New Starbucks website is like having a barista at home (sort of)

Visitors to starbuckscoffeeathome.com are able to determine their personal flavor profiles with the help of a five-question quiz, and they can request free samples before committing to a purchase. Gawker says the site is perfect for "a half-bright mole person." (Read the Advertising Age story)

Comments

[Anonymouse]

Caribou's had this same thing on their site for a few years now - you pick from among a list of taste preferences, and you get 3 possible coffee roasts that correspond. Only thing they don't have is a link to a free sampling, but I've never heard of anyone being turned down if they wanted to sample something at the store before a purchase. Starbucks is a little behind with the taste/blend preference quiz, as it is with the card rewards freebies. But overall a good practice! Welcome to the status quo!

[LEGENDARY OR BUST]

I liked it! What's a Daily Horizons coffee?? Is this something you can only get at grocery stores like many other Starbucks coffees?

[rightattitude]

LET'S PLAY...

Interpret an order!

When someone asks for a Coffee of the Day - do you think they want our daily, Pike OR do they want the Morning Pick?

When someone asks for a Grande regular - do they want our "regular", Pike, or any non-decaf coffee we currently are brewing?

When someone asks for a house (House?) coffee - do they mean mild? (Pike would apply here eventhough it's medium) or do they want ANY coffee (Bold included).

When they ask for a small? Do they mean short or tall? (OK, that last one was just for fun -- we all know they want a tall).

[Concerned]

WHY on earth is Starbucks wasting money on this stuff?

Who CARES about another flash-heavy website advertising SBUX. Isn't Starbucks.com enough? Plus, I hear that myStarbucksIdea.com isn't doing that great anyway right now (from a technical standpoint anyway)...

This company absolutely needs to focus on it's problems and try to correct them using targeted solutions, NOT some broad-based idea that just might work.

Plus, the cash they spent on that website (developers, designers, etc.) could go to something that would directly impact their current customers, not the hazy maybe-they'll-buy-something prospective clients out there. Push that money into the stores... give me a better coffee, provide me more service so I can get in, get my coffee quickly and politely and leave. Target your current customers so they'll buy more, don't advertise to people that may or may not actually buy something.

Plus, did you see the free samples? How can this company keep on giving away free things and still give guidance down on the company's sales and profitability?

This cannot be a sustainable path for Starbucks and, hopefully soon, they'll wake up and realize that.

[Mary Coffin Starbucks]

From the article:

"We want to make people understand that if you tried one [blend] and you didn't like it, it wasn't the right blend for you," said Ms. Pinero. "That doesn't mean the whole brand isn't right for you."

That's funny. Coffee sampling and tasting...not happening. Drip options, not happening. I agree, in stores... this is where to reach people.

Starbucks is a contradiction... offering consumers speed and choices with all their sweet drinks and having Pike Place day in and day out on tap.
I am so sad about Starbucks. All those yummy 1 lb. beans they have and they keep stocking up on Pike Place. I just don't understand what they are thinking, can someone explain. :)

[P.R.I.D.E.]

I think our American society has lost perspective and is generally willing to critique anything these days, because we (as a culture) have been living in the "its all about me" phase for a few years. Sometimes, whether you are a customer or a partner, you won't understand why decisions are made. Does that make it a bad decision? I would argue no. In past lives with other companies, I would often see decisions made that I didn't immediately buy into. But guess what, more often than not, if process was followed consistently, it would net out at a positive result. And then the other times, we would take away key learnings and move on.

However, when there is so much pushback about every stinkin detail regarding improvements, then they never really live. And then you hear "See, I told you so" when in reality, if we had just let it live, and if we would do what we need to do, regardless of whether we personally are 100% bought in, I'll bet we could really make things improved.

Being in the service industry, you would think we would a)be a company ready to serve and b)have customers who hold perspective and truly value that we are working our arses off to please them.

Concerned- you may not care about a new progressive website (aka channel) but guess what? We also serve a demographic that would only be accessed via the web- that'd be the young, tech savvy demographic. Just because it doesn't meet your need, doesn't mean it's not meeting someone else's need. Again, remember perspective. Also, you call out your interpretation of what Starbucks should be- quick, speady, quality, and in and out in a polite fashion. Sounds like you're not interested in frills (and that's fine, I don't see anything wrong with it). However, we have a core customer base that is probably offended with your interpretation. They see starbucks as a place to lounge, to conversate, to leisure, and they just might make your wait in line a few minutes longer.

Mary- Starbucks is a contradiction because we are trying to meet too many needs of our customers. It seems we are in a lose-lose situation right now, as we either meet everyone's needs (and have a million blogs and articles complaining about it) or we meet our core customer's needs, in which case we risk losing those that don't agree with our decisions.

I wonder- which is better (or worse)?

[SBUXbarista]

Starbucks needs to decide if its going to be a : drive thru, automated, in and out service, wash your hands, thank-you-have-a-nice-day, understaffed place OR a sit down and stay for a while and chew over the daily news coffee house. I hope its the later.

Does your shift manager tell you that you have to say Thank You to the customers? I find these programmed things annoying. That kind of Thank You is really a way of saying Go Away, You Got Your Drink Now Leave.

[Cali ASM]

OMG Sbuxbarista...those are my thoughts exactly!

