Retail April 15, 2008, 4:55PM EST

'Hey, Starbucks, How About Coffee Cubes?'

The joe giant's CEO is using customers' advice and dedicated software to try out new ideas in a bid to reinvigorate the company

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Express service for espresso? Caffeine junkies can't take the long lines Keith Bedford / Reuters

by Jeff Jarvis

Customer input led to a “splash stick” that prevents annoying spills Andrew Popper

One customer wants Starbucks (SBUX) to make ice cubes out of coffee so when they melt they won't dilute cold drinks; 7,660 fellow customers agree. Another wants the chain to install shelves in restrooms—where else can you put your drink when you've drunk too much? Although some customers are repelled by that suggestion, Starbucks thinks it's a "sleeper idea" worth considering. More than 10,000 Starbucks fans wish for something to plug the hole in lids to prevent sloshing. Starbucks listened and just introduced reusable "splash sticks" to do that.

This is corporate democracy in action: At the month-old MyStarbucksIdea.com, customers can make suggestions, other customers can vote on and discuss them, and Starbucks can see which ideas gain popular support. It's key to Starbucks chief Howard Schultz' plan to reinvigorate his company, to which he returned as chief executive in January. Schultz is following in the footsteps of Michael Dell', who also returned to his troubled namesake, Dell Inc., (DELL) a year earlier and launched IdeaStorm.com to gather and act on customers' ideas. Dell has implemented a score of suggestions, including the introduction of computers running Linux instead of Windows.

Both companies are building on the "Ideas" software platform from Salesforce.com (CRM), which also has been using the platform to tap into what its customers want. "It's like a live focus group that never closes," says Salesforce Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff. "Our product managers have to deliver highly ranked features and work with Ideas if they are going to succeed in our company."

"On the Shoulders" of Dell

Schultz intends to use Ideas to change his company—to instill what he calls "a seeing culture." Chris Bruzzo, Starbucks' chief technology officer, who oversees MyStarbucksIdea, adds: "It was also to open up a dialogue with customers and build up this muscle inside our company." He says Starbucks "stood on the shoulders" of Dell's experience—Dell himself shared his lessons with Schultz. The Starbucks chief added "idea partners"—48 specially trained employees who act as hosts of the discussion. Without them, Bruzzo argues, the conversation could intimidate newcomers. "These are the people at a dinner party who make sure everyone is having a good time."

The idea partners also act as advocates for customers' suggestions back at their departments, so that "customers would have a seat at the table when product decisions are being made," Bruzzo says. "To close that loop in an authentic way," he argues, the company must make a commitment to "building those ideas together with customers…. We're truly going to adopt it into our business process, into product development, experience development, and store design."

Idea partners also view the comments posted online as a laboratory. They push back on ideas, telling customers what has been tried and hasn't worked. For example, some customers want express lines for brewed coffee orders, as opposed to the half-caf, skinny, extra-foam pumpkin lattes that seem to take longer to order than to make or drink. But the idea partner said that hasn't worked because of the layout of Starbucks stores. "If it fails," says Bruzzo, "our customers who are on MyStarbucksIdea ought to participate in being accountable for it." Whether an idea is accepted or not, customers get only the satisfaction of participating; there are no payments or other tangible rewards.

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