Reverse-Engineering Instacart's Homepage Against the Full SB7 BrandScript

Marketing Academy · Field Work●Copywriting

CoreReverse-Engineer· 45 minutes

Instacart

Objective: Reverse-engineer a real company's homepage copy against the 7-part StoryBrand framework, score each part, and identify the brand's biggest hero-mistake risk.

You're a messaging consultant brought in ahead of a homepage refresh. Before the team writes new copy, they want a documented teardown of what's currently working and what's silently making the brand the hero instead of the customer.

Walk the current homepage copy through Character, Problem, Guide, and the brand-as-hero mistake check, scoring each and citing the exact phrase that earns the score.

Before you start

What you'll need

Free path (everything below is enough to finish)

Google Sheets

FreeScore all 7 BrandScript parts against the real homepage copy

Free, structures the 4-tab teardown into a reusable scorecard

The process

4 steps

Step 01 of 04

Part 1: A Character (your customer's desire)

Name the one thing your ideal customer wants most, one desire, not a feature list.

Read Instacart's homepage hero copy. What single desire does the current copy name for the visitor, if any?

Google Sheets— New sheet, tab 'Character', columns: Phrase | Desire Named? | Verdict.

Procedure

Quote the exact hero phrase from the homepage
State the desire it names, in the customer's words, not the brand's
Mark PASS if a specific desire is named, FAIL if the copy talks about the brand instead

Sample output

Phrase: 'Get groceries delivered in as fast as 30 minutes.'
Desire named: not having to go to the store, getting time back
Verdict: PASS, the desire is implicit but clear from the specific time claim.

Healthy

The desire is stated or strongly implied through a specific, customer-centered phrase (a time saved, a hassle avoided).

Unhealthy

The copy leads with the brand's scale or awards ('America's largest grocery delivery platform') instead of what the customer gets.

What this means

A homepage that opens with a company fact instead of a customer desire has already made the classic StoryBrand mistake in its first line.

So what do I do about it?

Symptom	Action	Effort
Hero line leads with a brand fact, not a desire	Rewrite the first line to open with the customer's specific want	30 min

YouYou can do this yourself, no engineering access required.

Step 02 of 04

Part 2: Has a Problem (three levels)

Problems split into External (observable), Internal (emotional frustration), and Philosophical (the deeper injustice). Most brands only name the external layer.

Scan the homepage for language addressing each of the 3 problem levels. Which levels are present, and which is missing?

Google Sheets— New tab 'Problem', rows: External | Internal | Philosophical.

Procedure

Find any phrase addressing the external problem (no time to shop)
Find any phrase addressing the internal problem (the stress of a packed week)
Find any phrase addressing the philosophical problem (nobody should have to sacrifice family time for errands)
Mark PRESENT or MISSING for each with the supporting phrase

Sample output

External: PRESENT, 'delivered in as fast as 30 minutes'
Internal: MISSING, no phrase names the stress or overwhelm of grocery runs
Philosophical: MISSING, no phrase frames this as a values-level statement

Healthy

At least the external and internal layers are present with a specific supporting phrase for each.

Unhealthy

Only the external problem is addressed, which the lesson flags as the most common and most costly gap.

What this means

Missing the internal problem means the copy is functionally correct but emotionally flat, it tells visitors what happens, not how their week will feel different.

So what do I do about it?

Symptom	Action	Effort
Internal problem layer is missing	Add one phrase naming the emotional frustration (the mental load of meal planning, the guilt of a wasted weekend on errands)	30 min

YouYou can do this yourself, no engineering access required.

Step 03 of 04

Part 3: Meets a Guide (your brand)

The guide shows empathy (understanding the customer's frustration) and authority (proof it can help). The guide is a supporting character, not the hero.

Find one phrase showing empathy and one showing authority on the homepage. Is either missing?

Google Sheets— New tab 'Guide', columns: Empathy Phrase | Authority Phrase | Verdict.

Procedure

Quote a phrase showing Instacart understands the customer's situation
Quote a phrase proving Instacart can deliver (a number, a stat, a scale claim)
Verdict: does authority proof exist without tipping into hero language?

Sample output

Empathy: implicit only, no direct 'we know grocery shopping is exhausting' line
Authority: PRESENT, delivery speed and coverage claims
Verdict: authority is strong, empathy is thin, add one explicit empathy line

Healthy

Authority proof is specific (a number, a named retailer count) and empathy is stated in the customer's language, not the brand's achievements.

Unhealthy

Authority claims read as bragging ('the #1 grocery delivery app') with no accompanying empathy line, the classic hero-not-guide slip.

What this means

Authority without empathy reads as a brand talking about itself. Pairing both is what makes a guide feel trustworthy instead of self-promotional.

So what do I do about it?

Symptom	Action	Effort
Empathy phrase is missing or implicit only	Add one explicit line naming the customer's frustration before stating the authority proof	30 min

YouYou can do this yourself, no engineering access required.

Step 04 of 04

Mistake 1: Making your brand the hero

The most common StoryBrand mistake: sentences that spotlight the brand ('industry leader', 'award-winning') instead of the customer's want or problem.

Scan the full homepage for any sentence that could be rewritten as 'we are great' rather than 'here's what you get.' List every instance found.

Google Sheets— New tab 'Hero Mistake Check', columns: Phrase | Brand-as-Hero? | Rewrite.

Procedure

List every brand-centric phrase found across the homepage
Mark each as a hero-mistake instance
Write a one-line customer-centered rewrite for the worst offender

Sample output

Phrase: 'America's largest online grocery platform.'
Brand-as-hero? YES, spotlights scale, not customer benefit
Rewrite: 'Shop from 1,400+ stores near you, all delivered to your door.'

Healthy

Zero or one hero-mistake instance found, and any found is paired with an immediate customer-centered rewrite.

Unhealthy

3 or more brand-centric phrases found in the primary above-the-fold copy, signaling a systemic hero-mistake pattern, not a one-off line.

What this means

A homepage that names itself before it names the customer's desire is optimizing for pride, not conversion, exactly the failure mode this lesson's Mistake 1 warns about.

So what do I do about it?

Symptom	Action	Effort
Multiple brand-as-hero phrases found	Rewrite the worst offender first, then re-run the Character check from step 1 to confirm the fix	30 min

YouYou can do this yourself, no engineering access required.

Final deliverable

A completed 4-part BrandScript scorecard (Character, Problem, Guide, Hero-Mistake Check) for Instacart's homepage, with the top 2 rewrite recommendations.

See a reference example

Sample output

Zendesk homepage teardown excerpt (reference)

Character: PASS, 'get every customer question answered fast' names a clear want
Problem, Internal: MISSING, no line names the stress of an overflowing support queue
Hero Mistake: 1 instance found ('the #1 rated support platform'), rewrite to 'Answer every ticket without the 3am panic.'

Success criteria

You're done when you can:

All 4 scorecard tabs are completed with an exact quoted phrase, not a paraphrase
At least one internal-problem gap is correctly identified if present
Hero-mistake check lists every instance found, with a customer-centered rewrite for the worst one