Back in 2008, Starbucks launched their crowdsourcing platform, “My Starbucks Idea”.
Through this platform, customers were able to share what they thought was needed to improve the products and operations of Starbucks. Starbucks managed to evaluate and accept amazing ideas with the help of their audience on leading social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube.
According to Matthew Guiste, Director of Global Social Media at Starbucks, their crowdsourcing platform, since its inception, has been tremendously helpful not only in connecting Starbucks with their customers but also in leveraging customer interactions and customer validation to generate new products for their company.
There were 70,000 ideas submitted to the platform during its first year. Customers shared different concepts and ideas from store improvements to product suggestions, WiFi installations, and environmental issues. Some of the approved ideas implemented worldwide were Happy Hour, Buy-one-take-one for Frappuccinos, Drive Through, and new flavors such as Mocha Coconut Frappuccino and Hazelnut Macchiato.
With the help of an innovation software, companies can leverage their “crowd” of customers and employees to design and develop new products and improvements. Companies can also choose to either involve their customers in the selection process through up-voting of ideas or make the selection process firm-led. In a firm-led selection process, the company vets and chooses which ideas are perfect for implementation.
Ideawake innovation management software makes it easy to do everything mentioned above. Combined with an innovation program, you can build a culture of innovation, improve processes, and transform ideas into disruptive growth. Don’t be left behind, it’s time to make use of a crowdsourcing platform that will take your innovation initiatives to the next level. Schedule a demo and we’ll show you how to discover million-dollar ideas that will impact your bottom-line.