OPEN THREAD conversation-starter: Your thoughts on the redesigned Starbucks Web site?

In redesigning their Web sites, corporations put a lot of thought into what they want the look to say about the company -- what kind of image they want to put out to the public. Here is the redesigned Starbucks page. What I see in it: a company that's organized (the top menu is nice), has embraced social networking, and is very safe (i.e. not very edgy). Your thoughts? Discuss this or anything else Starbucks-related in the OPEN THREAD.

Comments

[Doppio Conkarma]

Looks like the wifi section is laid out far more intuitively and easily, hopefully it should save many a partner from having to explain the dealio

[ash_sk8s]

I definitely like it better than the last design!

[fl barista]

Anyone else part of the "florida pricing initiative" that launched this week?

I didn't find out about it until things started ringing up funny on the POS, then I noticed that just about every drink except for tall coffee cost 30 cents more, with pastries costing on average 20 cents more. Grande latte is up over $4 now, but we're also so supposed to expose the "$4 coffee myth"?? Well it's not so mythical, is it? Venti frappuccinos over $5, with Java Chip and S/C approaching $6!

Loads of unhappy customers... first there was the price increase last fall, then we took hell for canceling the gold card, and now we're getting it again!

[Munchkin]

The store finder section is also much better. According to the old Starbucks website, a store in my area was located in the middle of a lake. The problem seems to be fixed now. They still need to do a better job of keep things up to date, though. For instance, stores in my area have had warming ovens for a while, yet the store locator does not indicate that they do. That's bad for business.

[SBUX Customer]

So glad they added store hours to the store locator. This was one of my suggestions in mystarbucksidea.

[SBUX Customer]

The menu on the new site is much easier to locate. On the old site it was more difficult/not intuitive to find.
Also, nice to see new photos of all the beverages.

[espresso]

I like that the menu is easier to find. It's a simple design that's pleasing to the eye.

[me myself and I]

The design looks okay to me. But the first thing I noticed was, they still prominently feature Casi Cielo, even though we are sold out for the last two and a half weeks and won't get any more. That's misleading.

fl barista, aren't you still fighting with the tea customers over not having the cheap tea and tea misto options anymore? WE had a price increase in Ontario a few weeks back and people are still bi+ching and moaning about it.

[Christinschu]

you can still buy casi cielo from the website.

[Foam]

Store hours with store locator. Awesome! The whole site just looks more organized and clean.

[Jon (AKA @halfbrown)]

Giant Flash covering most of the above-the-fold section FTL. :( Everything else seems nice, though.

[SBUX Customer]

The store locator button on the home page should work the same way the country selection button works: Hover your mouse over the store locator button and a list of states drops down or you can enter your zip code.

[sbuxdrama]

The enormous and intrusive Flash element and tiny text send this one crashing into the loss column for me. Function beats form every day of the week.

From a usability standpoint, the Flash element wastes a huge amount of screen real estate that could be better used for other things.

No one took a step back and asked "What do users coming to Starbucks.com want to do?" How many people would put watching slideshows/videos high on that list?

I visit a corporate Web site for information - which they at least present well - although stuffed in an array of menus and sub-menus.

[Charlie B]

Store locator lost at least one function. You could enter a state name as either the full name or two letter abbreviation and it showed you all the stores.

[Charlie B]

For me, the list of stores is more usable than clicking on the map. before when traveling, I would save the web page with the list and could look at it without an internet connection.

The saved list solves one of those chicken and egg things - how to find a StARabucks to get an Internet connection. If I need a connection to find a Starbucks then I'll stay where I am.

[Marcus]

Well, technology-wise, I'm not a fan of Flash. Design wise, it's better, but they should put the boxes from under the flash area to the right of the flash area instead. Most screens are much wider than they are tall these days.

[baroosta]

How are you guys responding to the Partner View Survey? I just did mine today and I was pretty honest about my feelings. What did you guys think about Howard's video at the end of the survey?

[cheapredapron]

My SM would probably have a heart attack if our partners "wasted" precious labor to complete something they care nothing about to begin with. I hope everyone is honest with their responses. Although those who are will probably be "held accountable" for something and separated shortly after.

[Sheik]

Coming out of lurking to say...

The new website is 100% Flash, right?

Not so great for future iPad users!!

[short.crs.l]

Anyone else having trouble signing in @ mystarbucksidea? I click Sign In, but it doesn't do anything.

[2ndAmendmentSupporter]

I'm VERY nervous about being honest on the partner survey. 100% anonymous but you have to log in using your partner #. I wonder how long till people start getting canned for their "anonymous feedback"...

[Charlie B]

Sheik:Not so great for future iPad users!!

Starbucks has a pretty decent non-Flash iPhone app that will run on the iPad.

