Starbucks launches Tweet a Coffee program
Starbucks has announced a new Tweet a Coffee program that lets you tweet a $5 Starbucks Card eGift to anyone on Twitter, whether you want to say hi to a friend, suck up to a potential employer or client, or try to buy influence by being memorable. For only $5 a pop, you could be the most popular girl or boy in town. Right?
Not so fast.
First, let’s talk about how it works. You buy a Starbucks account and keep your credit card on file, then you can gift other Twitter users a $5 Starbucks Card eGift, which can be printed or shown on a digital screen to the barista.
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Caveats of the Tweet A Coffee program
Unlike most programs, there are so very few caveats (we’ll explain why in a moment). In order for the program to work, a user cannot have a private account enabled to send or receive a tweeted coffee. The Tweet A Coffee program only works for $5 at a time, so users wanting to send more have to tweet multiple times.
Some have already pointed out that it is unclear whether or not the recipient must also have a Twitter account linked to a Starbucks account, but it will be a popular program regardless.
The real genius in Starbucks’ plan
The programs’ Terms of Service, once accepted by a user, allows Starbucks permission to tweet on your account. Some may be deterred from using the program for this reason, others may decide it’s worth it.
So, for $5, you can win favor with others, but for free, Starbucks gets millions of data points overnight – a genius marketing move if we’ve ever seen one. They’ll be collecting, analyzing, and taking action on this data, making their marketing better. Genius.
