Any time a customer interacts with your brand directly is called a touch point. Touch points act as an entry into your sales funnel or as the point where your visitors decide to turn away. It doesn't matter if you have the best product or service, if you have a touch point that fails, you are losing potential customers before they even get a chance to discover all of the greatness you have to offer.
Take A Step Back
Touch points include everything from advertisements, flyers, business cards, blogs, networking and tradeshow presence, to your voicemail manners and anything else your customers come in touch with before, during, and after a sale. Simply just having a touch point in place is no longer an option. Rather, each of your touch points must perfectly represent your brand because this is where potential customers will form their opinion of your company.
Take a step back and evaluate your brand from an unbiased perspective. Learn to see how the world sees your brand instead of viewing it as the owner of your company or the head of its marketing department. This can help you perfect each touch point so that it meets the needs of each visitor.
Every Touch Point Matters
If every touch point matters, then how do you balance each touch point with your brand? The answer is a simple, three-letter acronym: L.E.T. — List, Evaluate, Take Action. Managing your touch points through this formula will help you make sure each touch point optimizes, satisfies, and invites.
1) List
Begin by listing all of your current touch points. The key word here is "all." Be sure to list all of the touch points that your brand uses, including websites, emails, customer service, direct mail, and many others.
By listing each touch point, you can then evaluate each one based on your brand.
2) Evaluate
The next step is to evaluate every single touch point you noted on your list. It is easier if someone else does this for you so that the results are not biased. Your goal with this exercise is to find the weaknesses and not cover them up with explanations. This is a process of discovery, to enable you to find the opportunities and to make corrections.
3) Take Action
Once you've discovered which touch points are your weak links, you can correct any deficits. Remember, deficits are opportunities. Start with your biggest opportunity as that will be your weakest touch point.
Then, begin to implement tools that will help with the ongoing task of monitoring touch points, and keep in mind that as technology changes, so will the effectiveness of each touch point. Some helpful, powerful tools include customer evaluations and site surveys. Remember that this is not about a single touch point, but about all of them. Take the time to evaluate them individually and as a group.
When it comes to marketing, every touch point is an opportunity. How well are your opportunities representing your brand?
