Starbucks asked the average joe - and boy did it get answers

Suggestion site is flooded with ideas

Starbucks is promoting MyStarbucksIdea on its main corporate home page and with counter cards in stores that say "Have an idea for us?" (Ted S. Warren/Associated Press)

SEATTLE - Hundreds of coffee-obsessed consumers chimed in moments after Starbucks Corp. launched a website asking customers to pitch changes the company should make to revive its struggling US business.

And they've kept those thoughts coming, by the thousands: Create a punch-card system with a free drink after so many purchases. Give people a free cup of birthday joe or discounts for using their own mugs. Let customers forgo long lines by ordering their usual with the swipe of a card when they walk in the door.

Skeptics have panned MyStarbucksIdea.com, unveiled at the company's heavily attended annual meeting last month, as an online suggestion box that's already grown stale. But the heavy traffic it's drawn and the message Starbucks is sending - that it's listening, and listening carefully - have impressed corporate marketing experts.

"Generally feedback is viewed as a cost of doing business rather than an opportunity," said Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president of strategic services for the market research firm Nielsen Online. "Starbucks is saying this is an opportunity."

Before it went live, Chris Bruzzo, Starbucks' chief information officer, said he was hoping a few hundred ideas would trickle in.

About 300 suggestions were posted in the first hour after the shareholders meeting, which drew a crowd of 6,000 and was closely watched by Wall Street analysts hungry for details on the company's turnaround plans.

By the end of the week, more than 100,000 votes had been cast, Bruzzo said. He would not disclose how many have posted in all.

Starbucks is promoting MyStarbucksIdea on its main corporate home page and with counter cards in stores that say "Have an idea for us?" on one side and the Web address on the other. But the company has long relied for promotion on word-of-mouth and an avid following of devotees and critics who regularly post their opinions on various Starbucks-related sites.

Part corporate blog, MyStarbucksIdea also has the feel of an online social network. Though users can't link up over e-mail or post profiles of themselves, the comments they post often read like friendly conversations - with people complimenting one another on their ideas or elaborating when comments about their posts make them feel misunderstood.

The site is powered by Salesforce.com, the same firm that powers IdeaStorm.com for Dell Inc. The world's number two personal computer maker launched IdeaStorm early last year in hopes of repairing its battered customer-service credentials.