Now that carrying a water bottle has long passed being the domain of the crunchy crowd, there’s another hurdle to address: Where to get good water once you’re done with that first filling you did in the morning, when you’re out there in the world. What do you do? Get it from potentially dodgy tap water? Buy another, bigger bottle of water to fill it with, defeating the original purpose?

TapIt has come up with a solution that is both supportive to those that carry bottles, and businesses we may never have found were it not for TapIt.
 

It’s simple: You the water seeker look up on their site or via their iPhone app where there are businesses that have water, then go on in and fill up, free. On the other side, you as a business sign up to be a TapIt partner, specify how people can get the water (ie from the counter staff, from a wait staff, or self service) and what kind of water it is (room temperature/chilled, filtered/unfiltered).

In a business that largely depends on either word of mouth, reviews, or advertising, this simple, low/no impact gesture brings people in your door, who may either make a purchase at that visit, come back later, or refer friends there. All for the cost of a glass of water.
 

While this was started in and still remains a primarily New York City thing, a visit to their Twitter page quickly shows you they are slowly expanding to other cities, primarily it seems from people reading about and taking the initiative to enter their business on the database. With distinctive store signage, idea spreading conversations are likely to ensue when someone unaware of the Tapit network asks about it at their neighborhood cafe.
 

Bridging water into a greater context involvin the rest of the world they have a lively blog that covers current water issues, and in one case, a stylish Italian counterpart to TapIt.


View article at triplepundet.com