Great Promotion Poor Execution

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Have you ever seen a great promotional offer only to be disappointed in what effort it takes you to obtain it.  Marketer Jo Stone gives us the following case study in what not to do if you are using Apps to engage leads and customers...

"I've just come back from lunch and just had to share with you the most horrendous experience I've had which should serve as a HUGE reminder to us all what NOT to do.

I'm a huge fan of Poke bowls - those delicious Hawaiian bowls of healthy, colourful goodness - and went down to my regular store to buy my usual for lunch today.

As I arrived at the store, I was greeted with a sign that said "Get a free Poke Bowl". Brilliant! I always love a freebee.

The sign tells me to download an app to get your freebie.

Ummm. Ok.

So I look around to see a heap of people all engrossed on their phones, yet to order.
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I wonder if they're just tech challenged, but I duly head to the app store to download yet another app to get my freebee.
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Now me being me, and interested in anything new, was finely attuned to how much effort this app was making me go through.
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There's not enough time to outline what they made me do, but it can be summarised as follows: 3 sign up screens, 2 validation texts, enter a credit card number, another validation code, search for the particular store I was standing in front of, load a menu and then attempt to place an order which failed.
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IT TOOK ME 8 MINUTES!!!
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And my order still didn't go through! I was wwaaaayyyyy more patient than others around me who typically gave up after about 45 seconds when it was clear this wasn’t going to be easy.
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What's the lesson here?
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Someone in that company clearly didn't experience their experience as a customer would. It screamed of an app that had been built in silos. Where all the pieces were done separately.  And then some poor soul had to try and hook them together.
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Clearly their compliance, or security, or governance process was broken as they continually asked me for SMS validations.
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A crucial piece they forgot to communicate - what did the app do? What problem did it solve?

I was so curious who could be spending money to promote such a rubbish experience that I went and found their website, where I discovered that they’re an app who allow you to order your food ahead of time.

KEY PIECE OF MISSING INFORMATION!
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Imagine if they put this information front and centre?
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Imagine if someone actually tried the app once it was ready and decided to make it exponentially easier?
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Their promotions looked funky and their offer of free food got everyone interested. Clearly no shortage of leads.
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However I'd be surprised if they converted any into actual clients because their experience was so bad.
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If only they'd built from the Outside In, they might still exist!
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Hungry? Enjoy your lunch!!! ???????