Starbucks asks the customer.

Starbucks launched a new site that will allow their customers the ability to make suggestions about the company's service, drinks, etc. The site is designed to function similar to a blog allowing customers to communicate  directly to the coffee giant. Customers can now access the site directly via starbucks.com

  

IdeaStorm has launched the aptly named mystarbucksidea.com as they helped Dell deliver themselves from the many complaints regarding their support system. IdeaStorm has helped Starbucks set up the site and is continuing to move the site forward by developing new capabilities like commenting on suggestions or searching through suggestions quickly through a word search feature to refrain from repetition on the site. There's also a way to simply vote for your favorite suggestion. One of the most popular: "How about a free drink on your birthday?" So far it's received 39,110 votes in less than a month. 

Starbucks is hoping to make the customer feel they have some input. By making suggestions the customer thinks about Starbucks, blogs about Starbucks, and checks back periodically to see the progress. Is it a scam to drive more sales? Dell's VP of communities and conversations compared the process to analyzing a sampling of consumers asking, "Is it better to listen to tens of thousands of customers vote on ideas, discuss them and participate with them over a period of a couple months, or get 10 customers in a room, feed them sandwiches and listen to them behind smoked glass?" 

Since the launch of the program many suggested ideas have gone under review like customer appreciation cards that offer a free coffee after a set amount of purchases. Another common sense fix has surfaced on the site. A splash stick was thought up by a customer, and after successfully undergoing test markets in a few cities it is being launched nationwide.