We drink a lot of Starbucks coffee in our family. Often, we'll stop as we're headed offon a trip for a sporting event for one of our kids, and we'll grab a coffee for the road.

As a result, I tend to use the Starbucks app a lot. Probably more than most people. It was on exactly one of those trips a few weeks ago when I first noticed Starbucks had rolled out a change to its app to make use of one of the best features oniOS 16 and 17: Live Activities.

Live Activities itself isn't new. Apple rolled out the feature a year and a half ago with iOS 16 and the iPhone 14 Pro. The basic idea is that apps can send a push notification that hangs out on the Lock Screen or in the Dynamic Island and updates in real time. So, an airline app can show you the status and progress of your flight, or a food delivery app can track the status of your order. Or, if you're a sports fan, you could track the score and updates of your favorite team.

But some apps have taken longer than others to actually add the feature. Starbucks has had it available in some form--and its app has even been featured a number of times. But it wasn't until now that it became widely available to everyone. 

Now that it is, it's one of the best features Starbucks has ever added. If you've ever placed an order in the Starbucks app and then showed up to pick it up, you know what I mean. Depending on how busy your store is, the experience isn't always great. In fact, it can be a bit of a free-for-all. 

If the store is particularly busy, you may be standing near the counter with a few dozen people also waiting for their drink. As a result, there's this awkward dance of waiting to hear your name yelled out, and then wedging your way through the crowd to see if what the barista just set down is, in fact, your triple grande breve latte. 

Now, the app will let you know exactly when your order is in progress, and when it's done. There's no more wondering where you are in line, you can just keep track right on your iPhone. 

It's kind of a big deal, considering that more than 31 million people use the Starbucks app. In fact, its app is the second most commonly used form of mobile payment, after Apple Pay. Sure, some people just scan the barcode in the app to pay when they check out, but a lot of them are placing their orders ahead of time. The app is their primary way of interacting with Starbucks aside from showing up to pick up their order. When you think about it that way, anything Starbucks can do to improve the experience goes a long way.  

I imagine this took a bit of effort for Starbucks to implement, which is another reason I think this is a great lesson for every business. The company was willing to put in the effort to build whatever systems were necessary to track millions of orders and display their progress to customers.

For example, it's one thing to be able to place an order in a mobile app and have that transmitted to a store in a way that a person making drinks is able to get your order, prepare it, and hand it to you when you arrive. It takes an additional layer of technology so that you, the customer, know when each of those things is happening.

In that sense, this isn't an app update as much as it is an internal systems and process update. Now, Starbucks employees are providing feedback to customers about their orders in a way that enhances the overall experience.

Of course, once you start to give a customer that information, you're creating an expectation. If the app says their order is in progress, customers start to have an expectation of when it will be ready. Once it says it's ready, a customer expects to just come in and find their drink. All of that just has to work.

When it does, the benefit to both customers and your business is huge. Customers benefit because they have a better experience. Your business benefits because happy customers are more likely to spend more money. Great experiences are almost always worth the effort. 

The same is true for every business, by the way. Your job is to make it easy for your customers to know what to expect, and then deliver on that promise every time. Using technology to make that happen is a stroke of genius.