Having your own coffee shop website is crucial in this day and age. It’s where the people who want to visit your shop or buy some coffee go to learn about you online. One of the great things about having your own website is that you can make it exactly how you want it. You can include or exclude whatever you want. However, when it comes to coffee shop websites, there are a few things that every site should have.
Every coffee shop website should have:
- Pages that are easy to navigate
- Functions that bring can create more revenue
- A responsive design that looks good across all devices
- Compelling content
Pages every coffee shop website needs
There are certain pages that every coffee shop website should have. These pages aren’t important just because of the information they possess. They’re important because they meet your visitor’s expectations.
As the internet has become more and more mainstream, people have developed expectations about what a website should be like. Humans love it when things are unique, but not too unique. Following a familiar structure in terms of your website pages will make your site more appealing to visitors.
These pages that we’ve listed should be on every coffee shop website because they are both familiar and functional.
Home page
Your home page is the front page of your coffee shop website. It’s where visitors land and it’s the “front door” of the site. Because it’s typically the first page people land on, you want to make sure it makes a strong first impression. It should include intriguing content that makes the viewer want to stick around and learn more.
About us
It’s no secret that humans want to do business with other humans who they know and like. Your website’s about us page gives you the perfect place to let people get to know and like you.
Here, you can tell the full story of the coffee shop. You can explain why the shop was started, who it serves, and what its mission is.
You don’t want to be too long-winded, but don’t be afraid to give some details. If people have gone through the trouble of visiting the site and moving to your about page, they definitely want to learn more. Satisfy this curiosity with whatever information someone would find relevant.
On top of including your story, a good about us page should feature your team members. As we said earlier, people like doing business with people they know. Posting bios and fun facts about your team members allows your customers to get to know the individuals who make up your coffee shop. This is an easy way for you to quickly build trust with your potential customers.
Contact us
One of the beautiful things about the internet nowadays is that it allows for two-way communication. People can talk to you and you can talk back. You should take advantage of this on your coffee shop website! Your site should have a contact page so that customers can get in touch with you when they have questions, comments, or concerns.
Your contact page should have your coffee shop’s contact information so that visitors can get in touch with you. Adding a contact form to your website is a professional and efficient way to allow visitors to reach out to you.
Additionally, your contact us page should include information about where your coffee shop is located. This is crucial because many of your visitors are likely coming to your site just to find your address. You want to have it readily available for them.
If your coffee shop is a chain or franchise with multiple locations, it’s best to list all of them. That way users can find out which shop is most convenient for them to visit in person.
Shop
Every coffee shop website should include some kind of shop page where visitors can order or make purchases. If you’re fortunate to have a lot of people coming to your coffee shop website, you should give them a way to buy from you right there on the site.
Of course, not every person who visits the site is looking to buy merch or place an order. Nevertheless, some people are. Excluding a shop page from your website is like saying no to money that these people are eager to give you.
Functions every coffee shop website should have
While pages make up the foundation of a coffee shop website, the site requires more than just pages. The site as a whole is set up to serve certain purposes. There are things the site has to be able to do. Every coffee shop website should have these key functions.
Email Capture
Email marketing is one of the most lucrative digital marketing strategies for coffee shops. To take advantage of this tactic, every coffee shop website should have an efficient way to collect visitor email addresses.
If a person visits your coffee shop website once, there’s no guarantee they’ll visit again. That’s where email capture comes in. If you collect a person’s email address, you have a way to get back in contact with them later. You can send them emails about promotions, events, or simple updates. Email marketing is a fantastic way to stay top-of-mind and build relationships with your customers.
You can set up email capture on your website using a pop-up that offers a discount or a free drink to incentivize visitors to share their email. Another common practice is putting a small form in the footer of the website so that people can subscribe to your newsletter.
Whatever way you do it, it’s important that your website can collect the email addresses of the people who want to hear from you.
E-commerce
As we mentioned earlier, you should never say “no” to someone who is saying “yes” to making a purchase. But that’s what you’re doing if your coffee shop website doesn’t have e-commerce set up. E-commerce gives your website a way to accept payments online.
E-commerce enables two types of interactions that can unlock a lot of revenue for a coffee shop. These two purchase types are online ordering and selling merchandise.
Online ordering
Online ordering is something consumers have come to expect from coffee shops. When the world went into lockdown in 2020, businesses had to develop ways to serve their customers with less contact. Many coffee shops started using offering ordering and curbside pickup during this time. Now, any coffee shop that doesn’t offer online ordering is behind the curve and missing out on revenue.
Selling merchandise
We know that the profit margin on beverages served at coffee shops is slim. Shop owners are constantly thinking of ways to increase their average order value. Selling merchandise with your coffee shop logo to online customers is an excellent way to do just that!
You likely have custom t-shirts, stickers, or mugs available in your shop. Why not put them online? While you may only sell your coffee beverages to people in your geographic location, selling merchandise online lets you sell to people across the entire country!
