SEATTLE — Hundreds of coffee-obsessed consumers chimed in moments after Starbucks Corp. launched a website asking customers to pitch changes the company should make to revive its struggling U.S. business.
And they’ve kept those thoughts coming by the thousands: Create a punch-card system with a free drink after so many purchases. Give people a free cup of birthday joe or discounts for using their own mugs. Let customers forgo long lines by ordering their usual with the swipe of a card when they walk in the door.
Skeptics have panned , unveiled at the company’s heavily attended annual meeting in mid- March, as an online suggestion box that has already grown stale. But the heavy traffic it has drawn and the message Starbucks is sending — that it’s listening, and listening carefully — have impressed corporate marketing experts.
“Most brands do not put out a welcome mat for feedback,” said Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president of strategic services for the market-research firm Nielsen Online. “Generally, feedback is viewed as a cost of doing business rather than an opportunity. Starbucks is saying this is an opportunity.”
Before it went live, Chris Bruzzo, Starbucks’ chief information officer, said he was hoping a few hundred ideas would trickle in the first few days.
About 300 suggestions were posted in the first hour after the shareholders meeting, which drew a crowd of 6,000 and was closely watched by Wall Street analysts hungry for details on the company’s turnaround plans.
By the end of the week, more than 100,000 votes had been cast, Bruzzo said. He would not disclose how many people have posted in all.
Starbucks is promoting MyStarbucksIdea on its main corporate home page and with counter cards in stores that say “Have an idea for us?” on one side and the Web address on the back.
