Social Media + Customer Service = Starbucks Success

I don’t like math, but things like this blog title make sense to me.

I occasionally use Twitter to express satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the brands that I follow. Recently, I tweeted:

Everyone is talking about pumpkin spice lattes and I want one. @Starbucks can they be made skinny and sugar free? #PSL #diabetes

I’ve been pretty bummed that I can’t shouldn’t have some of my favorite treats recently.

Starbucks at Sea

Later that day, I had a Direct Message from Starbucks asking me to email them details.

Not knowing exactly what they needed, I decided just to tell them what I want.

A few days later I received a nice, personalized email back letting me know that my suggestion had been passed along.

I think having a sugar-free version of the pumpkin spice latte is a wonderful idea. Many decisions regarding our products are made based on customer feedback, and I personally hope that a sugar-free Pumpkin Spice Latte will be available in the future.

We’ll see what happens, but at least I know that someone listened.

I’d actually love it if all specialty drinks at Starbucks could be made low-carb and sugar free. We’re big Starbucks fans, so more options would be great. Baby steps.

I’d love to hear a social media customer service story from you… care to share?

Blogger’s Note: Starbucks did not request, promote or ask for this posting. I wrote this without their knowledge to share my own story.

11 thoughts on “Social Media + Customer Service = Starbucks Success

  1. Last year I rec’d my annual bday free burger email from Red Robin, but apparently they have the email set to only allow you to open the coupon to print a limited number of times (two I think) and I didn’t realize this and couldn’t open it when I was ready to print it. I contacted them on FB and someone responded right away and re-issued my coupon. And I can also share that the HO FB page has become very much customer service oriented recently. This was never our intention and not even something we are particularly happy about but b/c our phone lines are so busy, people have started to contact us on FB for a faster response.

  2. I just love the social engagement of the Akron Canton Airport. I follow them on Twitter (@CAKairport) and regularly participate in their Facebook contests. In December my family and I were flying out of CAK and our flight was delayed. I tweeted the airport, asking if Santa was around and joking that they should send him to our gate to spread some holiday cheer! I received a near-immediate response to my tweet, asking for my gate number. Within half an hour a member of the CAK Communications Team had found me and gifted me with a prize pack! I know not all companies and brands are going to send me presents just for tweeting about them, but the ones that do hold a particularly special place in my heart.

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