[Erik]

On another note unrelated (hey, it's the weekend thread, no?), what ever happened to lemon-poppyseed scones? This is my only real complaint regarding Starbucks (well, having given up on the smaller scone size issue). I REALLY miss them.

[Barista G]

What do current partners think of the survey? At the end I was a bit nostalgic and almost started drinking the kool-aid, but Howard himself said he can't win partners back with words alone. It's going to take a lot of changes. They can't change everything, but they could put forth a huge effort. I hope a lot of store partners are open and honest so that corporate can't deny the fact that a lot of partners are unhappy.
I like my job. I enjoy the work, I love the pace, I like the people. The only things that have made this job unpleasant for me is the looming corporate presence that has sucked the fun out of the business. I don't hate it, because it's a necessity. Still, I resent the way it's expanded enough to drown out a lot of the good feelings from before.
Still, I have hope. This is in part because I know how many people drink the kool-aid, and how Howard once had this company highly ranked among the best places to work. A lot of it is because I have some great partners working with me, and the customers give me a reason to come back. Of course, I can't deny that a size-able portion is simply because I need stable income in an unstable economy while I finish school (Lack of alternatives, check). Anyway, I ask again, what does everyone else think about the survey and our direction?

[Ocean2]

1) you don't have to put in your partner number to take the survey.
2)The only thing that they could do to figure out who took the survey when, is to see which store summited the survey and also who was taking the survey at that time.

I've been a partner for 3.5yrs, I have worked and opened a lot stores, and this is the first time that Starbucks has created a survey worth doing.. I like how the first thing that they asked you is:

What has made you fall out of love with working at Sbux
Then
What new changes have made you stay in love with Sbux

Throughout the survey i was 100% I get the business world, that sbux has to change to stay afloat, that's common sense.. but I did direct some of the things i said directly at Uncle howie..

To the first question I said:
I have fallen out of love with my job at sbux when ecosure came around, and the focus became on how clean is the drain, instead of how well do you the regulars, or how good is that espresso tasting..

I also said that the community fell out of love at sbux when they basically cut all college students and mom's who could only work 13hrs a week, but yet they had a huge pull in from regulars who loved coming in for them.

I spent about an hour on it, and some of the wording was off or not done right.. My SM made sure every partner took part in it.

[microgrind]

Trying to keep up with Intelligensia. It is a copy of their website but it still does not look near as good. Starbucks has become a follower in so many ways.

[2ndAmendmentSupporter]

Ocean2: How do you take the survey? I was told you had to log into the Partner Cafe on the laptop to take it using your global username....

[spence]

The survey is not studied by Starbucks. It is done by an independent company which then gives the analysis, etc. to Starbucks. This is done so that it can be annonymous.

[LEGENDARY OR BUST]

I am mad because on the front page of starbucks.com a lady is talking about A SKINNY CM. This is after we have educated all of our customers that a CM cannot be made skinny, an official Starbucks rep on the FRONT page of the official SBUX site is endorsing it saying it is not on the menu but you can still order ANY drink skinny.

[LEGENDARY OR BUST]

http://www.starbucks.com/blog/3126/how-to-skinny-your-beverage

How to Skinny Your Beverage
Jan 29, 2010
by Katie T., MS, RD, senior nutritionist
You’ve probably heard of our sinfully delicious, guilt-free Skinny Lattes – available in Caramel, Vanilla, Hazelnut and Cinnamon Dolce. These treats each come in around 90 calories, 0g fat and 9g protein for a Tall (12 fl oz) serving. Plus they have about 30% of your U.S. daily value in calcium.

But with a few simple substitutions, you can make just about any drink Skinny. One of my favorites is a Skinny Caramel Macchiato. It’s not on the menu – it’s simply a Caramel Macchiato made with nonfat milk and sugar-free vanilla syrup. You can still keep the caramel drizzle topping for a little added indulgence and have only about 110 calories.

Here is how to make your favorite drink Skinny:

Opt for nonfat milk. That saves up to 120 calories and 15g fat.
Switch to sugar-free syrup. That trims off about 20 calories and 5g sugar per pump of syrup!
Hold the whip. Whipped cream adds about 50 to 110 calories and 5 to 11g of fat to your drink.
Here are some additional ways to shave calories in your favorite drink:

Choose an iced drink. When you add ice, you displace some of the milk. So while you’ll be missing out on a little calcium, you’ll be saving a few calories. For example, a Tall Skinny Vanilla Latte is about 90 calories; the Iced version is only about 60.
Add espresso. An espresso shot has about 5 calories. Adding a shot of espresso displaces an ounce of the milk, which lowers the overall calories. For example, an Iced Tall Nonfat Latte is about 70 calories. Add a shot, and you have an Iced Double Tall Nonfat Latte at approximately 60 calories.
Ask for extra foam. The foamier the milk, the less calories in the drink. This is why a Cappuccino has fewer calories than a Caffè Latte.
A disclaimer: Calorie numbers will vary depending on the type and size of the drink, of course. Because we make our drinks by hand, nutrient values may vary, but they reflect our standard recipes and retail operating procedures.

