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Blue Bottle Coffee's Organic Customer Acquisition Strategy
Educational Content, SEO and Email Marketing
Hey 👋
Before we jump in, just wanted to thank everyone for participating in last week’s poll. It was incredibly helpful to see what kind of content you vibe and want more of.
Today’s edition is inspired by a simple notion of unwavering commitment to quality and craftsmanship.
I will only sell coffee less than 48 hours out of the roaster to my guests, so they may enjoy coffee at peak flavor. I will only use the finest, most delicious, and responsibly sourced beans.
Enjoy 🙂
- Dev
This is what I’m covering in today’s case study:
Origin story — Blue Bottle Coffee
Educational content that keeps customers coming back
Building authority through SEO
How to use personalisation in your email strategy
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FEATURE CASE STUDY
The Blue Bottle Coffee Story

Blue Bottle Coffee kicked off in the early 2000s with founder James Freeman’s quest for ultra-fresh, top-notch coffee. Freeman started roasting beans in tiny batches and personally delivering them. Inspired by 17th-century Viennese coffee houses, which were celebrated for their relaxed atmosphere, elegant interiors, and dedication to the art of coffee-making.
Drawing on this tradition, Blue Bottle emphasises craftsmanship and creates a community-oriented space for specialty coffee lovers. In fact, the name “Blue Bottle” comes from one of Vienna’s first coffee houses, "The Blue Bottle."
Market opportunity: Interestingly, the specialty coffee market is brewing some serious growth. A report by Research and Markets shows that the global specialty coffee market, worth $35.9 billion in 2020, is set to hit a whopping $83.6 billion by 2025, growing at a caffeinated pace of 13.3% annually.
Are customers really into specialty coffee? A National Coffee Association (NCA) report shows that 62% of Americans drink coffee daily, with an increasing preference for specialty coffee. The report also highlights that younger consumers (ages 18-24) are driving the growth in specialty coffee consumption.
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STRATEGY TLDR:
Fueling their e-commerce growth
Blue Bottle Coffee’s acquisition strategy focuses on creating in-depth educational content in the form of detailed guides, videos and courses on coffee brewing. This helps them position themselves as an authoritative brand and dominate the search engine rankings. It’s been a successful approach that has significantly contributed to their growth, helping them build a $700 million e-commerce business.
EDUCATIONAL CONTENT
How to keep customers coming back
Their educational content strategy can be broken down into three parts; brewing guides, educational videos and paid coffee brewing courses.
In-depth brewing guides: Create a research-backed, comprehensive brewing guide that covers various brewing methods, such as pour-over, French press, and AeroPress. These guides provide detailed instructions, tips, and techniques for brewing the perfect cup of coffee at home.
Video content: Alongside their guides, they produce high-quality videos that showcase the brewing methods and techniques. This is a good example of how brands can repurpose written content to capture consumers who are more likely to engage with a different format.
Virtual courses: Offer a range of on-demand virtual classes to teach the art and science of coffee brewing. Customers who appreciate the craft and quality of specialty coffee find the interactive nature of the courses helpful and keep them actively engaged with the brand. For Blue Bottle, the courses are leveraged to improve customer loyalty and repeat purchases.
Key takeaway:
→ Start with keyword research before creating content. Build the strategy around things that help customers solve a specific problem.
→ Repurpose written content into different formats so that you can reach new consumers.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION
How to become an authority in your space
The SEO approach focuses on creating high-quality, evergreen content that ranks well in search engine results. The content addresses common search queries related to coffee prep and consumption. This is how they executed this to drive more organic traffic and build authority:
Keyword optimisation: Through their guides, they amass a good deal of organic traffic for the generic brewing methods they teach. For example, their guide Aeropress brewing method guide — ranks 5th for the term Aeropress, which gets a massive 46,000 searches every month.
Keyword strategy: Revolves around targeting high-search volume keywords (both short and long tail) that attract coffee enthusiasts. Looking through their blog content, they cover the following keyword categories:
Brewing methods - French press, Aeropress, Cold brew etc.
Coffee equipment
Coffee types and beans
Barista techniques
Coffee lifestyle
Home coffee brewing tips
Troubleshooting & Faqs
Coffee culture & history
Search intent & featured snippets: By optimising their guides, they can keep the content relevant by directly matching what the customer is searching for. This tactic has helped them to get the most out of their short guides. Plus, because of their rich SERP features, they’ve earned more than a hundred featured snippets like the one below.

Backlink strategy: Again, their guides are so popular that publishers are naturally attracted to sharing them. Major publications like The New York Times and popular sites like Wirecutter and Dripped Coffee have all featured them in their articles.
Key takeaway:
→ Create evergreen content that stays relevant over time
→ Target a mix of high-volume and long-tail keywords
→ Align content with user search intent
→ Aim for featured snippets to boost visibility for the niche you’re in
EMAIL MARKETING
Keeping it personal and sticking to the basics

Blue Bottle Coffee's email marketing strategy is a well-rounded approach that combines automation, personalisation, and valuable content.
This is what they use email marketing for:
Welcome sequence for new subscribers
Weekly newsletter to nurture customers
Abandoned cart to recover lost sales
Transactional emails to send relevant info after the purchase is made
Product recommendations to provide inspiration & discovery
These are the email tactics they deploy to maximise their email strategy:
Personalised content: Segment email lists to make sure that each group receives tailored emails based on their preference and behaviours. A good example of this is their personalised product recommendations.
Promotional & social proof: They keep things exclusive by providing early access to new blends, offers and discounts. Their automated welcome series is a good example of this. This flow introduces subscribers to the brand and offers a free coffee trial, supported by social proof to build brand affinity and immediately converting subscribers into customers.
Power of one: Most successful email programs are selling that one action/ call-to-action. Blue Bottle keeps the same call to action throughout that email, avoiding mixing up messages and confusing customers.
Thoughtful copywriting: They start building a relationship with a new subscriber from the very first email. To stand out their tone is conservative and ‘polite’. You’ll notice their emails will use language like “pleased to meet you” or “You might also like”, subtly pushing the customer towards an action.
Key takeaway:
→ Take time to segment your audience. Send them different types of content based on their preference.
→ Keep emails customer-centric, even if you are running a promotional offer. This can be done through a polite and conversational copywriting tone.
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