Growth Case Studies

Here are case studies of Growth that I noticed.

Why record these case studies? Because I’ve been learning about growth, retention, etc. and this is a good way of practicing what I’m learning in real time.

Two Starbuck Products Designed for Retention

I noticed 2 new Starbucks features/products in their app today.

Product #1: Reminder about expiring stars

  • If you use these, you’re gonna order something from starbucks
  • The key metric at Starbucks (is probably) orders per week
  • To increase retention, they put the core value proposition — an awesome food or drink — in front of you as often as possible
  • Even if they have to give it to you for free — that’s fine
  • They believe getting core value prop > loss of revenue from free item because people who eat there more often are less likely to churn

Product #2: Loyalty game

  • Try these 3 items and get 100 bonus stars (aka loyalty points)
    • Possible hypothesis: People who order different things from Starbucks — not just their “regular” — are less likely to churn. Potential nuances:
    • Are they trying to get them to order very specific items? E.g. Teavana tea, banana bread, etc.
    • Or do they just need to increase the variety of items they try
  • About loyalty games
    • Before, I would have thought about this as just increasing sales, but it’s about increasing retention and LTV
    • Has to have an expiration date to generate excitement, e.g. McDonald’s monopoly game
    • Like that they keep it to 3 items. Feels doable.
  • Execution of the game seems off
    • I couldn’t find the start button