[LEGENDARY OR BUST]

"But with a few simple substitutions, you can make just about any drink Skinny"

You mean, we no longer have only 4 skinny drinks??

Can I have a skinny peppermint white mocha? a skinny latter (=notfat latte).

Thanks for making our jobs easier...

[Melody]

@LegendaryOrBust: I'd like to order a skinny Trenta Iced Vanilla Latte please! ;-) ;-)

[LEGENDARY OR BUST]

Melody, I LIKE you and all but HOW are you on every social website, every twitter topic devoted to the Bucks, here, your own site, on MSI and you STILL get your work done? Are you a GTDer or something? I see your anywhere there is Sbux discussion on the net. It's like you cloned yourself :)

[Melody]

@LegendaryOrBust - Honestly, I'm completely exhausted right now. Horribly exhausted. I had no idea how much work a blog is. I somewhat regret it. I try to create original content rather than just scan the news for what's sexy in the news, as Jim does. It was easy before to tweet, write a few MSI posts, and read this site before and after work (I don't use facebook). Now I am just tired. I can feel it in my eyes.

[harmaa]

How's the art contest going, Melody? I'm still bummed about not entering, though I might submit my current board.

[LEGENDARY OR BUST]

@Melody. I am hoping you are taking care of yourself.

Honestly, I see many customers day after day who OBVIOUSLY aren't sleeping enough. I mean, I get them their venti bolds twice a day, but they just LOOK tired.

One guys runs his own landscaping company, and with the amount of snow lately everywhere, I am sure he has had his work cut out for him. But coffee, I don't think, should be treated as a drug to combat sleepiness. I can tell from myself that it DOES work great to jumpstart my day after I only had 4 hour of sleep the last 3 night. However, when I crash on the weekends, I crash horribly with baggy eyes for two days later and G-d knows what other health issues arising from this seemingly innocent play with my nature-dictated sleep pattern.

I am sure this is preaching to the choir, but I just had to say it to re-encourage myself to watch how late I stay up :D

[Melody (@Legendary or Bust)]

@Legendary or Bust - I hope you don't mind if I rant a little more about this. (Jim, feel free to delete this if you don't like me talking so much about my blog on here, or experiences with it).

On a personal note, what I was doing in 2009 is much easier than what I am doing in 2010. On 1-1-10 I moved into a more challenging position within my office, meaning that suddenly even my lunch hours are now far more precious. This is part of the reason the blog is a wear and tear. Also, in 2009 I had more content to write about it, and now I'm worried about running out of content. Last year was definitely easier.

Also, I've learned a lot about my relationship with Starbucks. I somewhat hope that they'll push in me the right direction of content, but that's not a realistic expectation on my part. They seem very disinterested in me from what I can tell: I can't blame them. I get it. I'm not dumb and I understand that all I do is occasionally wear on their precious time constraints at the headquarters. There is no logical reason for them to be helpful to me: They can produce their own blogs and they don't need me.

But so the lesson I've learned is that even though I have a handful of contacts within the SSC, it doesn't help me at all to come up with content.

Very early on, I had a conversation with an SSC partner about old Clover menus. I was actually looking for Nov 2007 to Dec 2007 marketing materials describing the Starbucks Black and Tan (double strength Italian Roast, cap foam, sugar in the raw, freshly ground nutmeg). I don't have those old materials, and asked the SSC partner if she could perhaps dig them up for me. The answer I got was, "Melody you got to give me some compelling reason." I remember that well, because I thought, hmmm, I don't have a compelling reason other than I hoped you'd do that for me. I took that as a "no" and made a mental note about that and have never asked since for old marketing materials.

I've often thought about the idea of a tour of the Kent Roasting Plant as a blog post. The lesson I learned is that getting into Fort Knox would be easier. I tried a couple of times in a few emails and gave up. It's a "no" from Starbucks. And let me make it clear, I get - yes I completely get - why it's a "no". It's an active roasting plant and tours only get in the way of actual roasting operations.

I would freakin' love to interview the big H for the blog, but that ain't never going to happen. I can dream a little, but I absolutely realize again, he has no time for me. I can still dream though.

On the plus side, once in a blue moon I've contacted a few people within the coffee department to figure out things like, 'What does Casi Cielo pair with?' and the coffee department is always friendly to me. But I can't pester them either ... They have a job to do!

