Imagine our surprise when the debut of Google’s much anticipated Google Offers rollout was at Floyd’s Coffee – mere steps from our office in Portland, Oregon. Coffee is serious business in Portland, and nobody is more serious about (drinking) coffee at our agency than Andrew McLaughlin. Andrew ran the first Google Offer through its paces, and captured the ups and downs in the below presentation. What do you think of Google Offers? Leave your comment below.

1. Google Offers – Day 1
Presents
A Grand Day Out at Floyd’s Coffee
June 1 , 2011
By Andrew McLaughlin

2. 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

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.

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

5. 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?

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

7. 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.

8. Figures.

9. Off to the Help Center.
I have no coffee, so I suppose I’m having a bad experience.
…But I have a positive attitude.

10. Really!?!
You require my business name?

11. Positive attitude gone.

12. 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.

13. Well look at that.
Within 1 business day can still mean today.
Who knew?


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

15. w00t!
No time to print. Gotta go. Grab phone and jet across the street.

16. Walk. Tap. Walk. Tap. Walk. Tap.

17. Proof of purchase in hand!
Nothings stopping me now.

18. Enter.

19. Queue.

20. No coffee.

21. Wait. What?

22. 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.

23. 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?

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

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. I’m not saying your deceived me,
just that I was distracted.
Here’s a simple suggestion…

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

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

30. 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 

31. All for 3 bucks!
And they punched my card!
Thanks, Google. And Thanks, Floyd’s
A Grand Day 2 Out
getreadyforday2.com