There are foods, drinks mostly, where you drink or eat it and there is this lingering aftertaste in your mouth. Generally, it’s not pleasant. It’s not awful, but not great either. It’s annoying.

There is a very popular drink that’s a good substitute for soda if you have issues with carbonation, which I do. It has mostly fruit flavors like lime, blueberry, or raspberry. It’s advertised by a very popular singer. When I drink it I like it, my experience initially is good, and then comes the aftertaste. I like it, but I don’t like the aftertaste, so I don’t drink it very often. It’s not the substitute I’m looking for.

There can be a service aftertaste we get from our experiences at stores, restaurants, hotels, airlines, even online shopping. It’s not awful, but it’s annoying. We can’t let it go. It lingers and stays with us.

The aftertaste will determine whether we’ll even go there again. Knowing we will probably get that aftertaste, we struggle within ourselves, conflicted whether the experience is worth it.

What do you do with a product or service where there’s an aftertaste? Do you endure it, go for it anyway, or do you avoid it?

The challenge for all of us is to be sure there is no aspect of our service that is lacking, and nothing that could possibly leave our customers with a bad taste in their mouth.

Here are a few:
-a wrinkled receipt
-a frown you give the customer at the counter
-a dirty bathroom
-not responding to an email or contact inquiry
-not delivering the product when you said it would be delivered
-a dirty entryway

This is the short list, what would you add?
Don’t let your product or service leave an aftertaste in your customer’s mouth.