In an article for Harvard Business Review, Adam Richardson discusses the concept of customer touchpoints, which he broadly defines as “any interaction point between the customer and your brand.” If we think about this definition, it truly is quite broad, not least because it invokes the concept of the brand, which is itself extremely broad.
Does an online ad reflect on your brand? What about a discussion with a billing agent over a discrepancy on an invoice? While the answer to the first question is probably obvious, the second might seem like a stretch at first. But in truth, both are examples of touchpoints. And touchpoints have a direct impact on consumer brand perceptions.
In his article, Richardson defines four categories of touchpoints:
Products
Richardson describes products broadly. Products don’t just represent widgets or smartphones or shoes. The term “products” also encompasses services and can include elements like software and websites that are central to the company offering.
Interactions
Interactions are two-way exchanges between the company and the customer. This could be that conversation with a billing representative discussed above, an in-person meeting with a salesperson or discussions on a company social media site or blog.
Messages
Unlike interactions, messages are one-way communications. These could include what we would traditionally think of as marketing, such as online or TV ads. They could also include more functional communications like user manuals and packaging.
Settings
A setting is anywhere a product is seen or used. This is about much more than just a company store or website. It could be a friend’s house, an office or even on the person of an influencer seen wearing a watch, suit or shoes.
The concept of touchpoints is broad, and not unnecessarily so. It’s important for businesses to be conscious of all of the ways their business impacts and is perceived by customers. Failing to recognize a touchpoint could mean missing an opportunity to positively impact a customer or worse, overlooking negative impacts.
Each of these touchpoints represent opportunities for consumer communication to take place which brings up another topic which we find fascination—customer communications management. How are you doing with that?
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About Us
Strategic Communications, LLC, works with B2B clients to help them achieve their goals through effective content marketing and management with both internal and external audiences. We are adept at evaluating and analyzing communication efforts and working with clients to plan, create and publish high-quality, unique content, through both on- and offline media to achieve desired results. Our background in business journalism, marketing, PR/media relations and online communications makes us well-positioned to serve the needs of 21st-century marketers.
We serve clients who are looking for help creating content for a wide array of channels—from social media posts to full-length manuscripts, and everything in between. We focus primarily on service-related B2B topics and work with a number of independent consultants interested in building their thought leadership through online channels. For ongoing content management, our first step is to fully understand your goals, objectives and competitive landscape.
Then we’ll conduct a thorough analysis and assessment of your digital presence, compared to competitors, and recommend a communication strategy to achieve your goals. But, we also regularly take on individual projects – white papers, blog posts, contributed articles, etc. If you’re interested in learning more, let us know!
(Strategic Communications is certified as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise through the Wisconsin Department of Administration.)
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Tags: brand audit, Brand Management, branding, Customer Communication, customer communication management, customer touchpoints, effective branding