Sitting at work the other day, I emailed my husband and said “You know, I really want to be sitting at Starbucks with my laptop getting some work done.”
I wondered why – I don’t actually drink coffee or tea, but I love their hot chocolate. (Especially with a shot of mint!) Despite this, I wondered why I craved not just that, but going to get some work done at a Starbucks store.
My husband said “Are Starbucks ‘upselly’?”
Woah! No, they’re not. They let me order a drink, they get it right, and they don’t question why I want the custom drink that I chose. They don’t ask if I want food with it. They just make it, they make it right and give it to me so I can drink it.
My husband asked when I bought my thermos. I said I just saw them on the shelf, liked the design at the time, read the little info card about getting a discount with each purchase using the cup, and I was sold. No staff had ever suggested I buy it.
These are small things, but they’re things that companies rarely do well and clearly they have an effect on the value customers place on the brand – I didn’t even realise these things until my husband asked those two small questions.
I think that’s an important lesson for everyone who is concerned about brand value – being a constant seller won’t get you loyalty. Doing your job and doing it well will encourage people to come back. When I realised this about Starbucks, I emailed them to say thanks. They thanked me in return by popping a voucher in the post.
