How To Write A Coffee Subscription Landing Page

Want to sell more subscription coffee? Use these (non-scammy) landing page copywriting tricks to better connect with potential customers and close more sales.

Coffee subscriptions have had quite a time of growth during the pandemic era, with a record number of customers ordering coffee to make at home.

Trade Coffee’s customer base grew by a stunning 400% at the very start of the pandemic. Square’s mid-2020 report on how coffee shops were faring showed that shop-operated subscriptions had doubled in size.

Selling subscription coffee is a dreamy way to generate recurring, reliable revenue, but earning the sale is harder than it looks.

Let’s explore how successful companies use effective copywriting to relate to customers, squash hesitations, and sell more coffee subscriptions than their competitors.

We’ll walk through:

• How to earn attention in five seconds or less
• 14 real-world examples from coffee and food companies
• Practical sections to add to your Subscribe page

If you plan on starting a coffee subscription, or want to refresh your existing program, this quick copywriting will get you beating sales records in no time.

Also Read: The Coffee Marketing Pyramid: An Industry Framework

Start With Research: Identify Why People Subscribe to Your Coffee Club

Copywriting is known among marketers as sales via writing (no, we’re not talking about legal copyrights here). In sales conversations, you have to understand where the other person is coming from, and what their goals are. You must have empathy toward them. Writing good copy is the same way.

Before you write a single word, figure out why people would even subscribe to you in the first place.

Here are some common reasons people choose coffee subscriptions over just buying one-off bags of beans:

• Discount for their repeat purchases
• Special member perks or discounts
• Exclusive or first access to new products
• They just really love one specific coffee
• More convenient, less mental load

If you can’t think of a compelling reason why people would subscribe instead of just buy single bags, it’s back to the drawing board — a subscription without a hook is a flop.

You might have two or three hooks that bring people into your coffee club — that’s great! Keep your hooks in mind. They’ll come in handy later.

Also Read: 3 Lessons From Membership Marketing Coffee Shops Can Apply To Boost Customer Retention

The HERO Section: Make a First Impression They Won’t Forget

You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Your HERO section is the first thing people see on your subscribe page (above the fold) and therefore pulls a ton of weight, so let’s make it count.

Write a Gripping Headline (Without Cliches!)

Don’t you dare just write “Coffee Subscription” as your page headline and call it a day. I’ve seen it before. I’ll see it again. And it’s boring 100% of the time.

You’ve got to woo your customer. Here are a few ways how.

Offer a transformation. Show the difference from Point A to Point B in your headline. Where does your subscription take customers that they can’t go any other way?

Olipop’s subscription page is a masterclass in great copywriting, and their headline starts the journey of the page with a transformation: a healthier gut.

Speak directly to your people. Use language that signals you’re a part of the “in crowd” for a niche community, or you align with a particular mission or set of values. You want to be seen as a place where the reader will fit in and belong.

Bespoke Post is known for its hipster-y themed boxes for men, and it’s not shy about speaking to them. People who identify with BP’s language are likely to feel a connection. For them, it’s more about belonging to the right community than getting the right features.

Call out a unique feature or experience. Your coffee subscription might have unique features or attributes that are worth calling out as a differentiating factor. Don’t only talk about the feature itself, but the benefit it provides.

Trade Coffee does a great job of this. They have hundreds of coffees, but it’s not the big number they sell — it’s the personalized coffee rotation that’s possible with so many beans in their marketplace.

Check Out: The 7 Ecommerce Emails that Sell Coffee on Autopilot

Write a Subheader That Expands Your Headline

Your headline earned the reader’s attention. Now it’s time to nurture their desire by offering more details about your coffee subscription experience via a 1-2 sentence elevator pitch.

This is a really great place to tease your hooks if you didn’t already in the headline.

There are a few ways you can enhance your headline with the subheader.

• If your headline is heavy on curiosity or surprise, add context or explanation. You want to turn the “Say what?” into an “Ooh that’s cool”.
• If your headline teases transformation, offer a quick look at how you get there. What experiences, features, or benefits make that transformation happen? Paint a very, very brief picture.
• If your headline is feature or benefit-focused, add a hint of transformation language into the subheader to make sure customers understand what those features actually accomplish for them.

The goal is to give potential customers the 30,000-foot view of the subscription offer almost immediately.

They should be able to understand (1) who you are, (2) what you offer, and (3) why it matters to them in under 10 seconds.

Beyond that, there’s really only one rule: don’t use coffee cliches.

Create a call to action button, and you’re all set!

Sell Specific Benefits and Transformation

Next, take a deeper dive into 3-4 core value propositions of your subscription. Spending 1-2 sentences on each feature of your box (or, those hooks that make people want to subscribe) reinforces that this isn’t just coffee on repeat… it’s a whole experience.

Olipop, once again, nails it by making subscribing look like such a great deal, of course customers would choose this over one-off purchases.

