Big Business and the Customer Experience

Yesterday I was reading the cover article in the July issue of Fast Company on Starbucks and its foray into music (link to that specific article is not available at the time of this posting). The article was about how Starbucks is rolling-out a service in many of its locations whereby customers may browse and listen to a catalog of songs and burn their own custom CDs onsite. The article went on to discuss the marketing behind this venture and how Starbucks is not in the coffee business, but the people business. They see this service as a natural extension to the experience people go to Starbucks to receive.

This post is not a commentary on the music service – it’s a commentary on customer experience because an hour after finishing that article I found myself in a Starbucks and fresh off reading the article, my critical eye was roving. The first thing I saw were five full trash bags piled-up in plain site (in the walkway between the front and back of the house) waiting to be taken out. The bags were clear so in addition to a pile of trash bags, the trash itself could be seen in all its glory. Then I ordered my coffee and when it was handed to me I said, “Thanks” and the clerk (or barista, if you prefer) said, “Uh huh.” So, I’m thanking them for my coffee and their way of thanking me for frequenting their store and helping to keep the lights on is to say, “Uh huh.” Next I moved to the fixin’s bar for some cream and sugar only to find the container of half and half empty and spilled coffee stains all over the counter (actually, they were probably stains from people pouring out some coffee to make room for cream because even when you ask for room for cream you rarely get it – so they end-up with coffee in the trash can and all over the counter). I brought the empty container to the clerk, they handed me a new one, I said, “Thanks” and they said, “Uh huh.”

So my question is, when does a company get so big that it can no longer really control the fine details of the customer experience? They can control the macro stuff – the furniture, the lighting, the music, the product offerings. But, when the interface between the company and its customers, at 8,000 locations (in Starbucks case), is a part-time hourly wage worker who probably doesn’t care all that much (I know I didn’t back in the day when I held a similar type of job), the micro stuff – cleanliness, friendliness, attentiveness – seems difficult (if not virtually impossible) to manage to the company’s highly strategized and fine-tuned corporate standards.

Ultimately it’s the micro stuff that matters most. If the coffee is good but the staff is not friendly or the store is not clean, I will prefer to go elsewhere. Now, the counter-argument may be that the deficiencies I have described are really not all that significant because people still flock to Starbucks locations all over the world. What I wonder though is, if there were a Starbucks and another premium coffee shop on opposite corners, what percentage of people would pick the Starbucks? I, for one, would not. I go to Starbucks for convenience, but when it is no more convenient (or not much more convenient) then somewhere else, I choose somewhere else.

What that makes me wonder is this – Starbucks has created a demand for premium coffee drinks and consumers are clearly interested. But, do people now go to Starbucks because the product and experience are outstanding or do they go because they have a taste for what Starbucks has popularized and the ubiquity of Starbucks has made it the most convenient location. And, if the latter is true, then I ask again, when does a company get so big that it can no longer control the customer experience and in addition, when does customer experience become less relevant?

As a final thought, I have one more observation – why at Starbucks do they still call out the details of each drink, only to have those details yelled back and written with a Sharpie on the cup? Why don’t they have a system that prints-out the drink order like the way bartenders receive orders from servers at restaurants? The barista then wouldn’t have to stop what they are doing to write the next drink order on a cup before they forget it and they could end all that repetitive back and forth yelling to each order. Just a thought.

Comments

[doug]

Cusomer service at starbucks is way better than most places because of quality control--they actually train and treat their employees well. Also- they yell orders back and use sharpie's as a mnemonic device.

[David Paull]

Doug,

Thanks for your comments. A couple of follow-up thoughts:

I don't doubt they train their employees on what to do and what not to do. My point is that at a corporate level marketers go to extreme lengths to create a model customer experience that while in theory is great, but I wonder how feasible it really is to maintain in 8000 locations (and growing daily) around the world?

As for yelling orders back and using Sharpies as a mnemonic device, I don't doubt it helps them remember the order, but my point is why should they have to remember it at all? I can't tell you how many times I've heard one say to the other, "Can you repeat that" or, "I didn't get that" or, "Did you get that drink I called out before?" To me it's an archaic process that could be improved to the benefit of the customer.

[Partner 125****]

Q: "And, if the latter is true, then I ask again, when does a company get so big that it can no longer control the customer experience and in addition, when does customer experience become less relevant?"

A: 150 People, Example of this principle in effect; GORE-TEX Corporation.

What bothers me most, and I work at starbucks, is that the way the register system is set up corporate knows exactly what is popular where, which is a good thing, but much of the time I spend more time looking at the computer screen than greeting and interacting with the customers! This drives me mad coming from a sucessful family business.

David Paull, using sharpies and marking cups is a good way of working because it is tangible. If I have a 1/2 caf 2 pump hazelnut nonfat extra hot latte, and a venti non-fat no-water chai latte ordered, I won't put the wrong thing into the cups because expresso drinks have different components put in at different times and If I glance at a line of cups I will know exactly how much steamed nonfat and whole milk I need and I will also know the number of shots of expresso i need, and I also get a good sense of continuity. Each store is set up for optimum effiency, in the employee area there are diagrams showing where to move and how to most quickly accomplish what when it's busy.

If people have something to do in line, like listen to music or customize things, just like what they do at the counter, when they order, do you feel that it is a value added service? I think so. I think that people like the choices that are arrayed before them. I think that music is key to Starbuck's Coffee's success.

Your experience may not have been top notch, but if you're ever in a really busy Starbucks, and you watch the employees, every one of them is busy, and watching them is like watching an ochestra. A busy store could easily make gross $8000 a day...throughput of about $3million yearly, that's quite a feat. Especially when, if you get an expresso drink every day, the barista probably knows your name, and says hello, and asks how your kids are...

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