Starbucks merges its two card programs to create one loyalty program

October 30, 5:24 PMStarbucks ExaminerCindy Tickle

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Starbucks is merging its two popular card programs to create one loyalty program for customers.
Photo by bizmac on Flickr

Starbucks Coffee Company announced Friday it is merging its two card programs, Starbucks Card Rewards and Starbucks Gold card, to create one loyalty card program.  The new program is called My Starbucks Rewards and it will launch on December 26 in all U.S. Starbucks stores.

In the past, Starbucks customers complained about having two different Starbucks reward cards.  It was difficult to deliniate which benefits applied to which card.  Terry Davenport, Starbucks senior vice president of marketing told Reuters that one customer even went so far as to glue a card from each back-to-back to make the most of each.

So what does this mean for you?  Under the consolidated program, all new members enter at the "welcome" level, and benefits increase as your frequency of use increases moving you to higher reward levels.  The three different reward levels are...

• Welcome Level:  A free birthday beverage when your card is registered.
• Green Level:  After using your card five times, you qualify for the following benefits: Free brewed refills, free flavor syrups and soy, a free tall drink of choice with purchase of one pound of whole bean coffee, up to two continuous hours of free Wi-Fi daily and special offers.
• Gold Level:  In addition to all of the benefits in the Welcome and Green Levels, Gold Level members will earn a free drink after every 15 purchases and receive an exclusive, personalized card. To qualify for the Gold Level, a customer simply needs to visit 30 times in a year (which averages less than three visits per month).
   

But what if you already are a registered member of Starbucks Gold and Starbucks Card Rewards?  You will be automatically enrolled in the new program at the appropriate level beginning in January 2010.  For Starbucks Gold members, the $25 annual fee and 10% discount will be eliminated.  However, all Starbucks Gold members who signed up after January 1, 2009, will continue to receive their discount for the full 12 months and will be automatically transition into the Gold Level of the new program upon expiration.

Well, what do you think?  Do you like the new My Starbucks Rewards loyalty program?

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