WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. - Staff, more than price or merchandise offerings, is key to driving higher satisfaction among specialty coffee customers, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Specialty Coffee Retailer Satisfaction Report(SM) released today.
The inaugural report found that a specialty coffee retailer's staff is more than twice as important to customers compared with the importance for the other factors that measure satisfaction. Customer service attributes such as courtesy, knowledge of merchandise, speed of checkout and availability contribute to the overall staff factor. Other factors contributing to overall satisfaction are merchandise, cost, sales/promotion and facility.
"With staff having such a high importance to customers, specialty coffee retailers have a tremendous opportunity to differentiate themselves from competitors by focusing on customer-centric approaches and enhancing their customer service training," said Sara Wong Hilton, senior director, strategy and product management, in a press release, adding, "Customers may even overlook other shortcomings if the staff is friendly, knowledgeable and helpful."
The study found that Dutch Bros. Coffee ranks highest in overall satisfaction with a score of 823 (on a 1,000-point scale) and performs particularly well in the staff, sales/promotion and cost factors.
Overall customer satisfaction index scores by retailer brand:
- Dutch Bros. Coffee 823
- Tully??s Coffee 812
- Caribou Coffee 809
- Seattle's Best Coffee 807
- Industry Average 806
- Starbucks Coffee 805
- The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf 793
- Peet??s Coffee & Tea 790
High customer satisfaction with a brand also ignites customer loyalty, as well as word-of-mouth brand recommendations. Among Dutch Bros. Coffee customers, 56% say they "definitely will" repurchase and 63% say they "definitely will" recommend the brand to family and friends, significantly higher than all other brands included in this report.
"We see a direct correlation between customer satisfaction and commitment and loyalty to these coffee brands included in this report," says Wong Hilton. "Committed and loyal customers are often more-profitable as they typically bring in other customers by recommending the brand."
The report finds that customers spend an average of $13 per visit at a specialty coffee retailer.
The 2012 Specialty Coffee Retailer Satisfaction Report is based on responses of more than 1,300 participants who purchased any product or beverage at a brick-and-mortar specialty coffee retailer in the 30 days prior to being surveyed. The report was fielded in December 2011 and January 2012. Brands included in this report have revenue that exceeds $35 million, have at least 100 locations, and are located in more than five states.