Bringing the joy of coffee to a non-coffee drinker

How Starbucks leveraged Twitter to make the gifting of coffee an easy and enjoyable experience

I’m not a big coffee guy. When I drink, I drink decaf (don’t judge!).

And, I’m not a big gift guy. When it comes to holidays, I keep it low-key, sometimes not purchasing gifts at all.

So why did I enjoy spending $5 dollars on a coffee for a co-worker? The design of the experience was so enjoyable that I couldn’t say no. The introductory video made me say “this is awesome.”

Starbucks’s new offering, Tweet a Coffee, lets you send a $5 gift card to someone via Twitter. The experience helps Starbucks for several reasons:

1. Customers are more likely to spend slightly more than $5, bringing in additional income.
2. Even for the most loyal customers, it’s another excuse to go to your local Starbucks.
3. And, perhaps most importantly, as told by Gary Vaynerchuk in a recent post: “Here is why it’s brilliant: because I don’t have a Starbucks account, I’m going to have to get a Starbucks account, which means I’ll probably start using the app. This is going to force me to join the Starbucks ecosystem, which can only be a good thing for them.”

This was part of my experience this morning — I had to create a Starbucks account in order to gift the coffee. I’ve since downloaded the app and will be more apt to grab a drink from the coffee powerhouse in the coming days and weeks.

The reason it works: Starbucks designed a great experience. With minimal clicks and a small investment in time, I can bring joy to another with the small gift of a cup of coffee… from anywhere.

The design of the campaign, introductory video, and experience brings joy to both the recipient and sender. This is the kind of things that converts into customers — an impressive feat for Starbucks.