Card

The Card section of the website is one of the most participatory sections overall.  This is the part of the website that invites readers to learn more about the Starbucks rewards program, sign up, create an account, and manage the account and corresponding gift card/s.  It starts out functioning very much like an encyclopedia, but always encourages the reader to follow through with the information by signing up for the program.  This encouragement is actually procedural because it leads the reader to complete very specific tasks of creating, logging in, and managing account information.  So, hand in hand are the participatory and procedural functions of the main Card page and subpages.

Now, the text, as said, already is very informative at first.  It aims to show readers that there are benefits to drinking and eating at Starbucks.  The appeal here lies heavily with the natural human response of liking discounts and free things, all of which the Starbucks program does provide after the participant qualifies at certain reward levels.  Humans like free and discounted goods.  The text makes it very clear to the reader that the reader is being rewarded by using this program.  It is hard to ignore this kind of appeal these days.  Chances are the reader is not ignoring this appeal because the reader values exactly what the text is pushing.

The main Card page also encourages readers to purchase gift Starbucks gift cards online.  The corresponding subpage appeals to reader through text that exhorts the awesomeness of a giving a Starbucks gift card to a friend or loved one.  The text also makes clear that it is very easy to do, and does not even require you to leave your computer.  It is so “convenient,” one can purchase the gift card right on the site!  Obviously, the text is playing on the modern values of convenience and wanting to gift a great gift.

Interestingly, this entire section of the website does not include any blog posts or hint of the blog in the least.  This leads me to think that Starbucks does not want such heavy purchasing messaging being connected to the blog.  Yet, to top off the page, are the social media links for sharing information.  This creates a unique tension between the blog and acceptable blog content and social media sharing that has not been seen quite yet.  I will explore this in more detail later.