Issue #12: SBUX Rewards and Why Everything Old is New Again

2016 has been all the rage across social media over the last month, with everyone posting nostalgic photos and reminiscing about the “good old days.” (Frankly, I don’t agree, but that’s one gal’s opinion.)

Faster than you can say “hold my coffee cup,” Starbucks decided to jump on the trend with loyalty program changes (going live in March) they called “reimagined.” I’ll call them recycled.

They went back into their loyalty archives and put many of the benefits and structures of the old program back in place. But why?

I have a few theories. First, let’s recap how they got here.

2009: Starbucks Rewards formally launched and was one of the most significant brand loyalty launches outside of travel and grocery. Before Starbucks Rewards, QSR loyalty largely meant mass value offers that (gasp) went to everyone. Starbucks changed that. The program was digital-first, tied to the Starbucks Card, and fundamentally different from what the category had seen before. True innovation.

And it was good. Too good.

The original structure awarded one Star per visit, with Gold status earned at 30 Stars. Once you hit Gold, 12 Stars got you a free drink — over and over again. Consumers quickly figured out how to game it, and free coffee flew off the shelves.

2016: Starbucks shifted to a spend-based model: two Stars per dollar, 125 Stars for a free drink (once you reached Gold which required 300 stars). Customers complained about the devaluation from visits to spend, but the program was still generous and it grew tremendously.

2019: Starbucks introduced variable redemption levels across a broader range of products, but made a baffling move: they eliminated the Gold tier entirely. Everyone was equal. The messaging was that members no longer had to “wait” to redeem, but Gold members felt like they’d lost their status — and the backlash was real. COVID hit a year later, Starbucks closed most of their stores, and their sales never got back to their glory days.

Which brings us to the current change announced last week.

So… is this reimagined? Not really.

But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes reversing bad decisions and digging through the loyalty archives is exactly what’s needed. Starbucks Rewards grew so fast and became so dominant that, in some ways, Starbucks Rewards became a victim of its own success. The program became the identity and it lost sight of what made Starbucks special in the first place: the product, the café atmosphere, and personalized service.

Most brands can’t loyalty their way around a bad product (unless you’re an airline), especially in a hyper-competitive category. Loyalty can lift a brand. It cannot be the brand.

What Starbucks did here wasn’t wrong. In fact, it was probably smart. They fixed what they broke. But fixing your own mistakes isn’t innovation. It’s loyalty maintenance.

A truly reimagined Starbucks Rewards program would have reflected how customers actually live and consume Starbucks today. The brand talks endlessly about community, yet the program remains a solo experience. There’s no shared value, no network effect, no way for loyalty to extend beyond the individual.

Imagine if Starbucks had layered in things like:

Instead, Starbucks chose loyalty familiarly. And that’s okay. This could be phase 1 of further changes. It’s a brand that always hires excellent talent and is continuously trying new things. I’m sure there is more to come, and I look forward to that.

But for now, this version of Starbucks Rewards feels less like the future and more like a well-organized trip through the archives.

Got opinions about the new SBUX Rewards program? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? Drop a comment.