How many businesses can genuinely say they monitor their buyers across each customer touchpoint—from the first time they come across the logo to the moment they buy?
Well, not most. That’s because the variety and number of media accessible to consumers today is massive. So massive that it is likely no two people will share the same customer journey.
That’s why it’s essential to drill down into what your target audience is doing while keeping a close eye on the overarching trends to jump on. Remember that it is the insights hiding in that sweet spot that will change the game.
What is a touchpoint? By definition, customer touchpoints are the potential contact opportunities that customers have with a business throughout a customer journey map. The first touchpoint can include direct mail, social media ad, online reviews, search engine results, word-of-mouth marketing, and more.
Moreover, touchpoints can span both in-person and digital communications, such as a customer seeing an ad for a product via an online marketing channel before researching the product to learn more and visiting the storefront to finally make a purchase.
Brands and businesses can leverage touchpoints to guide the shopper through every stage of the customer experience and enhance customer satisfaction with hands-on support. Take note that touchpoints are often divided into three stages based on where the user is in the customer journey.
Why Are Consumer Touchpoints Important?
Customer touchpoints affect more than sales and marketing teams. Customer service departments have some of the earliest opportunities to direct contact with shoppers through different communication channels.
Every interaction signifies an opportunity to move the shopper through another stage of the customer journey map while guaranteeing a positive customer experience. With about ninety percent of customers eager to pay for a wonderful customer experience, businesses across each industry can leverage touchpoints to enhance the quality of their customer experience and get an important edge over their competitors.
Some of the benefits of customer touchpoints are the following:
Enhanced customer loyalty
Customer touchpoints are one of the most crucial factors that customers consider throughout the entire customer journey. It helps convert new leads into loyal supporters, enhances customer satisfaction, and keeps numerous buyers coming back for more.
Smartly mapping customer touchpoints could help to make a customer brand loyal. You can establish relationships through offline and online platforms such as event sponsors, social media, and more.
Simplified customer experience
Well-made, convenient customer touchpoints lead to a simplified, cohesive customer experience. Nonetheless, more is not always more when it comes to interaction opportunities.
As an alternative, customers prefer fewer quality touchpoints to access self-help resources, product information, and customer service teams.
Keeping that in mind, brands can concentrate on creating touchpoints to provide a top-notch experience instead of adding as many communication channels as possible.
Enhanced customer engagement
In other words, touchpoints are opportunities for brands and their audience to engage with each other. Increasing customer engagement metrics could significantly affect other KPIs (key performance indicators), including brand loyalty, sales, revenue, and sales.
On top of that, businesses investing in customer experience and customer engagement can expect to double their income in as few as three years.
Strengthen customer retention
Having the proper skills and knowledge of the customer touchpoints helps you to offer immediate support that enhances their satisfaction. When customers are satisfied and happy, the retention rate also increases.
Boost sales conversion
Efficient mapping and tapping customer touchpoints can help your customers to make immediate purchase decisions, as a result of which sales conversion levels up.
Customer Touchpoints Examples
Each of the touchpoints will have an impact on your overall customer experience. Therefore, you need to have a clear idea about the touchpoints your potential customers will have before, during, and after purchase.
Based on that, you can get a clear and better understanding of the customer journey mapping and optimize your customer touchpoints.
To determine customer touchpoints, you must properly consider the three broad phases of the customer journey. Below is the list of ways to optimize customer experience touchpoints under three key stages.
Pre-purchase stage
Pre-purchase is the first stage of how and when customers come to know about your brand. That could be through digital or traditional touchpoints in their journey.
Before a customer decides to make a purchase, brands have the opportunity to communicate using different marketing channels such as:
1. Live Chat
Live chat has already become one of the most crucial channels to engage with brands. Customers prefer to live chat over other reactive channels as it offers prompt sales and support assistance.
Did you know that thirty percent of customers expect live chat on a website? Whenever you address customer issues in real-time, they are also satisfied which lessens the bounce rate and boosts sales conversions.
2. Chatbots
Chatbots are also being deployed by retail and B2B businesses mainly to offer automated sales and support assistance. AI bots let brands to better help their customer’s needs along the journey.
With chatbots, your customers don’t need to wait for human assistance. They receive real-time answers to basic concerns reported to them. That also establishes a good impression on customers of your brand being responsive.
3. Events and trade shows
Events and trade shows have been a common way to market services and products. Participating in events is an excellent way to establish brand awareness, show industry influence, and produce sales.
The effect event marketing has on brands is amazing. Also, people who attend a company’s event tend to give more importance to that brand and perceive it more satisfactorily over competitors.
4. Social media
Thirty-seven percent of social media users visit a business’s page and like or follow them on platforms. There’s no doubt that social media is one of the crucial touchpoints for customers to reach out to brands.
