Starbucks recently launched its Starbucks Gold Rewards program, an “exclusive” loyalty program aimed at frequent coffee drinkers. For $25, you can get in the club (isn’t that what it’s all about) and get 10% off your drinks, free wifi and other special offers.
This comes at a time when Starbucks is seeing a decline in sales. Will the new incentive program get people back buying coffee? Some say no; that the program is too complicated. I say, for those people who get their Starbucks fix every day (multiple times a day), the card will be a great success. But these are the people who would buy coffee there anyway. The Gold Card won’t, in my opinion, stimulate people like me, who just go for an occasional treat. If the card were free, yes, I would sign up. But paying a premium for the privilege to save money just doesn’t add up, in my book.
What I learned at the recent Loyalty Expo is that to create loyalty you need several ingredients (and none of them are doublenonfatsoy):
1. a real understanding of what your customers want
2. interaction (hmm, sounds like Marketing 2.0)
3. relevance. loyalty and needs change.
4. simplicity
So while Starbucks hits a few of these points, I think there’s still room to grow.
What’s your opinion? Do you have a Gold card? Has it made you more loyal to Starbucks?
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Susan Payton is the Marketing Eggspert, and owner of 
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