Starbucks and T-Mobile - A Remarkable Combination

There are so many ways a business can build an email list whether it's offline or online. One of the many is word of mouth. (You can tell I'm hot on word of mouth being this is the 2nd post on word of mouth I've done in a week.) Today I wanted to talk about Starbucks and T-Mobile.

So for some icky reason I have to spend one day out of the month working out of Starbucks. Don't ask. My husband and I sit in comfy chairs pecking away at our keyboards like crazy. We buy a cup of hot cider and (try to) relax. I have to say bravo Starbucks. The one place I actively sought out to get online because I TRUSTED I could have a comfy seat and get internet access. Why? Because I see people working on their computers every time I run in and out of there to get my coffee and I have been invited to meetings there. (It's not like Starbucks has a big ad campaign "Work at Starbucks ... free!")

Capitalizing on the guilt sale? Perhaps. I sure felt like I had to buy something while sitting in their chairs for 6 hours. (The hot cider is to die for...WITH the whipped cream of course). In fact, I felt like I had to buy more than one thing. Who cares, I got internet access and a roof over my head. I even got sick of working and browsed around their "store" full of gifts around coffee.

So Starbucks and T-Mobile both have now two loyal customers (and T-Mobile has our email addresses) and I can go to any Starbucks and know I'll get what I need.

Can you think of anywhere else you seek out a trusted service like this? I actually think that being able to sit for "free" and work all day is pretty remarkable for the price of a cider and $10 Wi-Fi.

Here are a few others I was thinking about:

• For Sunday brunch at the Palace Hotel ($40) you can eat all of the most remarkable food you want and drink an endless supply of mimosas. I've told a hundred people about this when they want to impress their visitors.
  
• A store I go to on Union St. asks me every time if I want an espresso while I shop. I also gave them my email address because I want to know when they have cool new items.
• After your 1 hour massage at Splash Spa you can spend the entire day steaming and relaxing. While I'm there they promote "buy in bulk for better savings".
• Jet Blue is inexpensive, nice seats, great legroom and FREE TV. It's the first place I go to when I have to fly to the East Coast. They also heavily promote their frequent flyer program on the plane.
• Our local self-storage place offers a free use of a pick-up truck to move in.

I went back to the office and told everyone about my positive experience and they really need to think about Starbucks in a bind for their "office" needs. Now that's some good word of mouth.

Oh, and great people-watching too!

Comments

[Ilirjana]

Just wanted to say thanks for the blog. I am currently doing a project on T-mobile and their B2B initiatives and this definitely was a smart move on their part. They are not only expanding their customer base but also increasing their sales.

[Janine]

Whoa, did I hit a coffee nerve or what? I love all the comments.

I guess my point wasn't how "good" the coffee is (note I didn't have any, I drank the cider), it was about trusting that you'll get two things: internet access (which I don't indicate as free) and a comfy chair to work in. Especially if you happen to be outside of your own neighborhood.

What I am hearing is that even more remarkable would be if Starbucks picked up the tab on the internet (and get better coffee?).

Hey Starbucks...you listening? The local businesses are getting it!

[Todd]

I would love to see Starbucks take it a step further and set-up small desks in a side room or something. So many people enjoy getting work done there - they could certainly cater to those folks even more at some locations at least?

[dale]

Your blog today caught my interest because word of mouth among my community has actually been against Starbucks. The fact that several cafes in my area are offering free internet and good coffee (and even fresh food not imported on a truck), it makes Starbucks the last logical place to go in my town in the greater Los Angeles area.

I find the T-mobile partnership with Starbucks as something that a creates bad image for Starbucks among those of us who find Starbucks greedy enough as it is. It's just too expensive to have an office there. ;)

That said, I agree that word of mouth is a powerful force to promote (and demote) business.

Thanks for your blogs! And I very much appreciate VR.

[Ishah]

Just wanted to offer another side to this issue: The internet accecss at Starbucks is not free, you have to sign up for the T-Mobile hot spot account which is a monthly expense. There are loads of actual free spots in the city to work online and pretty soon the whole city should be wireless, like Phili and others around the country. There are alternatives to Starbucks, if you are trying to fight the homogenization of the city landscape. Starbucks serves sub par coffee and takes the place of amazing smaller businesses that make this city what it is. Here's one sight that sends you to other actual free internet spots:
http://www.auscillate.com/wireless/manhattan/

While some of them are chains too, at least it's actually free, and the food and drink are ten times better at Starwich and Witchcraft. Starbucks is not all its cracked up to be if you scratch the surface.

[Griffin, the amazing writer]

Aloha Janine,

Starbucks is a phenom in the business world. No other company has changed the business landscape with their creativity and marketing talents. Bravo for an excellent post!