• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, August 20, 2013

If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not innovating your mobile strategy fast enough. That’s according to Stephen Kinch, Sr. Product Manager of Mobile at 7-Eleven. “We’re going to make mistakes … Don’t be afraid to make mistakes,” Kinch told attendees of MediaPost’s Mobile Insider Summit on Tuesday. The point is to put products out there, and get smarter. “Reserve the right to get smarter,” Kinch said. Illustrating his point, Kinch said 7-Eleven is in the process of getting smarter about a particular coupon offering. In its existing form, the brand’s mobile app alerts customers when a store doesn’t accept its coupons. What it needs to do, however, is tell customers where to find the closest location where they can redeem their coupons. “We didn’t give customers way a way to find participating stores,” Kinch admitted. How is 7-Eleven's mistake-friendly stragegy faring? Well, since the company's coupon app debuted at the end of January, it has been downloaded about 750,000 times, according to Kinch. As for daily usage, the app currently sees about 50,000 users a day, Kinch added.