Intro
Mapping the touchpoints the customer has with an organisation.
What is it?
Mapping the touchpoints the customer has with an organisation.
This includes both direct and indirect contact: from the company’s website to consumer review sites to third party agregators. Every single one of these touchpoints affects the customers willingness (or unwillingness) to purchase your products or services. Mapping these touchpoints compliments the customer journey map that concentrated on direct contacts with your organisation.
How to do it?
With a multi-stakeholder team, using issue mapping technique, start collecting data for touchpoints during each of the stages of the customer journey.
Consider both proprietary, third party and social touchpoints. For example, a hotel has its own website and online booking. But customers often also go through online travel agents (such as booking.com) and review what other guests have said about the hotel (tripadvisor.com). From each of these touchpoints, there radiate outward additional touchpoints such as payment platforms, newsletters, feedback forms etc. Add to the mix also physical contact (telephone calls) as well as partner platforms (airline offering your hotel), then over the course of the customer journey the touchpoints can add up to 100s. Almost all of which are outside your direct control, but influence the customer’s opinion of you.
