This was #PeakHipster, surely?

I was out for drinks with a friend the other night. We both ordered a gin and tonic with the ‘hilarious’ title ‘Plenty More G in The T’. And then we waited. And waited.

We chased the waitress who, looking shifty, said with an embarrassed wave of her hand, ‘Oh that drink takes ages to make!’

And we waited some more….until a whopping 30 MINUTES later the above turned up. Our gin and tonics. In bags.

Inside the bag was samphire pond weed and a grapefruit peel goldfish (geddit?!). And the tag read:

‘Don’t mind me. I’m plastic free but drink me quick or I’ll start to drip!’

At this point we’re not impressed. We’ve waited forever and are now being told we’ve got to down the damn thing immediately. But hey ho, we’re pretty thirsty by now.

So we took a sip and UGH! Disgusting! Like you’d expect a G and T in a bag to taste in fact. And then the DRIP, DRIP, DRIP started, soaking the table.

ARGH!

It was a classic case of form over function. Bad for the poor bartender who had to make the cocktail. And terrible for the customer.

I see this all the time with marketing:

• Websites with flashy videos that slow the loading time to a crawl
• Online shops with painfully complicated payment processes
• Brochures with no contact details

All haemorraging clients. And all because nothing has been tested. And it especially hasn’t been tested from the customer’s point of view.

So….

Have you looked at your customer experience recently?

Have you tried buying your product on your website?

Have you tried ringing your switchboard to ask for more information on your services?

Have you asked your clients how easy they find it to work with you?

Are there any distracting bells and whistles or clunky parts of the experience that you need to sort out?

Because your clients might just prefer their gin in a glass if it gets to them quickly and tastes nice. I know I would.