Costa Coffee + UserTesting

The Digital Experience Design Team leverages human insight to hone the customer experiences across their four key products:

• Global website
• The Costa Coffee mobile app (including the pre-order function) with the ‘Click & Collect’ loyalty experience
• Kiosk experiences (where customers order digitally on a 27-inch portrait screen) and then grab their order from a barista
• Costa Express vending machines

The team also fine-tuned their gamification experiences in the mobile app for the UEFA Euro 2020 and 2020 Summer Olympics experiences, both of which took place in 2021 due to the covid pandemic.

Costa’s team innovated by testing and analyzing the experiences of potential and existing customers before launching their digital programs, which included:

• Placing an order at the Express vending machine using the touchscreen interface
• Pre-ordering hot drinks for pickup at the shop, at a kiosk, or a vending machine using the Click & Collect function
• Redeeming digital vouchers for a free drink through the app
• Encouraging customers to download the app and win more than a million Costa Coffee prizes during the 2021 UEFA Euros and the 2021 Summer Olympics

Fast customer insight from Costa’s target audience of younger consumers—as well as their existing customer demographics—ensured that not only would these restaurant digital transformation experiences work as expected but that customers would also enjoy them. 

Here are some results that reflect the team’s substantial achievements:

Costa Club loyalty relaunch

• 12% increase in app visits
• 9% improvement in Click & Collect conversions

Click & Collect

• 1,500% increase in Click & Collect transactions over a three-year period

Contactless Express

• 50% increase in transactions over a six-month period
• 3.4% of Total Express Cups sold arrive via Contactless Express

Euros Gamification

• 80,000 football fans encouraged to register as new Costa Coffee Club members
• 2.4 million chances to win with 1.4 million prizes awarded
• 120,000 loyalty customers re-engaged
• 20,000 consumers migrated from plastic loyalty cards to using the app