Starbucks faces backlash over My Rewards
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Starbucks has been slammed by customers angry about losing out on benefits under the new loyalty scheme My Rewards.
Since launching the Starbucks My rewards programme last week (5 January) Starbucks Facebook page has been inundated with complaints calling it “disappointing ” and “badly thought out”. Many have threatened to defect to rivals such as Costa, Pret a Manger and Nero.
Regular customers have complained that Starbucks card users no longer receive 50p off filter coffee, that an offer giving a free drink with the purchase of a bag of Starbucks ground coffee has been revoked and that the 50 stars necessary to retain “Gold membership” is too high, and more than the 30 stars required by US customers.
The chain is also facing criticism that the scheme only rewards the number of transactions, rather than the value, which means that customers buying multiple drinks in one transaction only receive one loyalty star, rather than one star per drink.
Starbucks concedes that while it is removing these offers, it has chosen to do so because the majority of customers are latte and cappuccino drinkers and only a small minority of its customers chose filter coffee, adding that the new scheme has been designed to reward all customers irrespective of what drink they chose.
A spokeswoman for Starbucks says: “We appreciate that a small number of customers on social media are being very vocal, in our stores we’re seeing a positive movement towards the My Rewards scheme and record traffic on our site for people registering cards and opting in to offers. by far, latte and cappuccino are our best sellers and only a small percentage of sales is filter coffee. The scheme looks at rewarding a lot more people than the previous niche offer.”
She adds that Starbucks will take feedback on board but could not say whether the 50p off filter coffee deal would be reinstated at a later date.
Starbucks is also answering questions via social media and that its store staff are well briefed to talk to customers about the details.
When asked by Marketing Week about early criticisms on Facebook as the UK programme launched, Brian Waring, Starbucks vice president of marketing for the EMEA region, insisted that “no one will lose benefits” because existing registered users will automatically become Gold members.
Waring also highlighted that the scheme “subtly” differs from the US scheme by rewarding frequency of visits to Starbucks above additional products to customise drinks.
Read a Q&A with Brian Waring on the day of the launch of My Rewards.
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Readers' comments (17)
Zac | Mon, 9 Jan 2012 3:17 pm
This has genuinely put a smile on my face after my disappointment last week!
I can't believe that not only did they not foresee the backlash, but now they are telling they're customers what they want, even after being told otherwise!
It's all well and good that they're getting more customers, but if they don't look after their existing customers, they'll fall quickly and hard.
And Gold benefits for year isn't anything on the prepay benefits ... that you received indefinitely...
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Adie | Mon, 9 Jan 2012 4:57 pm
Once again FUD appears to be spread by Starbucks.. benefits have been lost and it would seem that Starbucks are burying their heads in the sand. A straw poll amongst my friends and colleagues is that no one is happy with the new scheme. If these rewards were niche, why couldn't they bump them to gold level?
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Patrick Mooney | Mon, 9 Jan 2012 5:05 pm
Well done one this great follow up piece. Starbucks have stood their ground on this whilst customers in their masses express outrage. Thanks so much for covering this for us loyal customers who have been hit hard by these changes.
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Anonymous | Mon, 9 Jan 2012 5:26 pm
Apparently they carried out some customer research that asked for UK customers to be treated worse than US customers - clearly they didn't ask any of their card holders or social media fans. Looks like ill-judged decision backed up by lies that claim their "research" asked for this. Excellent example of how not to handle loyal customers.
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Anonymous | Mon, 9 Jan 2012 5:26 pm
Apparently they carried out some customer research that asked for UK customers to be treated worse than US customers - clearly they didn't ask any of their card holders or social media fans. Looks like ill-judged decision backed up by lies that claim their "research" asked for this. Excellent example of how not to handle loyal customers.
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Ian Rea | Mon, 9 Jan 2012 8:20 pm
Mr waring needs to check his facts as filter coffee drinkers have lost out in this disreward scheme. The whole thing has been very poorly researched and thought out and has let to a ferocious backlash from customers and hassle for the poor frontline staff who have been left to try and defend this useless scheme. It also differs from the US scheme by ripping off the UK customers by asking for more and giving less, nothing unusual there then!
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Anonymous | Mon, 9 Jan 2012 9:33 pm
I still can't fathom how or why Starbucks UK could think that removing both the down-sell (50p off filter) and cross-sell (free tall drink with purchase of bag/via) options from their rewards portfolio was ever going to work. These offers gave a real depth to the previous program and helped to turn simply 'loyal' customers into Starbucks evangelists in many cases. I think the changes to the scheme are badly thought out and are seen as insulting - particularly when compared to the implementation of the program in other markets/regions.
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Paul Taylor | Mon, 9 Jan 2012 10:44 pm
If as Starbucks say the filters coffee drinkers are in the minority then why not simply maintain the discount as a background benefit and avoid the backlash. This marketing team must all be quite junior to make such a basic mistake.
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Rick Pool | Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:02 am
What a surprise I had Friday morning when I went in to pick up my tall filter coffee only to find that I was now going to have to spend 50% extra per cup!... no notification, no email, nothing! After having enjoyed two cups of filter coffee a day for the last 3 years, I now find that my monthly 'bucks' bill is going to be around £21 a month more... need I point out that that's £252 a year!! And the more customer beneficial reward I will now get? A free cup every eight days, effectively 0.094 pence discount per cup! GENIUS!...
I emailed their Customer Support team on Friday afternoon asking them to advise how I reclaim all the cash I'd topped my StarBucks card with before Xmas (earning them interest I hasten to add), and have so far heard nothing"
Now I'm being told I'm in the minority, despite the fact that their Facebook page is littered with literally hundreds of people wholly dissatisfied with the new rewards scheme.
The fact that I've been waiting 5 days for a response would indicate a somewhat 'busy' support staff at the moment. Maybe we're not quite in the minority that 'Mr S.Bucks' would have you believe!...
Goodbye Starbucks, it's been emotional....
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Anonymous | Tue, 10 Jan 2012 5:36 pm
I too complained by email and have yet to have a response to the fact my filter costs more - no free drink with beans, plus one star for no matter how much I spend ... still love my local store staff though
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