Comments on: Dunkin’ Donuts Research Methods

by: Everything Is Design » Blog Archive » Starbucks: the more managed the experience becomes. . .: Chicago, user experience, interaction design, information architecture, usability, Asian American stuff. Mostly.

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 13:18:33 +0000

[…] I wanted to blog about this tribal behavior between the Starbucks tribe and the Dunkin Donuts tribe a while back but didn’t snag it fast enough. Each one is looking to the other to understand what the experience of coffee brings to people’s lives. I don’t know if there’s any ethnography, to observe the customer in their habitat, that they can fall back on that can improve the experience, but it seems that they can use it to start uncovering the problems. […]

by: Jonathan Lupo

Fri, 12 May 2006 11:07:51 +0000

I agree.

DnD serves a different purpose than Starbucks. A fan of both, I go to each for different reasons. I “stop-by” DnD when I am in a hurry, need a quick caffeine fix, and rush off to work. I stop in Starbucks when I have time to kill, am waiting for someone, or want to chill out.

I think that it would be disasterous for DnD to change their customer service model. They survived the Krispy Kream demise because they served a great product(other than doughnuts), and they did it quickly! They are obviously trying to keep the customer in the store longer so that they consider purchasing more than just coffee.

It would have been better to conduct market research to understand the motivations of DnD customers nationwide. What reasons did they go to DnD. Did any DnD customers ever go to Starbucks? Why or why not? If the researchers could distill the benefits of each, they could optimize a better experience for DnD.

by: Eddie James

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:00:36 +0000

I’m a big Dunkin’ Donuts fan. I eat there way more than I should. I don’t know if I’m ready for changes! I like things as they are. I’d skip making DnD pretty and focus on making service faster. The lines in DnD are crazy!

And do we really need companies cloning Starbucks. There’s a Starbucks on every corner as it is!

I’m going to look up that wall street journal article.

Thanks for the tip!