On Tuesday, Starbucks announced new features introduced to its mobile app as well as changes to the Rewards program in order to improve the customer’s experience. The company not only changed its image on Starbuck’s mobile app by collaborating with Spotify and Lyft but also re-arranged how the Rewards program works.
Starbucks had Spotify and Lyft collaborating in order to bring customers a better experience. The Starbucks Rewards program was a huge asset for the company as it allowed customers to earn free rewards for every time they made a purchase in Starbucks. Now, the mobile app’s revamp has made the vast majority of its customers criticize Starbucks as they have made earning free rewards quite difficult, and expensive.
Before the revamping of the app for smartphones, customers received 1 star per visit to Starbucks and with a total of 12 stars they earned a free reward. Which seemed a pretty good deal for customers and encouraged them to go to Starbucks and therefore, increased the company’s sales exponentially. Now, the company’s reward program has experienced a major change in its deal with customers, generating a nationwide rejection of it for the lack of incentive to loyal customers.
Starbucks changed the rewards program from getting 1 star per visit to each customer, to get two stars for every dollar spent. A deal that doesn’t add up in the minds of its customers, especially considering the high prices for coffee in Starbucks.
Starbucks Reward Program just got expensive
Customers would now have to spend over $60 in order to get a free reward, because instead of reaching 12 stars to get it, now customers have to earn 125 stars. Given the reaction of Starbucks’s loyal customers to the new rewards platform, the company may have shot itself in the foot on this one.
Making a drastic change as going from points per visit to points per dollar spent, customers have every right to get mad, as the concept of free reward falls through the cracks. It’s not free if customers pay for it and coffee drinkers are well aware of that.
However, Starbucks also changed the leveling platform and increased the requirements to get from the Green tier to the Gold tier. Customers who prefer Starbucks among its competitor such as Dunkin’ Donuts, could me migrating towards their competitors after the new Rewards Program kicked in on Tuesday. In order to get from Green to Gold, customers would have to earn 300 stars, which could be roughly translated around $150.
Source: Tech Crunch