>A Letter to Howard Schultz at Starbucks

Special Project: Becky Carroll of Customers Rock! and Jay Ehret of The Marketing Spot

Howard Schultz has returned to Starbucks and promises a return to the customers experience. We salute that announcement. Starbucks holds a special place in our heart and we want to do our part to help Howard get it right.

Inspired by John Moore’s 2007 Manifesto : WHAT MUST STARBUCKS DO?, Becky and I have decided to work with Howard (even though he hasn’t hired us) to help Starbucks improve their customer experience in 2008.

Today we begin a series of posts that will continue throughout the year. We will analyze the current Starbucks experience, make suggestions for improvement, and then compare at the end of the year. You are invited to contribute with your comments and suggestions.

I begin with a personal letter to Howard. After reading, please visit Customers Rock! and read Becky’s letter.

It’s a lot to digest, so you may want to bookmark and revisit over the weekend. As you feel inclined, add your comments below.

Dear Howard,

This is a difficult letter for me to write. We’ve been so close over the years but somehow we drifted apart. You have no one to blame but yourself.

You left me and I had no one else to turn to but Jim. I’m not saying he was a bad guy, but he was different. He wasn’t as warm and comfortable as you were. The experience just wasn’t the same.
So now you just show up at my Starbucks again and everything’s supposed to be fine!? You gaze across the counter and offer me a $1 short cup with free refills. Just like that you think we can get back together again? I have more self-esteem than that.

Many people want me to let go. There is this tug to just be grateful of the past and move on. But it’s so hard to let go because we’ve been through so much together. I remember the first time you and I met. You were so passionate and pleasant.

Together we wrote those proposals, hosted business meetings and met friends for conversation. Now when I come in I feel you just want to sell me a bag of beans. It makes me sad to think that those times might be gone.

But, I’m not writing you to tell you that it’s over. No, I want to salvage what we once had and make it great again. You changed the way I drink coffee and I just can’t let go. I think we still have more experiences to share.

I’ve been talking to Becky over at Customers Rock! (don’t be mad at her) and we’ve been discussing ways we can recapture the experience we shared. She really wants to help us, Howard and she is trying to keep me positive during these emotional times. So on the next couple of pages, I’ve scribbled some notes. Please take the time to read them.

If you are serious about us getting back together, then you have to value my opinon. You’ve been gone for two years and there is a healing process that needs to take place.

After you read my suggestions, if you feel there is still hope, then call me so we can talk. I’d be happy to meet you at one of the six Waco Starbucks locations within 10 minutes driving time of my office.

Whatever happens, Howard, know that I will always treasure what we once had.

Jay

Page 1 Notes:

Okay, Howard. I’ve got some ideas on the next page, but these are some things that I think you should consider changing about our current experience. Forget your stock price for just a minute and think about us.

First
Let me say that the coffee is still great. I appreciate that you have not ever skimped on the coffee beans. I love the green tea too. You have never let the beverage quality fail so don’t let anyone ever say that about you.

But beyond that, Howard, there is nothing really that remarkable about the experience. I come in, I order my grande, non-fat misto, and then it’s up to me to do something. I can buy a CD, buy a bag of beans or leave. I’d like to sit down, but most of your chairs are made of wood and kind of cold. There’s also the fact that I have pay for WiFi if I want it.

Everything seems so commercial. The furniture, the displays, the presentation. There’s no heart. And I know that’s just not true of Starbucks, because the people you have working there are full of heart and personality. They’re friendly and like to talk. Yesterday I got in a conversation about PhotoShop with one of your baristas. PhotoShop!

But maybe that’s why things seem awkward between us. There’s nothing cohesive about our relationship.

The Menu Boards

Really Howard, I don’t know what to say about those menu boards. Maybe they just need to go altogether. They’re so long and there’s so much to read, some of the writing is so small. And they take up wall space too. Besides, who hasn’t been inside a Starbucks before? Everyone pretty much has their favorite.

Maybe we can take those down and put something else up.

Ok, Becky told me to be constructive too. So on the next page I’m going to give you some ideas that I think will help us regain that magic experience we used to share.

Page 2 Notes:

Here are some of my ideas, Howard. I hope you like them. Please know that I suggest these thing only as a way to help us get closer again.

IDEAS

– Remember on my first page of notes when I said there was nothing remarkable about my visits to Starbucks (except for some of your employees)? My first suggestion is that you need to add some charm back to the experience. Look for some moments, some mini-events, you can add to the experience that pleasantly surprise people. I like to call these moments magic spots.

– One thing I like about Starbucks is that not all the stores look the same. On the other hand, the design and layout of the individual stores don’t seem to have any personality. They just seem to be “assembled.” I think that takes away from the flow of the experience.

You might consider organizing your store designs, and experiences, around a theme. A couple theme suggestions you might use:

1. Getting Lost in Coffee – I know the new season of Lost just premiered last night, but I’m talking more about a journey through coffee. Maybe you could teach me more about coffee and all those amazing places around the world that grow the magical bean.

2. Conversation – What if you designed the store experience to be all about conversation? Give us comfy places to engage in conversation, give us conversation starters.

– WiFi. I’m not going to harp on this, Howard, but give me some free WiFi. In one of your Waco locations I can go across the parking lot to Panera Bread and get free WiFi. Instead of giving me a dollar cup of coffee, give me some free WiFi. I’ll pay more for the coffee.

That’s enough from me, Howard. But I have a lot of friends that feel the same way. Please sit down with Becky at Customers Rock! because she has some very good suggestions.

Also, look at the comments section below. All my friends and internet acquaintances are going to post their advice too. They care about us, Howard.

The Starbucks Experience Conversation:

2/2 update – What does this whole Starbucks thing have to do with small business marketing? Jim Clark has a great application about how the Starbucks experience applies to church growth:
Church Growth and a Cup of Starbucks

2/7 update – Paul Schwartz at Customer U asks What IS the Starbucks Customer Experience? This gets to the very core of the problem. What does Howard think the experience is, and how do customers define the Starbucks experience?

2/9 update – Maria Palma at Customers Are Always adds her suggestions with The Starbucks Project. Like most of us, Maria wants her Starbucks back.

2/11 update – Jim Durbin of Brandstorming gives us an interesting twist in Starbucks Getting Better And Better. Jim prefers the assembly-line, machine-produced beverage to that of a barista.

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