5 Pre-Purchase Guest Experience Touch Points to Track

Your brand’s customer journey begins long before the purchase.

Mapping “customer touchpoints” is one of the best methods to find ways to improve the guest experience. In a nutshell, customer touch points are all of the various interactions your customers have with your brand during the customer journey.

Touchpoint moments “significantly influence customer experience as well as brand perception,” according to inbound marketing specialist HubSpot, which recommends outlining key touch points on a map to find ways to optimize the customer journey.

“Rather than solely relying on obvious touchpoints, brands need to journey map customer engagement and identify every single touchpoint from the customer’s viewpoint,” according to customer service technology provider Zendesk.

“That process reveals whether the touchpoints actually add up to a positive experience or whether they’re just a lot of pleasant interactions that at best waste a customer’s time and at worst drive them away.”

By mapping typical customer touch points in chronological order on a customer journey map, your company can form a realistic idea of a typical customer’s experience with your business, says HubSpot.

The three categories of touch points — before, during and after the purchase — can be broken down into many ways customers interact with your brand. For the purposes of this article, we’ll look at customer touch points that typically occur before the purchase, according to HubSpot.

1. Social media

While social media plays a part in all three phases of the customer journey, it’s primarily used in customer acquisition, says HubSpot.

Not only is social media a cost-effective means of reaching much of your brand’s target audience, it’s also a great way to promote your company’s products, build customer relationships and boost your brand’s reputation.

2. Online ads

Online ads can play a major role in prompting customers to return to your brand’s website to purchase your products. For example, online advertisements such as banners at the top of a web page are a touch point that leads potential customers back to your brand’s website.

3. Digital marketing content

Online marketing content such as articles and posts, promotional videos and infographics on your brand’s website, social media pages or blog are effective ways to promote or introduce your brand to potential customers, says HubSpot.

4. Company events

If you’ve set up booths at conferences to promote your brand, that’s another customer touch point on the customer journey, according to HubSpot: “These events are an excellent way to introduce your brand to customers who may not be aware of it.”

5. Word-of-mouth referrals

“It’s no secret that customers trust their peers over your advertisements,” says HubSpot. “83% of customers say that their friends and family are their most trusted sources of referrals,” says HubSpot ‘This makes it imperative for businesses to focus on word-of-mouth marketing if they want to be seen as trustworthy.”