So coming up with content is a royal PITA. It's my blog, and I can't expect Starbucks to help.

My only reward for the blog is the emotional satisfaction of creating a community - the comments. There are no ads, and Howard & co are never going to send me a line saying, 'great job'. They need to acknowledge their great partners first before looking at outsiders.

But when I look at the idea of what I wanted to do with my blog, my ideas most closely match what Coca Cola is already doing:

http://www.coca-colaconversations.com/my_weblog/

^ It would be so much easier to be a big Coca Cola fan and not a Starbucks fan. Sigh. There it is: A brand themed blog with both a current topics and a historian perspective. At times there are even reader contributions showing off their cool collectibles. Why doesn't Starbucks have a "Phil Mooney" in their employ?

And I realize that I can't even keep up with who is doing what at Starbucks. People shuffle around fast at the SSC it seems from my perspective. I'm not even sure who is an executive anymore.

Last night, I was quite surprised by something: I was at a Starbucks taking some pics, getting ready for my Trenta blog post. It was absolutely busy in the store.

Finally, I was still there when it quieted down and a barista told me that she wished it was quieter because she wanted to introduce to me to new "design exec David" who came and left while I was there. I had no idea who he was, and likewise, he had no idea who I was. (And seemingly he didn't notice the girl taking photos of a the Trenta cup in downtown Seattle. LOL).

I had hoped that with the overhaul of the Starbucks website we might get Starbucks Conversations like Coca Cola conversations. That would be perfect. I'd have a reason to stop blogging.

This is a long post! Sorry Jim. It'll be like my whole week's worth of comments just on one Sunday morning. ;-)

[Asher]

@2ndAmendmentSupporter -- you do not have to log into the Landing Page or Partner Cafe to take the survey. When you open the landing page, there is a link for the survey which you can select without signing in. It will ask you for your store's password, your position, and your store number.

[Shrug (@Melody)]

If it helps if I an employee tried to find out about something Starbucks related then I am out of luck as well. Communication at Starbucks is terrible. Period. Most of my store has not heard about your website and most of what they hear comes from me after I read your website. You ARE our communication. As a barista I truly feel like you might not have a number, but that you are a partner. So thank you for all of your troubles. Most of us do appreciate you.

[spence]

We need a new blog. It should be called, "Melody is great"

[Melody (@Spence)]

I'm going to assume that's sarcasm Spence.

[buckaroo]

My manager had me do the survey during my time on the floor, which really bothered me, because he simultaneously had the printout posted up in the back room that *clearly* said managers are to schedule partners for time before or after a shift to take the survey. But he just randomly told me to go do it in the middle of my shift. He also told me it should only take 15 minutes, then kept coming back and making comments like "wow, that must be a long survey, huh?" I felt totally pressured to go back out on the floor because it was only him and one other partner out there and they were very busy. But I stayed and finished the damn survey. I spent something like 45 minutes on it. It seemed thorough and I appreciated that, and I sure as hell wasn't going to rush and not give my thoughts for the one instance where Starbucks was actually allowing me to voice my thoughts. So yeah. I was very honest but tried not to rant or rail unnecessarily. I really hope others will do the same. Be honest. Keep your responses simple and to the point so that they will be effective. Don't use it as a bashing-board. And yes, be HONEST! That's the only hope I have that it could do some good, if all the partners are honest. It does seem like Starbucks realizes to a degree that partners overall are more unhappy, based on the video at the beginning and Howie's message at the end of the survey. Hopefully they will take it somewhere and it wont just be a bunch of fluff meant to placate us. I hope they really do take the survey results to heart and then act on them to improve the experience for partners (which would then improve the experience for most everyone else it seems).

[JadedConsumer]

Starbucks' site is broken, and Starbucks doesn't seem in a hurry to fix it.

So the new site is a failure, but Starbucks' failure is deeper than that.

[Jumping Bean]

Melody, perhaps starbucks wants to tell it's own story about the roasting process free from your editorials.

[Shrug.]

Starbucks like most companies have entire departments that are very conscious that only very certain things that they choose ever meets the press. Hence our no talking to press policy you should all see on your back room boards. Melody to them is considered press, good or bad, and is probably not given much access to anything except what they WANT her to report. There is a reason journalists have to dig for stories.

[acne on chin]

I can't fault starbucks!!! yummm yuuuum

[chin acne]

Everything is normal. However, I still like stay at Starbuck

ps: now, I'm using wifi in startbuck :)

[DIY Solar Panels]

Starbucks have a good rep as a community hub, with the free wifi, comfy couches or chairs and stuff. They should be pushing that in their branding. Their coffee isn't bad (better than GJ) so its really about pulling in the punters with other ways.