Starbucks Talking: Customer Survey Talk

I had a startling realization today when asked on a Starbucks survey how many times I visited a Starbucks shop in the last 30 days.  When my answer was 20, well, I thought, there may be something wrong with this picture.  That's an awful lot of green tea lattes.  More significantly, that's a lot of money going to Howard Schultz and his team in Seattle.  At just pennies under $4.50 for every grande green tea lotte that passes my lips, c'mon!  Yes, that's what it costs; here's the receipt. 

 
I've been justifying this extravagance by telling myself I deserve this more-than-a-little-luxury because I have been involved way too long in my apartment renovation here in Manhattan (it's a nightmare) and until this past week, did not even have a working sink since the end of May.  (Yes, folks, as many friends have reminded me, the scene was much like that of Kramer on "Friends" when he was seen washing his vegetables in the same tub where he would take a bath.) 

My little head story--the one I would tell myself to justify plunking down half the cost of a lunch salad for a cup of fancy pants tea--is that because things were so bleak in my non-kitchen at home, I could keep going by indulging in someone else making tea for me.  Yes it was a lame excuse. 

So today, on my daily trip to my friends at the 685 Third Avenue Starbucks location, I was handed a survey along with my receipt.  

 
I spent a fun-filled year doing surveys for Procter & Gamble so I love seeing how companies use them to connect with customers while they learn something in the process.

I came back to my office and did the survey.  Note my thanks from Starbucks is a free beverage.  It doesn't say whether my grande green tea latte will be my free beverage, but by the time I read this, I was hooked anyway.  So I answered their questions, trying to see what it was they are looking for.  Looks like they are analyzing just who buys coffee beans and ground coffee in the bag while in a Starbucks store.  And who is buying food and why.  Also, they are interested in the kind of service we receive from specific Starbucks locations and how neat the place is.  Who better to ask than the customers, right?

 
I would love to see just how many people take the survey as well as the back end analysis of the results.  Starbucks is good at engaging its customers at many stages of the Starbucks experience.  It's clear that even those handed a survey who don't bother to answer it may have at least a momentary thought about the fact that Starbucks seeks their opinion.  And those who do take it can't help but think positively about a company that so directly solicits their help.  Think of the low cost of this effort.  It costs them--at most--one beverage to get my survey answers.  Their real investment will be in the analysis. And, by the way, they've now got my email address so they can communicate again with me.

A survey is a conversation with one's customers.  And Starbucks is highly expert at keeping that conversation going. And going.  It's not just between me and my barista anymore... now I'm talking with Starbucks itself.  Whoo-ee. 

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Think of the low cost of this effort. It costs them--at most--one beverage to get my survey answers. Their real investment will be in the analysis. And, by the way, they've now got my email address so they can communicate again with me.

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