Every morning, customers slowly line up at your front doors, and they leave your cafe with inspiration in hand: lattes, macchiatos, or plain old cups of Joe. Despite your relative success and satisfied customers, you still haven’t launched a website for your coffee shop.
You always say that your coffee shop’s Instagram page is sufficient for a strong online presence, and customers prefer their favorite delivery app for takeout orders. But despite this, websites provide many benefits that social media can’t.
While websites seem to have taken the back seat to social media, they’re still an essential tool for all businesses in the 2020s, and they’ll remain so for the foreseeable future. In this article, we’ll delve into three benefits that a website will bring to your coffee shop.
Increased Visibility and Boosted Brand Awareness
An online presence is crucial. People can visit it to learn about what makes your coffee shop unique while allowing potential customers to discover you, too. With a website, you can display your storefront, story, and menu on people’s screens.
They could be just around the corner or in a completely different country. You’ll be able to reach anyone, anywhere, with a website.
A website will showcase everything that makes your clients love your coffee shop. Here are three ways a website can illuminate your coffee shop:
- Your Story: Create a page on your site that tells customers why you love coffee. Maybe it was the trip you took to Antigua eight years ago? Or have you always been obsessed with the complex flavors coffee has to offer? Whatever it is, presenting your infatuation with coffee as a narrative will illustrate your passion for coffee to customers. A good brand story might also inspire some readers to buy their coffee from you and become loyal to your brand.
- Your Menu: Putting your menu on your site will show people who have never set foot in your cafe what makes you special. If coffee lovers from across town read on your site that you’re the only shop selling Kona for miles, it will set you apart from your competition. A website is a great way to extend your menu to those who have never heard of your shop.
- Your Location: When you have a website, you can easily create a Google Business account, which automatically puts your business on Google Maps. Being on Google Maps will make it extremely easy for potential customers to find your coffee shop.
Your Site Will Support Your Social Media
You can easily link your website to your social media feeds, like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Why not post notes on your website that nudge visitors to check up on and follow your social media?
Upload social media posts that advertise new additions to the menu or share fun updates, including a link to your website in your posts. This way, your social media following can visit your site and learn more about your brand.
Position Yourself As an Authoritative Voice on Coffee
A website works as an effective tool for sharing your coffee expertise. Share your expertise on your site by publishing regular posts about coffee and coffee-related topics. Here are a few ideas you can write about:
- An article about Vietnamese coffee
- How soil affects coffee quality
- How to choose the perfect bean grinder
- Robusta vs. Arabica
- A capsule coffee machine guide
- Coffee roasting 101
- How to select the best espresso machine
- Pairing food with coffee
As a coffee shop owner, you’ll enjoy writing about your passion, and your extensive coffee knowledge should impress site visitors. By publishing posts regularly, you’ll slowly become recognized as a legitimate expert on coffee. Customers who read your blog might recognize your knowledge and come to you with coffee-related questions.
Build an App to Spruce Up Your Service
Your coffee shop’s website could also significantly ease your operations while increasing your revenues. By using a no-code app builder like Adalo, you can build a takeout web app that will simplify ordering. Adalo is a web and mobile app builder sporting an intuitive drag-and-drop interface and requires no technical or coding knowledge.
Choose a template from Adalo’s extensive selection, and add menu items and prices when prompted. Publish your app on the Apple iOS and Google Play app stores or as your own website for your customers’ ease.
Implementing a booking app will allow customers to order ahead of time. Your customers will love the convenience of ordering at home or in the office. Adalo is also integrated with Stripe, PayPal, Square, and other major payment systems, so your customers can pay up before they pick up.
Loyalty Programs and Push Notifications
With Adalo, you can seamlessly add more features to your takeout app. Add a loyalty program to your ordering app. Have it count how many coffees each customer orders. After they purchase a certain number, give them a discount or a free coffee to show your appreciation. You won’t have to worry about stamping pesky cards - your own tailor-made Adalo app will keep the records for you.
Did that bag of coffee beans, grown in the fertile volcanic soil of Tanzanian just arrive? Let all customers know by sending out push notifications. Create even more demand by making a limited-time offer.
Turn Site Visitors Into Customers
A website for your coffee shop increases your visibility, provides a platform to establish yourself as a coffee expert, and lets you launch experience-enhancing tools like a takeout system, push notifications, and loyalty programs. But your main goal is to transform every site visitor into a customer.
Maintain a professional site by constantly updating it. Add pictures of new products, and keep the menu up-to-date. Publish articles no less than once a month, and make sure your takeout app shows all the items on your menu. If you forget to put items on the takeout menu, you’ll miss out on revenue opportunities - and, some customers might see you as lazy.
Don’t forget to send out push notifications for new products. With consistent attention, your website can bring many benefits to your coffee shop - like increased popularity and revenue.
