Wednesday, September 25, 2013

A Coffee Addict’s “Confession”



I have to say that I didn’t like drinking coffee before I came to New York City, or in other words I rarely drink coffee. However, I found New Yorkers are enjoying coffee anywhere and anytime. Then I download Starbucks’ app on my iPhone in order to feel NYC’s coffee culture. Since then I start to addicted into coffee little by little…

So what magic does this app have? Fundamentally because this app is very easy to navigate and very useful. For the details:

1. Payment Page (Important/Useful Index: ★★★★★)
Once you opened the app, the first emerging page is not home page but payment page. It’s because the objective of the app is to increase sales so that the payment should be the most important function. On the payment page, you can find your e-membership card, current balance and reload button. You can reload money to your account very fast (about half minute) by your credit card that has been binding. After you touch the “pay” button, you will see a bar code with your account number. And you can consume in Starbucks stores by scanning your bar code. Then you may ask me “why do mobile payment will be more convenient?”. I think the reason is most people will always hold their mobiles in their hands instead of their credit cards so they don’t need to get cards from their wallets.


2. Reward Page (Important/Useful Index: ★★★★)
Why I ranked reward page as the second one? It’s because the incentives will enhance customers’ stickiness and make them become loyal customers. On the reward page, you will see a Starbucks cup that filled with some stars. And these stars are actually your credits. You will get a star once you consume in Starbucks stores. As the stars increasing, you will get more and more benefits. There are three levels in Starbucks’ membership. The first level is welcome level (1-5 stars) that you cannot get any benefits or offers. The second level is green level (6-30 stars) that you can get little benefits like birthday reward. The third level is gold level (more than 30 stars) that you can get most benefits and offers like a free drink by collecting 12 stars and some coupons (e.g. 1$ off). The reward model motivated me to keep consuming in Starbucks stores to get more stars, and finally I became one of their loyal customers.


3. Home Page (Important/Useful Index: ★★★)
There are many functions on home page like product introduction, message, setting and help. Among these, product introduction and message are more important than the others. Product introduction gives customers more details about each product like available time and nutrition info. Moreover, you can customize your own drinks so that you can get a personalized drink easier. Message is mainly pushing offers and events, such as “bonus star holiday” and downloading free songs.

4. Gift Page & Search Page (Important/Useful Index: ★★)
Just for me, these two pages are less useful. But they may be more useful for others. On gift page, you can design your own e-gift card to your friends by emails or Facebook. On search page, you can find the nearest Starbucks stores. You really can find a Starbucks store everywhere.



This is Starbucks’ app, a green friendly app. I believe its success depends on two points: one is the simple and convenient function set; the other one is the effective incentives. This app makes me not only become Starbucks’ loyal customer, but also addict into coffee’s world.



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