How Starbucks Hooked Me With Their Loyalty Program

12:46 AM, Saturday (Friday Night). I am at Starbucks and working on a project of mine. Usually, I love to work late till 1 or 2 AM and I do it in a cafe, and my favorite cafe is Starbucks. Suddenly a thing strikes my mind, why do I always come to Starbucks which is 20 mins walk from my home, rather than going to any cafe which is 5-10 minutes away from my home. My thinking was interrupted by a barista (whom I know for almost 2 years), who was asking me about how am I doing today and how was my week so far along with how was the coffee. And instantly it strikes my mind, actually I hooked up with Starbucks and this is one of the reasons behind it, the compassion and service of Starbucks.

There is another reason also and I am going to talk about that one in this article. The loyalty program of Starbucks Thailand. Starbucks Rewards Program has nearly 20 million members. The Rewards Program has a reloadable card that launched in the USA on November 14, 2001. It offers customers to add money to a card/application and can receive many special offers such as discounts and free drinks when they pay through the loyalty card/app.

This program has worked very well because it can keep customers purchasing and create new customers at the same time through collecting points, special offers, and gifts. All of these could make a relationship with customers.

Moreover, online campaigns on social media have led My Starbucks Rewards to become successful. The social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook combine different marketing strategies which are the promotion mix including sales promotion and advertising products, social interaction with users, and creating online word-of-mouth. Posing content is the key factor of these elements. Starbucks influences customers to purchase beverages through My Starbucks Rewards by posting its campaigns on Facebook and Twitter. The campaign combines extra privileges for Starbucks’ members, for instance, free upsize of beverages and free gifts.

All in all, My Starbucks Rewards does not only provide special offers and discounts to create successful customer loyalty; it is required to combine an application, technology, and online campaign. An application can provide convenience to customers which creates the decision of purchasing and technology can allow Starbucks to collect data from mobile users which has very high value for online marketers. They also provide different kinds of online campaigns to promote the benefits of this loyalty program and posting on social media platforms can lead to viral marketing by sharing content among users.

Through My Rewards Program, Starbucks have reinvented their relationship with customers and captured enormous value through its investment in digital technologies. A Harvard research quotes that — “The Starbucks Reward Loyalty Program has a staggering 16 million active members (as of March 2019), with 11% growth of their user base in Q2 2018. Starbucks attributes 40% of its total sales to the Rewards Program and has seen same-store sales rise by 7%.”