Social channels are also an excellent way to grow an audience and reach business goals through active engagement and ads. They also help businesses to connect well with shoppers, increase awareness about their brand, boost user engagement, and increase sales and leads.
5. Online Ads
Online ads help brands find the ideal audience, targeting the ones who tend to be interested in what they are selling.
Remember that your business can leverage online ad tools like video ads, social media, and display ads to reach the target audience efficiently and produce leads.
6. Customer reviews
Shoppers read customer reviews before they try to make a purchase. You see, reviews don’t simply have the power to impact consumer decisions, but they can also improve your brand credibility.
They can also help gain trust by supporting customers to engage with the company.
7. Website
A website is the most typical customer touchpoint customers pick to reach out to a brand. A well-made website can make visitors wish to stay longer and keep them more invested in what your brand has to offer.
The main goal while creating a website is that it must leave a first good impression on your customers. It should have the proper elements and components, as they can attract your customers’ attention in the first go.
Purchase stage
Other brands assume that the customer journey ends after a purchase. That’s why they may not concentrate on touchpoints throughout the user journey.
However, communication while checking out could help satisfy buyers’ questions and guarantee they do not regret their buying decisions.
Mapping the evaluation phase is when customers are impressed with your brand and have already decided to purchase. With that intention, they assess your services or products to make a final purchase.
Consider integrating touchpoints like the following:
8.`Retail store
Buyers will interact with retailers across different touchpoints, so providing a consistent experience is the key to success at the store. Also, customers prefer in-person service, which is essential to differentiate your store from the online store experience.
Eighty percent of customers found out they tend to do business with brands if it provides personalized experiences.
9. Email
In case you didn’t know yet, email is one of the major channels of customer support for eCommerce, B2B, and B2C companies. Sixty-two percent of customers say they like email support to communicate with companies.
Email as a customer touchpoint impacts everything from repeat purchase rates to lifetime value to how somebody talks about your business publicly and privately. You can also leverage the power and reach of drip email to boost engagement and provide a better customer experience.
10. Product Catalog
Catalogs are a great way of highlighting your services and products to produce favorable customer responses.
With an efficient product catalog with the ideal balance of design and layout, you can easily make the products look appealing and make it simple for readers to search for what they are searching for.
Customers take advantage of catalogs to get a good understanding of the product before making any purchase. That is why ensure yours has the ideal type of images and information to drive customer action.
11. Phone
The phone communication channel is a vital customer touchpoint that many customers like to use even after introduction to online channels.
Retail brands or B2B should optimize phone support quality to boost customer satisfaction. They must also have phone support training in their customer service etiquette to meet and exceed customers’ expectations for service.
12. Product demos
Customers often use product demos as a great touchpoint when they’re happy with your brand and like to learn more about the product’s specific features.
Remember that product demos are a crucial B2B customer journey touchpoint to get a prospect excited and interested in your solution. They can also prove an efficient way to deal with the specific product-related concerns of the prospects.
Post-purpose stage
Customer contact teams can revolutionize the customer experience from good to great by following up through past-conversion digital touchpoints. These differ according to the industry and brand but may include the following:
13. Customer loyalty programs
Loyalty must not be appreciated but rewarded at the same time. It is one of the crucial customer touchpoints you must be aware of.
Therefore, reading loyal customers must be a core part of customer loyalty programs. When your customer purchases from you often and brings new customers to your brand, they must certainly get something for it. Don’t you think?
14. Feedback Survey
Customer satisfaction surveys offer you the response and feedback you need to keep your customers happy and convert them into supporters.
Seventy-seven percent of customers view those companies more favorably that seek out and apply, incorporate, or value customer feedback.
15. Newsletter
Did you know that newsletters are one of the ideal customer touchpoint examples for the value they provide to customers? They are an excellent way to keep your customers engaged and informed through appealing content and useful tips.
Also, newsletters can inform your customers about your services, products, and business.
Conclusion
Remember that creating and mapping thorough customer touchpoints into a customer journey helps guarantee a positive experience. Touchpoints allow a company to connect with users at every stage of the buyer’s journey.
On top of that, brand touchpoints guide users through the awareness stage and into the buying and promotion chapters, making them a crucial addition to marketing, sales, and customer service efforts.
Having a detailed touchpoint analysis across three stages is essential to understanding your customers’ expectations and preferences. It also helps you in mapping customer journeys and leverages them properly to provide a continuous support experience.
Mapping customer journeys across numerous digital touchpoints is a critical part, as consumers these days are using more online channels. Thus, brands should concentrate more on the digital point of contact to present an excellent service experience.
We hope you find this article informative and helpful at the same time. Which of these customer touchpoints would you like to use? Do you have any tips you want to share? Leave your comments below!
