Customer Touch Points – Unconscious interactions that help drive sales

Customer touch points are where the fields of marketing, user experience, and behavioural economics intersect. Marketers call them brand experiences. UX’ers call them micro-interactions. Behavioural scientists call them opportunities to nudge.

No matter what angle you take, they are decision points for your potential customer. A prospect interacts with an element of your service and makes a judgement about that interaction. Every judgement made about your service contributes to the over-arching decision. Will I buy, and keep buying from you?

Let’s look at a generic customer journey, their touch point, and how our judgements of each determines our subsequent behaviours;

PROMOTION	USER PERCEPTION + CONSEQUENCE OF JUDGEMENT
	Bad = attention wasn’t grabbed, product ignored Good = decision to get more information
PRODUCT INFO	User perception + Consequence of judgement
	Bad = Interest lost, product forgotten Good = interest was stimulated and more information was sought
CUSTOMER REVIEWS	User perception + Consequence of judgement
	Bad = negative sentiment resulted in dismissing the product Good = Trust was built and ownership was envisioned
SHOWROOM	User perception + Consequence of judgement
	Bad = prospects who’ve come this far and are dissappointed become hardened critics Good = great experience results in a purchase decision
CHECKOUT	User perception + Consequence of judgement
	Bad = abandoned purchase and frustrated customers Good = frictionless transaction and quick ownership
DELIVERY	User perception + Consequence of judgement
	Bad = product returns or negative product onboarding Good = quick ownership and enjoyment
INVOICE	User perception + Consequence of judgement
	Bad = chargebacks, returns, anger Good = reinforcement of purchase decision
UNWRAPPING	User perception + Consequence of judgement
	Bad = anti-climax, buyer’s remorse Good = surprise and delight, raving customer
TECH SUPPORT	User perception + Consequence of judgement
	Bad = returns, or discarded / un-used products Good = increased product usage and advocacy
FAULTS & REPAIRS	User perception + Consequence of judgement
	Bad = can lead to returns, vocal criticism Good = deepened customer loyalty
FEEDBACK	User perception + Consequence of judgement
	Bad = customer becomes a vocal critic Good = increased loyalty, and opportunities to buy more
UPGRADES & RENEWALS	User perception + Consequence of judgement
	Bad = customer migrates to a competitor Good = repeat business and development of usage habits

As you can see, every interaction with your customer is an opportunity to affect behaviour. Are they going to remember you, or forget you? Are they clicking through, or clicking back? Are they being delighted, or disappointed? And you want to move your customer forward, not only at the sales front-end, but also at the back-end service and support to generate repeat business.

The critical questions you have to ask of your marketing

• At which decision point do I lose most of my prospects?
• How do I turn a NO into a YES At any given touch-point?
• How will I know if work?

The answer to these questions lies in your ability to identify and track the buyer journey. Knowing your buyer behaviour will help understand where they go and what to measure. Only when you measure and analyse it will you understand what to improve and whether changes you make are having an impact.