The New Focus Group, Courtesy of Starbucks

When retail business suffers and sales plummet, corporate executives scurry into action. They create focus groups, send out customer surveys and develop their own "fixes" based on what they think may or may not be wrong. But, when Starbucks' sales started dropping, the company took a different route. In typical Starbucks style, they created a whole new way of interacting with customers by creating an online social networking community--MyStarbucksIdea.com.

Except its not like MySpace or Facebook with profiles and such, rather it's an opportunity for real Starbucks customers to tell Starbucks what they need to do to increase loyalty and thus, sales. The new site was launched mid-March and within the first week had received more than 100,000 posts. Customers can share their ideas for improving service and products, vote on existing ideas, post comments on others ideas and, my favorite, see which ideas Starbucks is already implementing. Real life Starbucks employees (typically heads of specific departments) post how customer ideas are being implemented. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this!

Check out some of the changes Starbucks has made since the site launched in March:

Option to not print receipts
Complimentary wi-fi (It's about time! Currently, marked as "Coming Soon")
Punch card system
Coffee ice cubes
Flavored foam
Increased personal cup discount
Smaller portion sizes
Gluten-Free Options (WOOHOO-this is a big one for me!)
Vegan Options
Electronic sign showing song now playing
Birthday brew

I ended my love affair with Starbucks some time ago, as their lingo, lack of complimentary wireless Internet and wheat-laden goods no longer served my needs. Instead, I visited local coffee shops that let me order a "small" drink, gave me free wi-fi (no passwords or annoying fees included) and nosh on gluten-free biscotti. But with these changes in place, I'm reconsidering. Maybe I can start seeing Starbucks again...

Regardless of what I do, Starbucks is certainly setting the stage for how retail businesses handle sluggish sales. It's no longer acceptable to throw together slick ad campaigns or spend endless hours in corporate planning sessions. In today's retail environment, it's all about going directly to the people you serve.

Starbucks is truly creating a connection with their customers that they never had before. And that is absolutely invaluable.

Dell jumped on this idea last year with IdeaStore.com, hoping to turnaround its negative customer service image. So far, the new site has been very successful. Which begs the question:

"Is it better to listen to tens of thousands of customers vote on ideas, discuss them and participate with them over a period of a couple months, or get 10 customers in a room, feed them sandwiches and listen to them behind smoked glass?" said Bob Pearson, Dell's vice president of communities and conversations.

I couldn't have said it better myself Bob.

So, what do you think--is it time to ditch focus groups and instead create online communities to connect with customers? Or what's your favorite idea for turning Starbucks around? Leave your comments here.

--Heather Strang

Comments

[Ryan Mitton]

hey that's great for Sbux. they might have been reading seth godins blog. I think the now playing widget is creative.

we are actually just starting to implement this [customer's decide...not us] for the new mannequin heads we are designing.

cheers, I enjoy your posts, Ryan @ BigSmile Mannequins.