Jan. 3, 2007 | This is another installment of the “Starbucks Mailbag” posting where I give a perspective on questions I’ve received about Starbucks strategies and decisions.

This morning I received an email from a friend wanting to learn more about how Starbucks developed the culture of customers customizing their drinks. This friend is working with a quick service restaurant that’s considering implementing a “customizable” drink marketing program. He wants to know how they might be able to approach this “customizable” drink program like Starbucks has done. Interesting question and you may find my response interesting …

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"Kerry" … I think the whole drink customization capability at Starbucks came about through the evolution of its business and not from an act of marketing creation.

Back when the Starbucks menu was limited (just whole milk, two flavor syrups, no caramel, no Frappuccino, etc), customers had limited ways to customize their SBUX coffee. 

But coffee has always been a customizable beverage.  Everyone has their own ritual to concocting the perfect cup for them.  Back in the day, it was adding a specific number of sugar lumps. 

Today, it's evolved considerably with customers having a variety of options, to customization today being able to add 1 pack Equal, 1 pack Sweet-N-Low, 1 pump Hazelnut, etc to any coffee drink at Starbucks.

Starbucks promoted drink customization in the 80s & 90s through its Baristas and not through customer-facing marketing signage.  Baristas told customers how they liked to customize their Latte and their Brewed Coffee and because customers valued the opinions of Starbucks Baristas, they ended up customizing their drinks in similar fashion.

From there, the customization brand aspect of Starbucks has evolved to the extent that I've heard there are up to 50,000 ways a Starbucks drink can be customized.  (I've also heard that customization number to closer to 20,000.  Either way, it’s a considerable number.)

Another aspect to consider is how this customization evolved from the Starbucks drink language.  (You know what I am talking about—Half-Caf, Double Tall, Non-Fat, No Foam Latte.  That’s the Starbucks drink language.)  Starbucks created its drink language to help make drink preparation more uniform resulting in faster delivery and greater consistency from store-to-store.  Once that language was codified and Starbucks Baristas had a systematic way to craft coffee drinks, it became apparent to customers that they could customize a beverage in a seemingly infinite number of ways.

This was all a natural business evolution process spurred on by doing rather than saying.

To clarify this point, think back to 2004 when Starbucks ran an in-store and out-of-store promotion called CUSTOMIZE YOUR CUP.  A fancy booklet was produced explaining how drinks can be customized and some out-of-store print ads ran.  This full-on marketing approach didn't really work too well because it felt contrived and not a natural by-product of the Starbucks Experience.

Customers laughed at the booklet thinking it treated them as being stupid, that (a) they didn't know you could customize a beverage and (b) here's Starbucks getting pedantic by showing how to customize a beverage using elementary language.  There's something to be said for having a "hidden menu" and allowing customers to "hijack" the brand without superficial prodding.  (Just ask In-N-Out.)

As for a quick service restaurant seeking to emulate Starbucks success in crafting a customized drink culture with customers… my advice is to first get employees jazzed about customizing drinks.  That excitement from employees should get passed onto to customers——like it did at Starbucks.

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If you have a burning Starbucks-related question but never knew who to ask, use the contact form and ask me. My answer to your question might appear in a future Starbucks Mailbag posting.