A Wren Says

Too big a bet on mobile orders. A belief that drive-thrus would save the company. The new Starbucks CEO made this observation as he worked through the reason behemoth coffee chain was struggling. In pursuit of efficiency, they lost sight of customer experience.

Faster does not always equal better if it causes you to fall out of alignment with your mission and vision. In Starbucks’s case, prioritizing mobile orders and drive-thrus shifted the company away from its “third space” intention. What’s worse is that a focus on efficiency put additional pressure on baristas and gave customers inflated expectations. If you really think about it, it is unreasonable to think you should be able to get two blended Frappuccinos and 2 lattes in the time it takes to pull your car forward from the speaker to the window at the drive-thru. All the while everyone else in line has a similarly complicated order.

While Amazon is praised for its speed and efficiency, that fits with its image of being cheap and convenient. Cutting corners to go faster doesn’t exactly align with a premium coffee shop image. We are bombarded with the idea of faster transactions as what the customer really wants, but that isn’t necessarily the case. What the customer wants is a great experience. Speed is not the only way you can give them that. Lean into your strengths and deliver excellent customer experience in the way you do best.