The Challenge
Best Before It's Gone wanted to offer local customers a free click and collect service — a feature their larger competitors have, and one that their audience of bargain-hunters would genuinely use.
The constraints were real: small team, tight budget, and a warehouse environment where staff are always busy. The system needed to be effortless for customers, and it needed to alert staff instantly when someone was waiting — without creating extra manual work.
What We Built
A lightweight click and collect system built around a single well-placed button. The customer experience is simple enough to explain in one sentence: you get an email when your order is ready, press the orange button when you arrive, and staff are notified immediately.
Behind that simplicity is a joined-up backend that handles order lookup, status tracking, SMS alerts, and a staff-facing collection app — all coordinated through Airtable.
How It Works
The customer journey:
When an order is ready for collection, Mintsoft sends the standard dispatch email — modified to include a prominent orange button: "Click here to let us know you've arrived."
Pressing that button directs the customer to a dedicated landing page. The Order ID is encoded in the URL, so the page knows exactly which order it's dealing with.
The page looks up the order status in Airtable and displays a simple confirmation: "We know you've arrived." No login. No form. One tap.
The staff side:
- Orders are stored in an Airtable sheet with their Order ID and status
- On arrival, the system looks up the order and updates its status in Airtable via API
- Staff receive an immediate SMS showing which customer is waiting
- A dedicated collection app displays all pending collections — showing storage location, number of totes, and whether the customer has multiple orders
- Once the order is handed over, staff mark it as collected in the app, which updates the Airtable record via API
The Outcome
Best Before It's Gone has been running this system successfully for several years. Customers get a slick, professional experience — the kind they'd expect from a much larger retailer. Staff know exactly who's waiting and where to find their order before they've even left the desk.
The system removed the guesswork from collections — no customers waiting awkwardly at a counter, no staff scrambling to find orders. It's a small change that makes the whole experience feel considered.
What We Learned
A great customer experience doesn't require a big budget — it requires thinking through the journey carefully. The orange button is doing a lot of work: it sets expectations, triggers a backend process, notifies staff, and gives the customer immediate reassurance. All from one click.
When the workflow is designed around what already exists — a dispatch email, a warehouse management system, a simple Airtable sheet — the integration points are minimal and the result is robust. This system has been running without issues for years precisely because it's not over-engineered.
Visit Best Before It's Gone: cheapfood.co.uk
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