What are your thoughts about Starbucks, do you have good experiences when you go to one, are you happy with the product selection? Possibly have ideas for Starbucks? Well Starbucks has a site similar to Dell’s IdeaStorm which will be mention in a later post. It is called My Starbucks Idea where anyone can share an idea which can be commented on, and ranked. You can look at all other ideas and leave comments and vote up or down to give positive or negative points. However, to be able to do so, one has to create an account. To learn more about this system I created an account which was very simple you just need an ID name, password, email, and screen name. Without an account you can still view their Ideas in Action Blog and About page.
With an account there are three main categories you can share your idea on: products, your experience, and Starbucks’ involvement, such as social responsibility. Underneath each categories are sub categories to choose from. Along with sharing your ideas, and viewing what others have posted, you can even look at their blog which has the ideas that are under review, that have been reviewed, that are coming soon, and ideas that have been launched. The most recent post was March 19th which actually explained that day being the one year anniversary of My Starbucks Idea. It explained there have been 70,000 ideas, 95 of which have been put into action, and Starbucks enjoys and encourages people to give ideas, thanks for keeping their community exciting.
This USA Today article has some of the information I have already posted. I thought it was a good source talking about how Starbucks is using ideas as an opportunity for growth in the company and creates a interactive community.
Strategy:
- A place for customers to feel apart of the company by giving ideas that can be voted for use.
- Having a blog keeping updates on ideas that are being launched and thought about
-easy to use
I am so glad that more corporations are going the way of Dell to learn more about what their customers want. This site seems very interactive and beneficial, both to the consumer and Starbucks. Even just having a site like this up, whether many consumers use it or not, can be a boost to success as a company. Consumers will see that Starbucks is trying to fulfill their customers desires and listen to what would make their experiences better and they will begin to trust Starbucks as a corporation more. There will be a kind of emotional attachment, especially if similar corporations like Dunkin’ DOnuts fail to set up similar sites.
At first I thought that it was annoying and unnecessary to have to sign up for an account with websites such as Dell’s “Ideastorm” and “My Starbucks Idea”, but after actually looking at the sites I have completely changed my mind. Companies do not want the collaborative effort to have a “free for all” atmosphere. The people that write in obviously have ideas that they care about and having them go through a simple process and take the time is just an insurance that the idea is serious and means something to them. I hold a high respect for companies that are using the new social media platform to get their customers as involved as possible in corporate decisions. Also, implementing some of the ideas gives customers even more of an incentive to post their idea because it could possibly be put into action.
Way to go Starbucks! I’m just excited to see more and more corporations jumping onboard to interact with consumers. I have to agree with Leslie that it can only be beneficial for both parties to share ideas. Listing and responding are two best “by products” of social media tools. Also, corporations increase their credibility and trust to consumers. With every post or comment response, companies become more authentic. It’s a way to have personal relationship for even large corporation like Starbucks.
Hi there! My name is Anali and I work on the MyStarbucksIdea website. Thanks for the awesome summary of our online community! Glad you enjoy it