The tricks Starbucks uses to make you spend more without noticing – they’re easy to avoid if you know what to look for

FREQUENT Starbucks customers make peace with the cost of their favorite latte, iced drink, or Frappuccino – but the company works overtime to get customers to go over budget.

From the front page of the app to the design of each Starbucks store, the brand is using every tool it has to make you spend more without noticing.

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There’s a clever reason you see mugs before snacks and candy in the checkout line[/caption]

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Rachel Haines explained the marketing psychology Starbucks uses in-store[/caption]

Rachel Haines, who co-hosts the Hyperfocus Podcast, has a background in international business and psychology.

Haines ran through all the strategies Starbucks employs to keep customers in a spending mindset from the moment they set foot in a store.

“Just about every step of the ordering process is designed to make you spend more,” Haines said.

It starts before you step through the door – when you open the Starbucks app on your phone.

“Everything in the mobile app is laid out like a game: rewards, milestones, checkboxes, bonus stars,” Haines explained.

“You’re always encouraged to buy more, to hit the next milestone, to get the next reward.”

An interface sprinkled with shiny gold stars and visual progress bars makes consumers feel like they’ve accomplished something with each purchase.

“The visual aides almost make us feel like we’re being productive,” Haines said. “Really we’re just spending more.”

While you’re standing in line waiting to order your drink, the design of the store is working its magic.

“Their impulse buy section is expertly planned, with aesthetically-pleasing merchandise displayed in the ordering line that you must see before you get your coffee,” Haines said.

From “limited edition” mugs to a rainbow of cold cups, the shelves near the checkout have it all, and that’s before buyers reach the bags of take-home coffee and grab-and-go lunch boxes.

The placement of that merchandise is “no accident.”

“Their door-in-the-face approach puts expensive items like mugs first,” Haines explained.

When you skip that $15 purchase, you feel empowered for a moment, and then may want to “reward” yourself with a different treat.

“You’re more likely to make a smaller purchase like a snack or mints at the register because it seems like such a small amount by comparison,” Haines said.

That’s how a few extra dollars fly out of your bank account with every Starbucks trip before you even realize it’s happened.

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The app functions like a game with ‘rewards’ to make customers feel accomplished[/caption]

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Big-ticket impulse buys are set up where you have to see them in the store[/caption]