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I wish I’d thought of that. Operation Starbucks

joshledgard.com

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Re: I wish I’d thought of that. Operation Starbucks

#31

Post by jacquesc »

teej wrote: post #27
shardling wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're willing to be bold, walk right up to people and ask, you don't need to offer free coffee or gift cards. If many people did this, it would quickly become an incredible annoyance. Have some respect for the commons!

This is kind of silly. Doing street level market research is not a new idea and approaching people directly isn't some huge revelation. There aren't so many entrepreneurs in the world testing ideas that you would ever be affected by this more than once. Don't be afraid to approach people and ask for their help! Most people would love to know that someone cares about their opinion. There are huge online communities th…

This is fine on the street, but not inside a Starbucks. As soon as you start approaching customers inside a business, they have the right (and obligation) to ask you to leave.

Re: I wish I’d thought of that. Operation Starbucks

#32

Post by maw »

kenbellows wrote: post #22
shardling wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're willing to be bold, walk right up to people and ask, you don't need to offer free coffee or gift cards. If many people did this, it would quickly become an incredible annoyance. Have some respect for the commons!

This. As much as it may work right now, because basically no one is doing it, as soon as it becomes a popular method, it seem to me it will stop working pretty quickly. Everyone doing it will become equivalent to a Jehova's Witness knocking on your door. That said, I imagine I'd be more okay with it if every time I said yes I got a free coffee. Aside: I wonder how different reactions would be in different countries/c…

In Mexico people try to trick you by asking something for something innocuous, like the time, and then ask you for money.

Also a supposedly common scam is to get personal info such as names and phone numbers in surveys and, later, to use this information to make fake kidnapping calls sound more plausible.

The upshot is that you learn to ignore people who try to get your attention. I don't think it would work too well here.

Re: I wish I’d thought of that. Operation Starbucks

#33

Post by theIV »

MCompeau wrote: post #11

We tried this just yesterday at a couple Starbucks locations in Toronto for our new lines of 3D printed jewelry ( http://www.hotpopfactory.com/ ). It was great, because we could hone in on specific demographics that interested us based on the location and time of day. For the most part we found people weren't actually interested in taking any money for coffee (we didn't go the gift card route, we just approached peop…

I'll sidetrack for a minute and say I think the jewelry looks awesome.

Shooting-from-the-hip site feedback: it is a bit weird that some (maybe all?) of the product pages recommend–"you might also like"–the same product you are already looking at.

Re: I wish I’d thought of that. Operation Starbucks

#34

Post by weisser »

darkstar999 wrote: post #25
weisser wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some guys with an app paid for all food orders during a 4 hour block (10pm-2am) at a popular foodtruck at SXSW. All you had to do to get a free ~$7 burrito (some people got a bunch of stuff) was to download their app and create a photo album. While this boosted downloads during that time period I have not looked at the app (I don't even remember what it was called) since. It would have been more memorable if they had…

> I don't even remember what it was called Don't let that happen, people! If you are paying $7+ just to get someone to install your app, make it worth it!

Exactly. Sating my apetite for a burrito at 1:50am will make me happy but there are better ways of generating more interest and in a way that people will remember for less money.

Re: I wish I’d thought of that. Operation Starbucks

#35

Post by mcintyre1994 »

albemuth wrote: post #30
mcintyre1994 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think psychologically the voucher is worth more because it's something they were already going to spend, it's a tangible saving. I'm not a social scientist or whatever, but logically I think that's how people may look at this offer. I definitely agree that if you're not producing the consumable that's a benefit too (although of course they'd probably use $5 cash to buy a coffee).

Dan Ariely has written about research around this topic: http://danariely.com/2009/08/05/the-trouble-with-cold-hard-c...

Good read, thanks!

Re: I wish I’d thought of that. Operation Starbucks

#37

Post by randlet »

MCompeau wrote: post #11

We tried this just yesterday at a couple Starbucks locations in Toronto for our new lines of 3D printed jewelry ( http://www.hotpopfactory.com/ ). It was great, because we could hone in on specific demographics that interested us based on the location and time of day. For the most part we found people weren't actually interested in taking any money for coffee (we didn't go the gift card route, we just approached peop…

I can't say exactly why it is, but I bet no one would have felt off-put if you had offered gift cards instead of cash. People in general will be much more comfortable taking a gift card than cash.

Re: I wish I’d thought of that. Operation Starbucks

#38

Post by mkilling »

The main investment here is time, especially compared to online usability testing services (usertesting.com etc.).

That said, early in product development in-person feedback is invaluable and you can get so much more out of it than of a simple video of a person using your product.

Re: I wish I’d thought of that. Operation Starbucks

#39

Post by mjolk »

MCompeau wrote: post #11

We tried this just yesterday at a couple Starbucks locations in Toronto for our new lines of 3D printed jewelry ( http://www.hotpopfactory.com/ ). It was great, because we could hone in on specific demographics that interested us based on the location and time of day. For the most part we found people weren't actually interested in taking any money for coffee (we didn't go the gift card route, we just approached peop…

> we just approached people in line directly

And the Starbucks was fine with you soliciting people in line?

Re: I wish I’d thought of that. Operation Starbucks

#40

Post by [deleted] »

mcintyre1994 wrote: post #17
unreal37 wrote: post #5

Interesting that sitting in a cafe offering people $5 cash for their opinion would be a terrible idea, but offering them a free coffee is brilliant. To @vishl, I don't take food from people on the street. I don't trust it. "What if it's poisoned?" What you're thinking does happen - some people offer me free candies, Reese Peanut Butter cups etc as an incentive to talk to me on the street. I avoid them. The coffee com…

I think psychologically the voucher is worth more because it's something they were already going to spend, it's a tangible saving. I'm not a social scientist or whatever, but logically I think that's how people may look at this offer. I definitely agree that if you're not producing the consumable that's a benefit too (although of course they'd probably use $5 cash to buy a coffee).

[deleted]
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