I saw someone recently post about the Starbucks website.

The brand doesn’t need to ramp up its brand awareness, but the post was about brand consistency really.

Everyone who has slurped a coffee will know the drill when walking into a Starbucks. You give them your order (and no matter how specific you make it, they can do it. So great news for all you mocha-choca-latte-soy-frappe-cchino lovers) and you are asked your name.

This is usually because of the conga line that is serpenting behind you and out of the building. But even if it isn’t, they still ask your name.

And some memes have made great use of this with some great name suggestions – and there is a nationwide TV advert that harnesses this name-taking with a great angle. 

So it’s safe to say that Starbucks own this process of name taking. Their brand is strong.

And their website is fully synchronised with the brand. It dovetails harmoniously as the first thing it does is ask you your name.

And the rest of the website is then tailored for your name, addressing you directly as you peruse their wares, their branch locations, their ethos, their job listings.

Everything talks to you.

It’s a great example of a brand on point.

It’s an even better example of a marketing team leveraging their website to the greatest degree.

And it’s a perfect example of the power of humanising copy.

By adding the visitors name to every page with some smart code, it is a fantastic way to up the amount of time a visitor stays on the site and how much content they will consume.

Not to mention the amount of sales.

And the rest of the copy on the site is warm, inviting and erring toward raising a smile at times.

We all know that Starbucks is synonymous with swerving taxes and their coffee quality is sometimes off centre – but they’ve done an amazing job in placing the positive elements of their world-famous brand front and centre of their site.

And no matter what size of business you are involved in – everyone should be following suit when it comes to their site.

Personalise where you can.

Speak the same messages that your brand does.

And above all, treat every visitor uniquely. That comes with engaging, non-corporate copy.

Copy that raises key messaging and keeps the visitor on the edge of every word, shepherding them to the next line, the next paragraph, the next page, the button, the form…

Thanks for reading, I’ll be back next week.

If that’s not soon enough, check out the rest of the site for a quite frankly ridiculous compendium of writing tips.

You lucky people.