I'd love to read more about how you positioned your brand, especially on the design decisions that you made to entice customers come more regularly and how you manage to sell more cups than your competitors.
Habit loop: cue, routine, reward. This is how all habits form, whether it's shampooing hair or gambling/gaming addiction. Once a habit sets in, people can only control the routine, not the cue and reward.
Starbucks is an entirely different thing. As mentioned in other comments, ours was closer to cigarettes in market size and problem solved.
Reward: Caffeine
Reward: Coffee flavor
The caffeine acts as the bubbles in your toothpaste, it's there to remind you of the loop without being too strong.
Cue: Entering work/class, before 9 AM. Promoted with steep 'discounts' during this period - it was already profitable and looked cheap anchored against overpriced coffees like Starbucks.
Cue: Seeing logo on cup. The coffee was all in paper cups, not sitting down. It saved a little money on rental area and training. But the main reason is that people would walk away with the cups and throw it in a trash. They'd bring it up to their offices and their friends could see it. Students would take it to other buildings. We didn't have to put up any banners - the cups were the banner. The logo was bright yellow and black, designed to be highly visible.
Cue: Stressful periods - after classes, before exams, at the end of the day.
Marketing? It was quite straightforward for us. If saw someone walking by, we'd ask them to try. Especially if they were staring at the menu.
Those who were hesitant, we'd offer a 100% refund if they didn't like it. Nobody ever requested a refund.
First day, we sold 100 cups. After that, many were repeat customers. A lot of people are afraid to approach strangers. But if you do it playfully and without any pressure, they never get angry.
muzani|6 years ago
Starbucks is an entirely different thing. As mentioned in other comments, ours was closer to cigarettes in market size and problem solved.
Reward: Caffeine Reward: Coffee flavor
The caffeine acts as the bubbles in your toothpaste, it's there to remind you of the loop without being too strong.
Cue: Entering work/class, before 9 AM. Promoted with steep 'discounts' during this period - it was already profitable and looked cheap anchored against overpriced coffees like Starbucks.
Cue: Seeing logo on cup. The coffee was all in paper cups, not sitting down. It saved a little money on rental area and training. But the main reason is that people would walk away with the cups and throw it in a trash. They'd bring it up to their offices and their friends could see it. Students would take it to other buildings. We didn't have to put up any banners - the cups were the banner. The logo was bright yellow and black, designed to be highly visible.
Cue: Stressful periods - after classes, before exams, at the end of the day.
Marketing? It was quite straightforward for us. If saw someone walking by, we'd ask them to try. Especially if they were staring at the menu.
Those who were hesitant, we'd offer a 100% refund if they didn't like it. Nobody ever requested a refund.
First day, we sold 100 cups. After that, many were repeat customers. A lot of people are afraid to approach strangers. But if you do it playfully and without any pressure, they never get angry.