In the world of CRM, knowledge is power. When Starbucks launched what appeared to be a social networking site in early 2008, critics blasted the idea as a transparent PR gimmick designed to give the company the appearance of listening to its customers. While some hard-core detractors of Seattle's coffee giant are upset that their ideas haven't been picked up over the last year, the My Starbucks Idea is a very public version of the method many marketers use to tweak product offerings using CRM software.
By measuring customer satisfaction on a more frequent basis, marketers can easily spot trends ranging from problems in an individual store to the need to open new locations. However, many product development specialists have realized that carefully targeted surveys, over time, can help track suggestions that bubble up into viable, new products.
A long-running problem in market research has been that customers with an axe to grind can find ways to skew survey results. When I worked in radio, we often joked that a call from an unhappy listener reflected the silence of seven totally satisfied listeners. And that's just at a small-town radio station. Imagine how many customers rarely take the time to call or write with stories about how much they like your product, or what they would like to see next.
At Starbucks, some customers complained vocally about how they didn't like the idea of breakfast sandwiches. However, after looking at sales data and feedback from survey respondents, CEO Howard Schultz decided to refine the morning meals instead of scrapping them. Too many customers voted with their wallets, despite the chorus of informal protest.
Whether or not to make the process of idea generation public is a matter for marketers to decide. While some long-time customers dislike the ideas bouncing around on Starbucks' social network, the website is credited with generating or justifying recent modest successes. More importantly, the effort indicates a willingness among large brands to use CRM systems to weed out squeaky wheels from more influential, regular purchasers.
Has anything tangible come from MyStarbucksIdea.com? I'll report back soon.
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