Atlas Coffee Club goes a slightly different route by framing the benefits in a What’s Included type section. The customer still gets a quick explanation of why they should subscribe, but this section style also sets very specific expectations for what will arrive in each box.

JavaPresse (former client shoutout!) goes a slightly different direction with a comparison table.  This directly contrasts the JavaPresse coffee experience with other experiences customers might be evaluating, and paints JavaPresse as the clear winner.

Don’t leave your customers guessing about what subscribing really gets them — both the tangible benefits and the less-tangible transformation. Spell it out!

Also Read: The 3 Things Every Coffee Ecommerce Page Needs

The “How It Works” Section

One very common objection with subscription boxes is that customers don’t understand how exactly the subscription works. In customer research phases with clients, we often find questions like these:

• Will I get a different coffee every shipment?
• Is my coffee going to be roasted to order?
• Do I get to pick my own coffee beans?
• What steps do I have to take to sign up properly?

You want to draw a map for potential subscribers. Make the process of reaching the X where the treasure is buried look as easy as possible.

Trade Coffee’s subscribe page lays it out very simply by introducing their matching process as a simple first step.

The snack box company, SnackCrate, offers a country-themed Starter Box to first-time customers, then puts customers on a surprise-driven discovery program of snacks from a new country each month.

Onyx Coffee Lab makes the experience of subscribing ultra-clear with their 1-2-3 step process: select your coffee, select your frequency, and relax!

Notice the trend? Three steps are easy to remember.

Also Read: How To Break Stubborn Customer Habits So They’ll Buy Your Coffee

Sprinkle in Your Social Proof

People trust other people when making purchasing decisions, so add in social proof throughout the page in the form of testimonials, reviews, and social media posts from customers.

I am shocked at how few coffee companies do this when the research backing the power of social proof is so compelling.

Don’t just publish more than one “This is the best coffee ever!” generic testimonials. One at most. The rest should drive home your features, benefits, and transformation. Demonstrate that you can follow through on your promises.

Notice how Trade Coffee’s testimonials reinforce their value proposition of a personalized coffee rotation.

Wildgrain is a sourdough bread subscription box. For their social proof, they also offer a precise number of review — 500+ 5-star reviews — to not only demonstrate that they’re trusted by a handful, but that they’re trusted by hundreds of people.

Another way to offer social proof is to display the logos of media companies and websites you’ve been mentioned in. These “In The Press” or “Featured In” sections are easy to put towards the top of the page to show that you’re pre-vetted by trusted publications.

Also Read: Selling Coffee Online? How To Not Get Lost In The Crowd

The Final Call to Action

You’ve spent the entire page nurturing the reader, building trust, and giving them confidence that your coffee subscription will accomplish great things for them.

Now it’s time to bring it all home and get the sale.

If your ecommerce platform allows it, I suggest going straight into product selection. This keeps the customer momentum going, and means they don’t have to visit another page to pick their coffees. You can maintain the hype by letting them pick right then and there.

Stumptown Coffee‘s subscription page is pretty boring (to be honest), but they get this part right with a very clear coffee selection process.

The folks at Onyx Coffee Lab take a slightly different approach with a CTA section that speaks to different levels of coffee savviness. Potential subscribers can either (1) take a quiz to find a good-fit flavor profile, (2) pick specific beans from the Onyx lineup, or (3) let Onyx select the subscription bean each month.

Just make sure, however you structure this coffee selection part of the page, to leave zero room for confusion about how the coffee is picked, how frequently it arrives, and how much comes at one time.

Olipop’s CTA section makes it as plain and simple as it can be.

Also Read: How To Sell More Coffee With Fewer Beans (AKA, Beat Analysis Paralysis)

Should You Add Frequently Asked Questions?

Having an FAQ section is optional, but likely a good idea. The more complex your subscription offering, the better of an idea it is.

This is your chance to offer answers to all the questions that don’t fit naturally in the sections and copy above. Questions like…

• How do I cancel or pause my subscription?
• When does the coffee get roasted?
• How long does it take to ship coffee?
• How do I receive my member benefits?
• What is the roast level of the coffee?

You know… regular customer questions. As you sell subscriptions and naturally get support questions, you can address them here to avoid future confusion with new customers.

At the End of the Day, It’s Not About What You Sell, but How You Sell It

Coffee subscriptions are a dime-a-dozen these days. There’s a lot of competition to face, and chances are they’re using most of the same marketing tactics you are. They might even be selling the same beans from importers!

Successful coffee subscriptions don’t just rely on good coffee to build a recurring revenue stream — they build hyper-loyal followers.

The problem? Most coffee companies jump straight to tactics before they lay a solid, customer-centric foundation of branding and messaging.

🔥 Here’s how to not make that same costly mistake.

___

I give away even more thoughts in the Coffee Marketing School newsletter. If you liked this, make sure to subscribe 👇