Understanding your customer journey touchpoints

In a recent blog our Marketing Director, Louise Abbey, explored how a customer-first approach can help you to build brilliant relationships that last. Looking specifically at challenging the customer onboarding process.

But what about the customer touchpoints that come before the stage of onboarding?

In this blog Beth Swarbrick, Campaign Manager, takes us through the importance of understanding your own customer journey touchpoints and the steps you can take to make every interaction count.

What are customer journey touchpoints?

When we buy something, either a service or product, we go through a number of customer journey touchpoints to get there.

‘Customer journey touchpoints’ can sound a bit like business jargon, but really it just describes the interaction that we have with a company before, during, and after a purchase.

Some examples of these interactions might include:

The list goes on.

There are countless interactions that customers have with businesses, each shaping our feelings towards them as a brand.

What influence do touchpoints have on purchase decisions?

To help me explain the influence that touchpoints have on purchase decisions, I want to take you through my own recent experience where customer touchpoints held a lot of weight in my decision making.

Last week, I made one of the biggest purchases of my life, a Peugeot Boxer van for a conversion project. This was a huge investment for me, so I needed to be sure I was making the right decision 🚐

Here’s what the customer journey touchpoints looked like for me…

By mapping this out, you start to see how valuable every touchpoint is in the overall purchase decision. And just how many touchpoints the customer experiences.

For example, one of the van dealerships I visited had a van that, on paper, was perfect. It had all the specs I was looking for and came in just under budget 💰

I travelled 3 hours for a viewing, yet walked away without making a purchase.

Why? 🤷‍♀️

Because the customer journey was a letdown. Online the experience was slick, informative and professional. But the in-person experience was the opposite.

In the end, we went with a dealership that completely nailed the customer journey. They opened out-of-hours so we could view the vehicle, kept us updated on WhatsApp and even gave us some recommendations for our conversion project.

This is a perfect example of why every touchpoint counts. And a reminder that you’re only ever as strong as your weakest touchpoint.

How to map out your own customer journey touchpoints

The first step to making your own customer journey touchpoints slick is actually knowing what they are.

This is where you need to step into your customers (and prospective customers) shoes. What do they experience? Where do they go to find out what others think of you?

Do some digging.

It can feel like a huge task mapping out every interaction your customer’s experience. So here are some tips to make it feel more manageable.

Start by exploring the interactions your customers have before they make a purchase.

• Social media: what communications might they see from you? Does your company’s social media reflect who you are as a business? What do other users say about you on social media and how do you respond?
• Online reviews: are they positive? Do negative reviews have clear, actionable responses?
• Your website: is it easy for them to find the information they’re looking for? This will mean delving into your website navigation, potentially even asking a third party to review your website and feedback on their experience.
• Communication: are you easy to get in touch with? Are you responding, quickly, to any questions they ask? Do your answers give them what they need? Do you find out how they want to communicate with you? We all have different communication preferences, are you offering multiple options?

Next, take a look at every communication you have at the point of purchase.

• Sales communications: what comms do they receive from sales? Does every piece of communication reflect your brand in the way you would like? Are the communications consistent for every customer?
• Contract: does this look professional and on brand? Is it presented in a way that creates an excellent first impression?
• Signing up: is this process easy and pain-free? Are there any additional measures that could be implemented to make the signing-up process seamless for the customer?
• Information: Do they have all the information they need to get started? Is it clear where they should go if they have a question?

And last but absolutely not least, look at every interaction the customer has after making a purchase.

• Follow-up comms: do you make a sale and never speak to the customer again unless they have a problem? Or are you checking in with them to see how they’re getting on with your product/service? Customer retention is hard work but can be made easier by building the foundations of a solid relationship from the off.
• Training: if relevant to your offering, do you talk to them about training opportunities on how to get the most out of their new purchase?
• Support: it’s fairly common for some new customers to need an extra hand when they first sign-up, is it clear how they can get that support? Does the support feel unique and tailored for them? Do they feel cared about, as much as they did in the signing up process?
• Ongoing comms: do you keep them up to date with insights, changes and valuable information?

Ready to map out your customer touchpoints and make your customer experience incredible?

As a team, we are all incredibly passionate about this at eve Networks. So much so, it even forms part of one of our values.

Play well with others – we get that communication is more than ones and zeros, it’s human. Creating a real connection takes care. We’re real, we listen and we take time to understand people’s points of view.

If you’ve read this blog and share that passion and want to make your own customer touchpoints exceptional, get in touch, and let’s work it out together.