Poll Results: What Kind of Great Conversations?

Late last week I asked a question about what type of great conversations you are looking for.  There is certainly a conversation topic that has generate a lot of feedback and passion. 

Here are the results:

What "great conversations" do you want Starbucks to enable?

  • 36%  In person: meaning you would prefer to have information physically in our stores that would encourage conversations with friends or other customers. You are looking mostly for content, in other words.
  • 49%  Online: as in you would most prefer to have thought-provoking content provided online that you could evaluate and and discuss in an open forum across all Starbucks or the internet generally. This ask is essentially for content and a mechanism to join a large conversation.
  • 10%  With Other Stores: meaning that you'd like to be able to go to Starbucks to have a conversation (or play a game, watch a movie, etc) with a friend or a small community in other, remote Starbucks locations. This would be purely a mechanism to have the conversation with little content provided.
  • 5% Other: What other types of "Great Conversations" are you looking to have? How can Starbucks help enable them?

I think this is one of those ideas that whatever a particular person thinks of as a "great conversation" is easy to assume to apply to what all people want.  But an objective look at the data (this poll, the commentary around it, the original "Great Conversations" thread, the reaction the the GOOD sheets) shows a more complex picture.  The take-away for me is that there is room for a variety of solutions:  online and offline, conversation content and mechanisms for having them.  So far we've taken one step with the GOOD sheets, more to come.

Thanks for all the great discussion around this topic.



brodave
9/15/2008 7:59 PM

Hi Matt,

You will get a kick out of this. At a recent fairly high-level marketing meeting at Starbucks corporate, the MSI site was mentioned and a Starbucks marketing employee who is a friend of my daughter asked if they were talking about "brodave" and after jaws dropped they said "yes".

Maybe someone is listening after all. Too Kool. There is hope for Starbucks!

Melody
9/15/2008 9:43 PM

I kind of like the GOOD sheets. The funny thing about 'great conversation at Starbucks' is that I think that the best conversations are right here, and at V2V.  Most people hurry in and out of a Starbucks, and don't linger long enough to really have a fabulous conversation with a random person in the store.  At least that's been my observation: Most people are basically on-the-go.

So online it is! :-)   I did vote with the 49%.

I suppose, many of us are established online personalities too at Starbucks. Not hard to tell who is who. My only hope is that we can add to this site in a positive and meaningful way. :-) (and with good grammar and few typos! LOL)

Downtown Seattle Melody (I now tell baristas that I'm "Jane Doe" when they ask for my name. ;))

Breve
9/15/2008 10:02 PM

Melody, No matter what one's opinion is .... they are adding to this site in some way...... and aiding $tarbucks in collecting very valuable marketing data.

Melody
9/16/2008 7:49 AM

Yes indeedy Jo!

Leckiew
9/16/2008 10:20 AM

Online it is! Great to see that others agree that we need online content as a start to our conversations

UrbanVoy
9/16/2008 11:47 AM

great story brodave!

ErinElizBeck
9/17/2008 5:15 AM

I spend a lot of time at the local 24 hour SBUX...in the middle of the night, the baristas get pretty excited about coffee, and I have learned some pretty exciting techniques for coffee tasting and pairing!  I've been teaching my friends the tricks of the trade from the Coffee Masters ever since!  

Does everyone know that Coffee Masters are actually highly trained coffee connoisseurs?  Spread the know, CM's!

**I want SBUX-led COFFEE discussions "in person."**

Weekly discussion-style seminars.  Coffee tastings.  Regional comparisons...they're so exotic and varied!  Pairing suggestions and *why* by the bar.  Detailed info and forum "online."  

Starbucks customers are a pretty intellectual crowd...teach us about the craft and turn us loose to chat it up and be connoisseurs ourselves.

sbx_bean
9/17/2008 9:40 AM

Hi Brodave,

We heard about that meeting.  What a small world.  MSI is part of conversations around here daily.  Thanks for your involvement in helping to shape the Starbucks experience.

mguiste
9/17/2008 10:41 AM

Of course they do, Brodave!  All of the top contributors for MSI and V2V are very well known.  :)

mguiste
9/17/2008 10:42 AM

Breve, couldn't agree more.  Without you all, this site would be just us, jabbering to ourselves.  

karoleek
9/17/2008 4:15 PM

Would love to have something to log into in terms of a central space with social media


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