Your new post is loading...
So why fix something that not only isn’t broken, but which has been the most significant driver of Starbucks’ top and bottom-line growth, according to their CEO (see one of numerous Howard Schultz quotes here)? Because some clever users figured out a way to optimize their spending to get over rewarded.
Starbucks does sell some items priced at around $1, so a user could have spent as little as $30 over 30 visits to achieve Gold status. After reaching that Gold status, that user would be entitled to any of the most expensive drinks on the menu, like a venti Frappuccino, for free — after only 12 more visits totaling a spend of only $12. So in response, the brilliant change Starbucks made to the loyalty program was to make it spend-based. And they also increased the stars-gathered requirement for a free item to about a bazillion stars.
This is broken on so many levels, but there are already enough rants out there about the new loyalty program. What really bugs me is how they missed a few simple points:...
Good look at how Starbucks broke its leading loyalty program and angered tens of thousands of loyal customers.