Starbucks Rewards Ratio Changes Yet Again

Two things come to mind when I think about Starbucks' loyalty rewards: a) 3rd party rewards are getting expensive to fulfill, and b) customers are still gaming the reward system. But, on the latter point, it's because Starbucks allows such things to happen with their current reward system which includes tasks such as:

• Double points day (basically 4x points for a purchase, excluding tax)
• Buy item x and item y (and sometimes item z), and get 10, 20, 50, 75, or 125 extra points
• Buy any item three times for x-bonus points
• Buy any item on three (up to 5) consecutive days for x-point

Customer Loyalty Programs: Bing and Starbucks

This year two companies revitalized their rewards programs. The rebranding is probably working out great for their advertisers, but it really isn't working out for me. I mean heck, I really didn't expect to do more work to get something for free. Although, for now, the perks of using these apps are still a nice to have. The two in this blog post are Microsoft's Bing search app and Starbucks Rewards app.

Where's Astro Now?

This Salesforce campaign is quite a bit more elaborate than the Cloak of Adventure quest. The marketing group that put this together included a lot more engaging content to help you on your way to finding Astro. The language is playful and the goal remains as simple as ever: do x achieve y.

In this case, we are learning about the ability to tag contacts with geolocation data: longitude and latitude. Once these fields are created and if you are going to import/export data, you must use the same format for longitude/latitude should you get around to using it to manage your sales territories. You can't mix and match geolocation data sets. You must use the same nomenclature and format. Just a FYI.

Your mission should you decide to accept it...

While I still have yet to complete building my Battle Station console (I got lost part way and I can't figure out the errors I'm getting), these later adventures that Salesforce is putting out is a fine method of helping customers retain training knowledge.. in a learn by doing series of steps.

Applying for and obtaining a Salesforce developer account is independent of being a Salesforce customer. If you didn't already know this, now you do.

I wanted an Astro sticker for completing this mission. Sadly, I'll just have to do with her picture badge.

Salesforce's Astro

Impact of Acquisitions on Customers

Through an exploratory interview with Endurance International, the parent company of branded website hosting services such as Domain.com, BlueHost, TypePad, and more than 50 other brands, I learned of their $1.1B acquisition of Constant Contact. This sure beats the default listserv capabilities that comes default with web hosting. Endurance manages its brand properties as independent companies; e.g., the same way Honda is Acura, Toyota is Lexus, Peet's is Stumptown Coffee and Salesforce is Pardot. The business practice of allowing each subsidiary to maintain a brand identity independent of its parent is more commonplace than you think. 

The basics:

• 650k worldwide Constant Contact customers
• 90k net new hosting subscribers per quarter
• CC acquired 5% new customers from Endurance partnership before the acquisition

Home Depot: Gardening Club News

Home Depot's Gardening Club newsletter has always been a favorite of mine. This is where regional news really comes into play and why regional targeting of this type of content marketing really works. When I lived in California, it was sunny nearly all year and the overnight lows really never got below 40 degrees F. In the Pacific Northwest where we can have hail and snow as late as April, it's nice to see that this newsletter is aware of that and makes suggestions as to what can be planted at this time. It's a really good resource for both new and current subscribers. There's a lot going on in this basic spring email, and it is all relevant to the store, the brand, and the customer.

2014-02-19, Home Depot Garden Club email

Want an extra $5 on your Starbucks Card?

If you are unfamiliar with the Starbucks rewards card system, you might not know that you can transfer balances between Starbucks reward cards. Say if you got a stray $5 gift card from a promotion or as a holiday or workplace perk, you could take that balance and port it over to your regular Starbucks rewards card (or account, if you are using their mobile app for purchase transactions).

Starbucks promo email, 2013-02-20

When it comes to content and design, the Starbucks email and accompanying rewards landing page are minimalist. The content certainly does do the job of providing a meaningful amount of information that has a targeted call-to-action which encourages a user to do other steps, maybe check into what else Starbucks is offering, check on reward status or account balance, etc.

What you might not know is that you can also transfer a balance from a cash gift card, say a $100 Visa gift card to your Starbucks rewards card at any Starbucks-owned kiosk or store. And, if you're a Coinstar customer, you can convert your deposited coin balance to a Starbucks rewards card without incurring any service fees.

Want to know how they're tracking this campaign? By product SKU and registered reward card swipes at the register. This is an online/mobile campaign to drive in-store purchases.

And, if you're an avid coffee drinker, this is a darn good deal for 1 lb of whole bean coffee. 'Nuff said.

The Tale of Two Bookings

For the first time on an extended road trip (longer than a day, shorter than a week), I did something that I thought was reserved just for the unplanned and spontaneous. I traveled without reservations for half my trip. Traveling in the off-season (autumn or spring) to places usually visited in the summer does offer some travel discounts on the basis of supply and demand.

I planned to end day 1 of the road trip at Forks since it was at the midpoint of two places where I wanted to see the next day: the Cape Flattery lighthouse at Neah Bay and the Hoh Rain Forest in the Olympic Nat'l Forest. I booked a room at the Forks Motel in downtown Forks, mostly because it was the only non-Twilight-themed lodging place that had rooms available on a Saturday. Their online reservation system was easy to use and even sent me an email confirmation immediately after booking. When I got to the motel to check-in, the front desk already had my key ready. Checking out was just as easy. I'd say that for such a low-key motel that attracts a lot more fishermen (this season it's coho salmon), it did a lot of things right for customer retention. When I filled out the guest comment card, I only put my room number on it. What I didn't expect was a personalized note from their guest services manager thanking me for choosing their motel:

This is the first motel where I received a personalized response by email. It's awesome. Sure makes me want to stay with them again. 

When I drove further along my mostly planned route to Lake Quinault, it was already dusk. I had a few options available for Sunday night's lodging. Lake Quinault Inn was on the other side of the lake and had no cars in its parking lot. How safe would you think a woman would feel booking there. That one got skipped. The parking lot at Lake Quinault Lodge was decently full. A cashier at a local grill recommended the Rain Forest Village Resort for its more reasonable prices.  It's a fancy name for an inn with motel-styled rooms. It was apparent after getting my room key here that it was the sort of place one goes to escape from the city and possibly the summer heat. The room itself was designed to let air in and didn't have a heater. It was cold and brisk indoors. As for the other standard amenities that resorts are supposed to have? This place had none, not even have a telephone nor an alarm clock radio. It did, however, have a mostly working TV that received four local stations. Good thing I packed a library book. For the most part, it was on par with the Forks Motel; except the customer retention part. Maybe it's an oversight, or maybe it's because there are very few lodge-styled places next to the lake.

Who needs amenities with a view like this?

Would I stay at the Forks Motel again? You bet. Not only is it inexpensive, it satisfied every requirement I had in a motel room. I travel a lot domestically and internationally, and the amenities, however insignificant they might be, are worth a lot to a tired traveler. The Rain Forest Village Resort? Don't know. There are other lodging options I would check out if I'm in the area again. Also, this isn't based on price. The two lodgings were equally priced and both were in desirable vacation locales.