Even if you don’t carry merchandise in the shop, you can still offer it to online customers. Print-on-demand services like Printful allow you to design your own custom products that are printed after someone places an order. Best of all, these services have integrations that allow them to seamlessly connect to many different kinds of websites.
Responsive design
Every coffee shop website should have a responsive, mobile-friendly design. A responsive design is one that “responds” to whatever size screen it’s on. A website design like this looks great no matter where it’s being viewed. Whether someone is using a desktop, tablet, or smartphone, the site should look great.
Over 50% of web traffic comes from a mobile device. If your coffee shop website isn’t optimized to be viewed on mobile, you aren’t offering the best customer experience. This isn’t just a small frustration for customers. It could stop them from visiting your shop entirely.
People make dozens of searches on their cell phones every day. If someone lands on the mobile version of your website as they’re searching for local coffee, you may just win a new customer! But if your site is clunky and hard to read on their cell phone, they’re much less likely to come in and buy a drink. Scenarios like this are why it’s crucial that you have a responsive coffee shop website.
Up-to-date menu
Your coffee shop’s menu should be available on its website. Whether you create a page specifically for the menu or feature it on the home page, it needs to be there. Not only that but the menu should be regularly updated. The menu on the website should reflect any changes made to the menu in the shop.
There’s nothing worse than seeing a tasty drink on an online menu and getting excited about it only to have your dreams crushed when you walk into the shop and it’s not available anymore. You can help your customers avoid this heartbreak by keeping the menu and the rest of your coffee shop website up-to-date. If you don’t have time to do this yourself, consider our website management services.
Content every coffee shop website needs
Think of your website as a latte. The pages are the cup. The pages are what you put everything in so that it stays together like it’s supposed to. If you didn’t have the cup, you’d just have some espresso and milk flowing through your fingers.
The functions are the milk. Without the milk, you’d be drinking straight espresso. The milk makes the latte what it is and it elevates it to a higher level.
The content is the espresso. It’s really the meat of the whole thing and it’s what matters most. Your website’s content is the most important part of the whole thing.
When you’re building a website, the pages and functionalities often come first, and the content is plugged in after. But that doesn’t make it less important. In fact, the content of your coffee shop website is what makes it unique.
For this article, we’ve divided content into three different types: text, photos, and video. We’ll break down the role that all three of them play in your coffee shop website. Let’s start with copy.
Copy
Copy refers to the words that are typed out on your website. It includes headings, subheadings, and paragraphs. The copy is what people will read to learn more about your coffee shop and what it offers.
Copy is also what search engines read. Artificial intelligence is getting good at understanding photos and videos, but copy is still king. That’s why it’s important that you include properly formatted text on your coffee shop website. It will help Google understand what your coffee shop is about, what it sells, and where it’s located. In fact, properly formatted headings and subheadings are a huge part of search engine optimization for coffee shops.
Photos
We’ve all heard the old saying, “a picture’s worth a thousand words.” While cliche, it’s often true. You can communicate a ton of information to your website visitors with a simple photograph. A photo of the inside of your coffee shop can say more about what your atmosphere is like than a thousand words of text. A photo of the outside of your coffee shop can provide better directions than a thousand words describing it.
Another reason that photos are so important on coffee shop websites is that we eat (and drink, in this case) with our eyes first. You whip up delicious-looking drinks every day. Show them to people! Use photos on your website to give potential visitors an idea of what to expect when they order from your shop.
If you don’t have awesome pictures of your shop or drinks, don’t worry. While using stock photography isn’t the best option, it can be helpful in a pinch. Sites like Pexels and Unsplash have tons of royalty-free images that you can use on your coffee shop website.
Videos
Videos are a great way to connect with people. As technology has advanced, it has become easier to capture and obtain high-quality video footage. There are lots of creative ways to incorporate video on your coffee shop website.
One way to use video on your website is to include an engaging video as the background of your hero section. This immediately draws the viewer’s attention and makes them focus on your headline.
Another beneficial way to use video on your site would be to include a storytelling video on your about page. This could be as simple or cinematic as you want. Either way, telling the story of your coffee shop through video builds trust with your potential customers.
Just like photography, using stock video is always an option. However, it’s best if the videos on your coffee shop website are authentic and original.
Website design for coffee shops
We’re big coffee people here at Marketing Backend. It flows through our veins. That’s why we’re so passionate about helping coffee shops get to the next level. A solid website is the foundation of a complete digital marketing strategy. We’re here to help you build that foundation.
Not sure what you’d want the site to look like? Check out our list of coffee shop website inspiration!
If you already have your website foundation nailed down, we can still help! We offer an entire suite of digital marketing solutions and services to help your coffee shop grow. To make things even better, we offer all these solutions through one easy-to-use dashboard that allows you to manage your entire online presence in one place.
