Map These Customer Journey Touchpoints to Improve the Guest Experience

Identifying and mapping customer journey “touchpoints” helps your brand offer a better customer experience. A customer touchpoint refers to any time that a customer interacts with your brand, according to customer service technology provider Zendesk.

For example, a customer touchpoint interaction takes place when a customer seeks support through a call center agent, chatbot or live chat. Another touchpoint occurs when a customer visits your brand’s website or uses your company’s app.

“Each customer touchpoint is an opportunity for a brand to woo a customer with a great customer experience that will gradually transform them from a potential customer to a loyal customer,” says Zendesk.

Customer touchpoints vary by industry

Customer touchpoints extend beyond customer service and may differ from brand to brand.

“If you have a retail business, for example, your buyer’s journey might include touchpoints such as an advertisement, a visit to a website where they’re directed through a sales funnel, a visit to a store where there’s a human interaction, and so forth,” says Zendesk.

“If you offer SaaS products, your touchpoints might be an ad, your marketing team, a sales rep, an onboarding team and your technical support team. In any case, your touchpoint map should include customer support and customer feedback.”

3 crucial customer experience touchpoints

Customer experience touchpoints include these examples of customer interactions, according to Zendesk.

1. Before purchase

• Company blog/website
• Customer reviews
• Social media
• Digital advertisements
• Friends and Family

2. During purchase

• Website or checkout process/flow
• Email marketing
• Conversations with support or sales employees
• Direct mailers
• Retargeting ads

3. Post-purchase

• Customer onboarding
• Customer satisfaction surveys
• Customer service channels
• Company knowledge base or community forum
• Email newsletter

“It’s important to be creative and know what you hope to accomplish with your consumer touchpoints so you’re fostering a specific relationship with the customer and not just contacting them at random,” says Zendesk.

Mapping the customer experience journey

According to inbound marketing company HubSpot, a customer journey map is a visual depiction of every interaction with your brand. The map enables customer service teams, marketing, sales, and other departments to find opportunities to provide a better customer experience.

“While customer service mapping is an incredibly useful tool, it’s extremely detailed and labor-intensive to complete, especially when customers can follow unique journeys within your business,” says HubSpot.

“Nevertheless, going through the process of completing one is well worth the investment.”

HubSpot, along with many other customer service and marketing technology companies, offers downloads of customer journey templates that can help your brand map out each customer’s journey to improve the customer experience.

To improve the customer experience, your entire company must be included on customer journey mapping strategies and realize its importance, says HubSpot.

“Before you begin your work, you should get leadership from across your company to meet and discuss your project,” says HubSpot. “This will create buy-in and demonstrate the significance of your customer journey map.”

Zendesk also stresses the importance of mapping the customer journey and impacts customer loyalty.

“By taking a thoughtful and clear-eyed approach to identifying and curating each customer journey touchpoint, your brand will make meaningful connections with each prospective buyer, which will lead to what all businesses want: customer loyalty,” says Zendesk.