What is a Touchpoint?

Anyone that knows me and my family personally, knows we love all things Disney and always look forward to our yearly trip to Disney World. As a marketer, these trips are also research into how to provide the best customer experience possible.  The most impressive thing with their customer experience is just how consistent their messaging and branding is across all their touchpoints.

What is a touchpoint? A touchpoint refers to any interaction between a buyer and a seller before, during and after the purchase. For Disney, some of their most important touchpoints at the parks are their cast members including bus drivers, hotel employees, janitors and park personnel. These are just some of the touchpoints you interact with once you get to the resort and don’t include the cast members that may help you plan your trip. In addition to people there is the website, their films, etc. Disney’s corporate purpose is to provide happiness to anyone that enters the resort and boy do they deliver. Every touchpoint for Disney tries to provide happiness to their audience before, during and after their time at the park.

So how do touchpoints relate to small business? We all have touchpoints, though on a much smaller scale than Disney. If your employees interact with anyone in your target audience they are a touchpoint. Beyond employees, we can also include any marketing materials and outreach that is produced by your company including website, packaging, POP displays, social media to name a few. After the sale, touchpoints can include billing, email communications and customer service.

With each of these touchpoints, you need to determine if you are providing the correct information and experience for your target audience. Does your packaging tell enough of your story to stand out on the shelves of a retailer? Does it answer the needed questions to convert a prospect into a paying customer? Think about your website and whether it provides the right information and call to actions for site visitors. You want your target audience to review your messaging and take the desired action. Does your branding and storytelling go through to the billing stage or does it drop off at that point? The goal is to provide a experience that is consistent with your culture and purpose at every touchpoint.

I know this may sound a little intimidating, but it is important to begin to identify all of your touchpoints as you interact with your target audience. You may be surprised about all the different places these interactions take place. If you are still overwhelmed and not sure where to start, contact me about one of my customer experience workshops. I come into your office and we spend half a day evaluating your target audience, your current marketing efforts and touchpoints to see what is working and what needs changed.