Introduction:Recently, many customers have noticed that when picking up their orders at Luckin Coffee outlets, they are often asked by staff to leave positive reviews. This stems from the brand’s “Countless Smiles” positive review competition. In some regions, stores have been included in a ranking system, with staff performance directly tied to the number of positive reviews, forcing frontline employees to solicit feedback from customers or even ask regulars to help boost ratings. This article delves into the dual impact of this practice on customer experience and employee morale, as well as analyzing the underlying evaluation logic.

In recent years, an increasing number of customers at Luckin Coffee outlets have encountered something that used to be rare: normally reserved baristas proactively asking them to leave a positive review on the app. Though such interactions may seem simple, they reflect a new level of emphasis the brand places on customer feedback.

In fact, this wave of “proactive review requests” is closely tied to Luckin’s internal “Countless Smiles” positive review competition. The campaign ranks stores based on their positive review rates, which in turn affects overall store performance evaluations. It’s worth noting that in the past, this competition was voluntary—stores could choose whether or not to participate—but this year, some regions have made it mandatory, putting unprecedented pressure on staff.

According to multiple store employees, if a store ranks at the bottom of the positive review list, not only does the whole team face criticism from management, but individual staff performance and bonuses are also affected. Driven by such a system, many baristas, in order to avoid becoming targets of negative feedback, have started asking every customer picking up an order, “Could you please leave a positive review?” Some even mobilize familiar regular customers to help post reviews in order to meet daily positive review KPIs.

For consumers, such behavior often causes frustration. One customer bluntly stated, “Being badgered for a good review is so annoying!!! Can I report this to 12315?” They believe that leaving a review is a consumer’s personal right and should not be solicited, especially repeatedly during pickup. This “proactive review” approach can easily lead to resentment, with some customers saying they might consider complaining to consumer service hotlines.

Employees are also voicing their frustrations. Many say that, from a customer’s perspective, they too would find such review solicitations irritating. One anonymous barista admitted, “I don’t want to say a word when handing out orders—I’m already tired enough from work without having to deal with this kind of campaign.” Other employees have reported that in high-volume stores, they are expected to secure at least 20 positive reviews a day, which poses an additional psychological burden, especially for introverted or socially anxious individuals.

Experienced baristas share that if the request is made in the right context and in a more natural way—such as quietly asking when a transaction goes smoothly and the customer seems satisfied—some customers are still willing to leave a positive review. However, once this becomes a routine, frequent, and mechanical practice, it not only fails to elicit positive feedback but may backfire, leading to negative comments like “the store forced me to give a review,” further damaging the outlet’s image.

Faced with such challenges, some stores, after enduring a period of intense review solicitation, have chosen to abandon actively maintaining high positive review rates, adopting a more passive approach instead. However, other stores, under strict management demands, continue to push employees to seek positive reviews from customers. It is foreseeable that, before the end-of-year competition concludes, many baristas will still have to awkwardly ask every entering customer, “Could you please leave a positive review?”

This phenomenon not only highlights the tension between brand priorities in customer experience and employee management, but also serves as a reminder to the industry that when designing review mechanisms, greater attention should be paid to humanization and reasonableness—avoiding excessive assessments that undermine trust and the quality of interaction between both parties.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.