Takin’ A Cue From Starbucks
March 18, 2016
Y’all know my obsession with Starbucks, right? Specifically their Venti Iced Green Tea, unsweetened, light ice (incase you ever need to know this valuable information). I’m also partial to their pumpkin bread, but that’s another story.
I love Starbucks for a myriad of reasons, but I really love their customer service. For a huge corporate company with a ton of things to worry about, they haven’t lost site of their customers, or their personality.
Case in point, this recent Facebook post. It was ultimately a promotion for one of their new Spring drinks, the Citrus Green Tea Latte (anyone try it yet?), but it quickly turned into a lesson on customer service.
If you’ll notice, and how could you not, there are a lot of comments (8.2k to be exact), and almost each one has a different response from Starbucks. Many have personalized comments and all have ‘likes’ from Starbucks, letting their customers know that they’re there and they’re listening.
What’s even better is that each comment in response to a customer is bursting with personality. Suggesting the iced lemon pound cake to go with the drink? Brilliant and authentic. Explaining what ingredients make up the new drink? Responsive and responsible. And their use of emojis? Spot on. Emojis are a real and popular form of communicating, and are an easy way to inject personality into any brand when appropriate. Starbucks perfectly demonstrates their relevance and their knowledge of their target market by using emojis consistently and flawlessly in their conversations with their customers.
I see so many brands and businesses neglecting their customers by not responding to comments or questions on social media, and failing to show any sort of personality behind the brand by thinking that they have to be “stiff and professional” by not taking advantage of emojis. Nope and nope. Be responsive and responsible. If Starbucks can respond to and acknowledge thousands of customers comments on just one of their social media platforms, then you can too.
Until next time,
VHC
