How Starbucks turns customers into ambassadors

Starbucks is not just a coffee brand, It’s a fan-making machine

Every customer who walks through the door doesn’t just leave with a coffee; they walk away with a sense of belonging and the desire to spread the word about the brand. Simply put, they turn every customer into an ambassador.

A customer experience that goes beyond the product

Starbucks is much more than just coffee. It’s a personalized experience on every street corner. The ability to customize your coffee, the always warm welcome, the cozy ambiance—everything is designed to make customers feel at home. The result? Customers become unintentional brand ambassadors.

Starbucks rewards: A loyalty program that creates dependence

Starbucks doesn’t just hand out points like a regular loyalty card. They’ve gamified their program to make it highly addictive, pushing customers to spend more, more often.

Here’s how they do it:

• After every purchase at Starbucks, customers earn stars. Once they reach a certain threshold, they can redeem their stars for rewards like free drinks, complimentary snacks, and more.
• Starbucks has thought of everything—they introduced two membership tiers. The first is the Green status, which allows customers to join the program and start earning points. The second is the Gold status, which unlocks exclusive rewards and promotions once 300 stars have been collected.

The transition from Green to Gold is a clever strategy: once customers see they’re close to reaching Gold status, they spend more to get there. And once they’re Gold? They keep spending to maintain their benefits.

But Starbucks doesn’t stop there. To prevent customers from slowing down their spending, they implement time-limited offers:

• Double Stars Day – A day when every purchase earns double the stars, encouraging customers to buy now rather than later.
• Personalized Challenges – “Buy 3 drinks this week and earn 50 bonus stars!”
• Star Expiration – If stars aren’t used in time, they disappear. This creates a sense of urgency, pushing customers to return quickly to redeem their rewards.

Starbucks did It, Soy Club helps you do even better

Starbucks understood one crucial thing: loyalty isn’t declared, it’s built. By creating an ultra-personalized customer experience, making their loyalty program addictive, and turning their customers into true ambassadors, they successfully built an engaged and loyal community.

With Soy Club, you have access to the same tools but with total flexibility. No matter your industry, you can create a tailor-made program designed to attract, retain, and engage your customers like never before.

‍