Starbucks’ Super Bowl Freebie & How 3 Brands Won Big on Game Day

TLDR

The day after the Super Bowl is notorious for being one of the sleepiest Mondays of the year. After a night filled with celebrations, late-night snacks, and intense game moments, many people wake up in need of a serious caffeine boost. Starbucks has cleverly used into this post-game energy crash by offering free coffee to its Starbucks Rewards members. This marketing strategy not only helps groggy fans get through their Monday but also reinforces customer loyalty and drives engagement with the Starbucks app.

For independent coffee shops, this is an opportunity to take notes and implement similar strategies to attract new customers and increase mobile orders. With Per Diem, coffee shops can roll out their own Super Bowl Monday promotions, leveraging mobile apps to drive engagement. In this blog, we’ll explore how your coffee shop can adopt Starbucks’ playbook, the benefits of mobile ordering promotions, and real-world success stories from coffee shops using Per Diem.

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The Starbucks Strategy: A Blueprint for Coffee Shops

Creating a Post-Super Bowl Coffee Giveaway

Starbucks’ Super Bowl Monday free coffee promotion is a textbook example of a well-executed, time-sensitive campaign. By offering a free, tall-sized hot or iced coffee to its loyalty members through a digital coupon, Starbucks ensures customers interact with its app, reinforcing habitual engagement. More importantly, this promotion draws people into stores and encourages additional purchases.

For independent coffee shops, replicating this strategy is entirely possible with a mobile ordering app like Per Diem. Businesses can roll out an exclusive Super Bowl Monday promotion, offering a free or discounted drink to customers who order through the app. This not only boosts foot traffic but also encourages customers to download and engage with the app, leading to increased future orders.

Encouraging Loyalty Through Mobile Engagement

Starbucks doesn’t just give away coffee for the sake of generosity—it’s a strategic move to encourage more app interactions. The more customers engage with an app, the more likely they are to develop habitual ordering behaviors. By requiring customers to redeem the free coffee through the Starbucks app, the brand ensures that users become familiar with its digital ordering process, making future transactions more likely.

Independent coffee shops can take the same approach by integrating exclusive promotions within their own mobile apps. Offering a digital coupon that can only be redeemed through an app order incentivizes downloads, leading to long-term loyalty and increased revenue.

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Why Mobile Ordering Promotions Work for Coffee Shops

Driving App Downloads and Repeat Customers

The Super Bowl is a prime time for businesses to capture consumer attention, but the key to lasting success is retaining those customers. Mobile ordering promotions act as a dual-purpose marketing tool: they provide immediate incentives while also introducing customers to the ease and convenience of ordering through an app.

Once a customer has downloaded a coffee shop’s app to redeem a promotion, they are far more likely to continue using it for future orders. Features such as order history, loyalty points, and exclusive digital discounts keep them engaged and encourage repeat visits, turning one-time promotions into long-term gains.

Boosting Sales with Upsell Opportunities

While a free coffee may be the initial draw, it’s what happens next that makes mobile ordering promotions so powerful. Customers who redeem a free drink are likely to add a pastry, breakfast sandwich, or another item to their order, increasing the overall transaction value. This is why Starbucks doesn’t lose money on its Super Bowl Monday giveaway—it gains it back in additional purchases.

Coffee shops can optimize their promotions by incorporating personalized upselling strategies in the mobile app. For instance, when a customer redeems a free drink, the app can suggest pairing it with a discounted pastry or breakfast item, increasing the overall purchase amount.

Learn how to upsell individual items to increase your average order value in this blog.

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How Brands Used Per Diem for Super Bowl Promotions

Chip City: Pre-Super Bowl Cookie Sales

Chip City Cookies, a famous NYC cookie chain, leveraged the Per Diem app to drive sales ahead of the Super Bowl by offering pre-sales on its signature cookies. By allowing customers to place orders before game day, Chip City ensured that fans could stock up on their favorite treats without last-minute stress. This strategy not only increased sales but also reduced in-store rushes on Super Bowl Sunday, leading to a more efficient and enjoyable customer experience. The presale approach helped Chip City boost app engagement, proving that advanced ordering can be a game-changer for bakeries and coffee shops alike.

Boba Bliss: Driving Engagement with Push Notifications

Boba Bliss successfully leveraged the Per Diem platform to drive game-day orders through strategic push notifications. On Super Bowl Sunday, they sent out a notification encouraging customers to pre-order their drinks to skip the line, positioning their boba beverages as the perfect game-day companion.

This approach not only boosted sales but also reinforced the convenience of mobile ordering, ensuring that customers saw value in using the app beyond just game day. By promoting the app’s time-saving benefits, Boba Bliss increased its customer engagement and repeat orders, proving the effectiveness of digital promotions.

Luliet Bakery: Super Bowl Bundle Discounts

Luliet Bakery took a slightly different approach, opting to offer a discount rather than a free item. They rolled out a limited-time “Game Day Bundle Sale,” providing 20% off all ice cream and cookie bundles. Customers received a push notification with a special discount code, “SBOWLBUNDLE,” which they could apply at checkout through the app.

This strategy not only incentivized larger orders but also encouraged customers to use the mobile app for their purchases. The urgency of a one-day-only promotion created a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out), leading to a significant increase in mobile app transactions.

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Final Thoughts

Starbucks’ Super Bowl Monday free coffee promotion is not just a giveaway—it’s a smart marketing strategy designed to boost app engagement and customer retention. Independent coffee shops have the opportunity to replicate and customize this approach through their own mobile ordering apps, using similar strategies to attract and retain customers.

By leveraging platforms like Per Diem, your cafe can create compelling post-event promotions, drive mobile app usage, and boost sales through mobile engagement. As seen with these case studies, push notifications and strategic discounting can make all the difference in maximizing a Super Bowl-related promotion.

The playbook is there—it’s time for coffee shops to take action and create their own game-winning strategy for Super Bowl Monday and beyond.

Sign up today and start running promotions that bring customers back for more.

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