me.
Plus, there is no “instant” gratification for the customer. I bet Starbucks is banking on customers losing, misplacing and just plain not using their “reward”… Really this just stinks!
Already starting to hear gripes from gold card users at my store. I’ve told a few who don’t know about the changes to check out MSI to see how they’ll be effected. When I tell them in person they seem to like it.
Personally, I would be upset after getting used to the program. I would have definitely spent 25$ for the annual membership fee. (I actually purchased a gold card for a Christmas exchange gift. I never changed the email or address when I first registered it, so I see all the cool offers gold card members get).
I don’t understand how people were upset with their gold cards… it was basically buy 10 drinks, get one free. Now it’s buy 15 drinks get one free.
great post here:
http://brandautopsy.typepad.com/brandautopsy/2009/11/no-more-starbucks-gold.html#comments
thanks, john!
Hi there Livin’ La VIA Loca: Thank you for commenting here, and the link to John Moore’s blog (Brandautopsy.com). I definitely think he is a thoughtful marketing commentator, and have read through a number of his posts now and then.
http://brandautopsy.typepad.com/brandautopsy/2009/11/no-more-starbucks-gold.html
Returning just for a moment to the hot topic new Starbucks Gold rewards … Terry Davenport of Starbucks has posted another mystarbucksidea.com blog post on the new Starbucks rewards:
http://tinyurl.com/yjluggd
I think SBUX has no idea what they were stepping in when they ‘improved’ things by combined all the programs. As I’ve posted on MSI, I wonder if they never use focus groups or proper modern marketing consultants, or, as some have said, and I can agree with, the Gold Card 10% was costing too much, so, away with it! 🙂
Quite a soap opera to watch.
BTW, one thing that doesn’t seem to be explained enough is that people that just got or renewed a GC will still have the discount until it expires. (Now, of course, there’s no place to tell when that is online, just your memory… 🙂 .) I know it’s in the new program FAQ, but some people act like all GC cards die on 12/26, or on some other hard date.
Speaking as someone who got her gold card free (visa duetto) it was a wash for me – i am lactose intollerant and love lattes, i spend about 100$ a month on them, with a registered card i got free soy, about the 10% off really, so not much will change for me – although i do know that my local baristas have not been educated in the program very well adn i feel bad for them having to deal with some of the fussier customers – i bet they wish starbucks never started discounting
Hi AmazonV – I don’t think it’s just the baristas wishing that- I think that Starbucks probably wishes it never went down this route of discounts & more discounts. I also wonder if the pairings are *ever* going to go away. It seems like once you start down this pathway of discounts, there is no turning back.
I *JUST* got around to reading up on the new Gold Card. I read Elly’s comment and I have to agree. Coming from the Rewards card and seeing the opportunity to earn Gold Card status – I like this program. I’m one of those 2-3 a day latte drinkers if I let myself and at minimum I drink one a day.
I can see where original gold card purchasers might be irritated though with the $50 purchase and now consolidation. Over all I feel it’s good to consolidate the programs.
Right now most of my coffee is bought with my S.O. and we frequent a few favorite local coffee huts. One of the things we enjoy most is the punch cards we get. We may go there 2-4 times during the weekend it’s nice knowing that we have one coming to us on the house after so many purchases.
I’ve started a return to Starbucks coffee (My first experience with “going to coffee” when I lived in the Bay area) and seeing that they have incorporated a program that allows me to earn free drinks (YES more coffees) makes me a little bouncy – though that could just be the caffeine LOL
When I read that statement on MSI…it just astounds me with how out of touch some of the SBUX folks are.
For all those that think Starbucks isnt listening, this is my theory- Has anyone else noticed that only a very small percentage of the same people comment on these things? The post in response to the new program is only at 107 comments so I hardly think this is an indication of ALL customers. Moreover, the ideas are 10pts per vote so while 3100 votes are counted for saving the 10% that’s only 310 people- not exactly a high customer reflection.
My cousin is a barista in Irvine, CA (hi CeCe!) and she often validates my suspicion…that the people who go on MSI are not even a large enough group to really make an impact. She’s never said this nor has anyone in Corp stated that but when they get business updates it’s pretty apparent that the rantings of a few folks in comparison to the sales of the entire SBUX national empire are hardly a threat. Pike Place Roast for example is one of the most hated items on MSI yet the sales in brewed coffee since they started serving it are upwards of 150%! Pike place isnt going anywhere.