Catch The Espresso Train To La Colombe
Making the world better through coffee
‘Hot Brown Morning Potion’ or coffee serves as an essential morning drink for most people. Now, scientists are actually linking several health benefits to a moderate intake of coffee. Moreover, coffee shops are a known haven for a rendezvous, getting some work done, or just a post-workout treat.
While coffee now might seem synonymous with Starbucks, brands like La Colombe are demonstrating a rising influence among the community due to their authentic sourcing of coffee, pro-social engagement, and diverse product offerings.
La Colombe is not new to the coffee business. Since its foundation in 1994, it's been known for its direct-sourcing and inclusive offering of coffee. The mission of La Colombe was to make the world better through coffee. What started as a vision for serving good quality coffee to the country, became an opportunity to influence meaningful change around the world.
La Colombe is a leading coffee roaster known for its ethical, long-term trade practices with growers. It is considered one of the pioneers of the third wave of coffee and provides signature classic blends and single-origin coffees to cafés, hotels, restaurants, and retailers around the world. La Colombe is also known for producing the Draft Latte which was the world’s first-ever textured cold latte.
When I’m feeling blue
“People listen to good reviews; we use review content in our paid ads and email campaigns as well as on our website; it’s great to tap into when we need to develop content”
La Colombe uses insights from reviews to inform its user experience and web design efforts. Consumer reviews complained about a lack of clarity in labeling and product descriptions. They couldn’t select the roast levels they wanted to purchase products off the website. As a result, La Colombe’s web team recalibrated its roast ranges depicted on its website to better align with consumer wants, needs, and expectations, with a designed red header under each product identifying its roast level.
While La Colombe cares about user feedback and reviews and incorporates the same into its website and digital strategy, the premium coffee roaster lacks a certain finesse when it comes to UX. The website primarily uses blue to portray a sense of trust, loyalty, and calm to its users. However, the clinical feel of the website, lack of interactive design, innovation, and added features don’t align with the brand’s overall image.
The first thing you experience when you visit their web page is a slew of pop-up ads, promos, and discounts. There is little to no description of the brand or its mission and La Colombe fails to provide an eye-catching element on its landing page.
Too-Sleek-For-Coffee
La Colombe’s website isn’t adapted well to the mobile platform. It is disorganized and the promos don’t connect with the rest of the page or the message. Moreover, the feel of the website is a uniform sleek blue which seems to represent products related to pharmaceuticals or tech more than coffee.
However, the website outlines different sections for its coffee, tea, and food products, linking to its Instagram page for purchase options. It offers subscriptions, details its locations in different cities, and demonstrates deep roots in the community. La Colombe also offers its users a guide on how to brew their coffee and propagates inclusivity by providing vegan and gluten-free options.
Coffee for a Cause
La Colombe partners with organizations to alleviate hunger, fight food insecurity, advocate for equity and encourage sustainability. This aligns with the customer-centric core and its values. They are respected for their work in the community and the quality of their coffee stands out to their customers. While I believe the user experience offered by their website does need work, customers are extremely satisfied by the products offered by La Colombe and keep going back for more.
