Powered by Salesforce, My Starbucks Idea brews customer feedback and community engagement

Challenge

• Starbucks, the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world, wanted to take its culture of listening to its customers online and build a community that would let it engage with customers and partners (employees) in a dynamic way
• Required community management tools to track and implement the best ideas
• Needed a technology platform on which to quickly roll out an innovative “I’m in,” campaign that would integrate with the company’s 10,000 physical stores; social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and digg; and the HandsOn Network of volunteers

Solution

• Launched My Starbucks Idea—with salesForce.com’s ideas functionality—in 6 weeks
• My Starbucks idea, www.mystarbucksidea.com, which gives customers an opportunity to participate in conversations with the company, was customized to mirror the look and feel of the Starbucks brand
• By contributing ideas, votes, and comments in 13 categories ranging from drinks to decor, customers and partners collaborated with Starbucks, with the most popular ideas floating to the top
• A team of 40 Starbucks moderators actively participate in the My Starbucks idea community and shepherd the best ideas from concept to launch
• An internal My Starbucks Idea community lets partners share, vote on, and discuss partner-specific topics ranging from electronic pay stubs to tips on credit cards
• Sales teams in the Foodservice and Business-to-Business Starbucks Card groups also use the Sales Cloud

Results

• More than 92,000 total ideas submitted on My Starbucks Idea, more than 760,000 total votes received, and more than 150,000 comments posted
• More than 90 ideas implemented as a result of My Starbucks Idea