I too have been feeling lately that Sbux needs to decide whether or not it wants to be an actual coffee house where quality and atmosphere come first or do they want to be another fast food joint with speed of service and drive-thrus and lots and lots of retail merchandise.

I don't think the company can make up its mind. I understand the latter is probably what brings in the most profit, but I don't think they can have it both ways. Many of you who have posted on the site sound like you agree with this.

Please let me know if you do agree or disagree with this. Also, I would love to hear a customer's perspective on this as well.

[Sho Nuff]

RightAttitude: 'Coffee of the day, 'Regualar coffee', or 'House coffee' = Pike Place, in my opinion. If they ask for House, I'll make sure they know they are getting Pike Place, though...

Our customers seem to know to say 'Morning Pick' or 'Bold' if they want it.

We also started telling our regulars who only drink bold that when we only have Pike in the afternoon, that they can add a shot of espresso for that extra boldness.

[Jj]

I have tried every single coffee starbucks has ever made in the last 2 years, and I'm talking every one, in store online, and promo, and this was 100% spot on with my absolute favorite, VERONA!

[Ruby Doomsday]

Hmmm... somebody's got some skills in Flash design!

Anyway, it totally nailed my favorite coffee but I don't really know if it would be so accurate for someone who hasn't already sampled a bunch of the coffees and been taught extensively how to taste them, measure the body, gage the acidity, etc. I mean, if you hadn't already one a few tastings, comparatively I don't know that you'd really understand what you wanted your coffee to smell like! You'd be looking at that quiz going "earth? spices? where the heck is the one that smells like COFFEE!?"

I don't know... to me it seems like more of a cute little diversion for baristas and customers who already know their favorites than a particularly functional tool for Joe Average trying to buy his first pound of Starbucks beans.

It was definitely fun though, and pegged my fave -- Espresso Roast.

[Me]

For me it said Sumatra is the best. I HATE Sumatra. It's way to earthy. I don't want to bite the dust just yet... ;-)
Guatemala Casi Cielo rules!
How can the programm be so far off?
I'm a three year partner and coffee master, so it can't be me answering the questions wrong.
But like someone said before. Nice Flash Programming.
Just another tool to get cheap media coverage. If you look at it this way, I guess the development costs were well worth it.
People talk about it (and Starbucks) so it can't be too bad! :-)

[S]

If my "perfect flavor" was the espresso roast, (sorry, here's a potentially dumb question) does that mean that I can only taste that grind in espresso form?

[raspberrywmocha]

Looks like someone from in the Starbucks website department got a little bored! Kidding aside, although this site probably won't be frequented too often, I think it's a great tool for educating customers & especially baristas.

I'll definitely recommend this website to the next customer I get who is trying to find the perfect coffee for them. And also, I never though to use those cute analogies with customers (asking if they like the body of their coffee light like skim milk or heavy like whole milk, or if they like their coffee lightly or darkly roasted, comparing it to a toasted marshmallow).

[Ruby Doomsday]

S, that's not a dumb question at all -- a lot of people think that! But no, you can get your Espresso whole beans ground for the filter type you have, and it makes a really delicious drip coffee. It's actually my favorite bean and I make Espresso Roast drip coffee at home all the time.

[Alex]

This is fun to play around with and get it to suggest a specific coffee. Getting it to pick House, for example, was easy :P

[StLouieDrip]

This tool seems geared to those who go to the supermarket to buy their sbux coffee? But when I ventured out to buy my first pound of sbux coffee, when I wasn't quite sure of which one to choose, I went to the actual sbux store. That's because I thought someone who worked at the sbux store would be the ideal person to guide me (yes, naïve, I know). Turns out I didn't get much help from those in the stores, and I also didn't buy the coffee. I did get a little help, and then the comment, "can you call back tomorrow when our Manager will be here? He knows much more about this and will be able to answer all your questions." That's really a bad sign, when the person who works at the store doesn't know the product well enough to help a customer, and then sends the customer away empty-handed.

Simple common sense says that the actual sbux store should also have some information and tools to help a customer choose a coffee. And lots of people who are trying to choose a coffee for the first time are going to think of going directly to the source, to the sbux store, not to the internet. And if I make the trip all the way to the store to buy a pound of coffee, and if the barista then says "Oh, did you know sbux has a website that can help you decide? I'll give you the URL," well, that's really just gonna piss me off.

But a few weeks ago I was again looking over the coffee beans at the sbux store, and someone (who I now think must have been a manager) saw me and came over to answer my questions, to help me choose. He asked me questions, and based on my comments he gave me a few ounces of beans to take home to try. Very nice. And legendary. I was surprised and delighted. And impressed. I really wish there were more like him. But I also feel very sorry for him, that someone special like him works for this conflicted and misguided company.

[Cali ASM]

STLOUIEDRIP:
I'm sorry that happened to you. You bring up a very good point. Sbux employees should have at least a basic knowledge of the coffee they sell in their stores.

I work there and I'm disappointed at this as well.

[Me]

What do you expect with all these teenagers running around behind the counter, not going anywhere near a decent coffee but getting London-, Paris-, Bombay- or whatever else kind of weird Fogs or Frappuccinos...
btw. Just had a like 14 year old coming in getting a venti extra whip vanilla bean frapp and a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie. Wow, what's that? like 1500 calories after nine at night? sheesh...

[Stereotypes]

In my store is usually adults or pre-teens that get Frapps. The teenagers are usually the latte or black coffee drinkers.