A UX deep dive to improve adoption and satisfaction in the Starbucks app
Starbucks was one of the first food chains to offer full in-app ordering, but satisfaction with the app has plateaued and competitors have closed the gap. Leadership wanted more customers ordering and paying through mobile. Our team of four asked: what could be improved about the current app experience to retain current customers and attract new ones?
Method
- Desk research: 34 questions researched across 50+ sources
- UX competitive teardown: 10 critical user journeys compared across the Starbucks and McDonald’s apps
- Ethnography: a 2-hour in-store observation in Boulder (15 pages of notes)
- In-depth interviews with 7 participants and usability interviews with 8 participants
Key findings
Customers value time, convenience, their health and their wallets. The friction points we found:
- Prices aren’t listed in the app, and customizations have no nutritional information.
- The ordering flow slows down users who want to place a quick, repeat order.
- Users don’t feel safe storing payment details in the app.
- Mixing in-store and mobile pickup creates a backed-up, chaotic pickup area.
Recommendations
List prices and nutrition info for customizations, strengthen (and communicate) payment security, open the app straight to a user’s saved order, add a “virtual barista” assistant for recommendations, and move mobile pickup closer to the door, separate from in-store orders.