Presents

A Grand Day Out at Floyd’s Coffee

June 1 , 2011 By Andrew McLaughlin

Google Offers – Day 1

Opening day and it’s time to try out Google Offers. Thankfully Floyd’s Coffee Shop is right around the corner.

Click Buy now - $3

Google Checkout Process… easy enough.

Hmmm. I wonder when I gave my credit card number to Google. Seems they kept it on file. Convenient but creepy.

“Corporate Accounts. Nina speaking. Just a moment…”

Maybe this is a soft launch. It does still say Beta. Okay, this is not a time to panic. I’ll check back soon. How long is that again?

Okay, is 44 seconds long enough? Still processing payment. Seems clickable, but it’s not.

2 minutes later. There must be a problem. I’m sure it’s my fault. Let’s checkout the confirmation email.

…see if maybe I missed something.

Ah! Print offer to redeem. Click.

Figures.

Off to the Help Center. I have no coffee, so I suppose I’m having a bad experience.

…But I have a positive attitude.

Really!?! You require my business name?

Positive attitude gone.

Maybe I missed something important. Let’s go read some fine print while I wait. Seems okay… except it looks like I’ll have to buy a few muffins at the same time.

Well look at that. Within 1 business day can still mean today.

Who knew?

Ooh! What happened!?! Excited now! Click!

w00t!

No time to print. Gotta go. Grab phone and jet across the street.

Walk. Tap. Walk. Tap. Walk. Tap.

Proof of purchase in hand! Nothings stopping me now.

Enter.

Queue.

No coffee.

Wait. What?

The friendly coffee shop guy tells me these aren’t redeemable until tomorrow. “Really?” I say, “but I just purchased the offer. Here’s my receipt. Didn’t this program start today?” He’s kind enough to explain that today’s offer gives people the opportunity to purchase the offer anytime until the end of the day today. Then, after the offer period is over, I have one year – starting tomorrow – to redeem it. I’m skeptical, but accept the news. Back to the web to double-check.

Oh my! He was right. I totally missed it. In my excitement with the 70% OFF offer and my five minutes of confusion with why my payment wasn’t being processed, I missed the fact I couldn’t redeem this until tomorrow. Still, how come I still feel like this has been a bad experience?

Okay Google, I’m not saying it’s not your fault. I’m just saying I blame you.

First, your track record for ease of use and immediate gratification have set my expectations high. So when I was confronted with issues, I was taken aback.

Second, the red things on the screen and the second-by-second countdown keep my attention fixated on immediate need to complete the transaction. Damn the details.

I’m not saying your deceived me, just that I was distracted.

Here’s a simple suggestion…

Add additional colored text about when the redemption period starts. Green seems good. (see what I did above)

Starting tomorrow

Also, be sure to reinforce that message at each touch point during the transaction.

Starting tomorrow

Starting tomorrow

I’m sure you can implement these today, right? I mean, you are Google. Kthxbye! Looking forward to my cup of joe tomorrow, Andrew McLaughlin Are you ready for day 2? getreadyforday2.com

Update: Check out what happened on day two

All for 3 bucks!

And they punched my card! Thanks, Google. And Thanks, Floyd’s A Grand Day 2 Out getreadyforday2.com