Understanding why people love is important. Can a experiential brand go digital (with an App)? Yes. But should it? In the case of Starbucks; they decided not to.
Why using metrics alone will run a business into the ground: On the recent Starbucks episode of Acquired, they're talking about how great the mobile ordering business is: how it drove growth, how cash stored on cards is effectively an interest-free loan from customers. And Howard Schultz stops them and says that's all true, but that it almost killed the business. It destroyed their most important differentiator, which is the quality of the experience. "𝘕𝘰𝘸, 𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘈𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 ... 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘦, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦." This is where metrics break down. When launching the mobile app, every number screamed to do it. Every experiment you ran would have gotten rolled out. Because the deterioration of the business just happens too slowly to be able to measure in a conventional way. It takes someone - almost always a founder - who deeply understand what the business actually is at its core to protect it and push against short term decision making.
