What are Touchpoints?
Touchpoints are all contact points where a (potential) customer comes into contact with a brand. This includes deliberately designed contacts like advertising and websites as well as unplanned touchpoints like reviews or word of mouth.
Categories of Touchpoints
- Owned touchpoints: Controlled by the brand – website, email, packaging, premises
- Paid touchpoints: Paid contact points – advertising, sponsoring, influencer cooperations
- Earned touchpoints: Earned contacts – PR coverage, reviews, recommendations
- Shared touchpoints: Shared content – social media, forums, community contributions
Why are Touchpoints Important?
Every touchpoint shapes the perception of the brand:
- Positive experience strengthens trust and loyalty
- Negative experience can destroy the entire customer relationship
- Consistency across all touchpoints creates professional perception
- Prioritization of the most important touchpoints optimizes resource use
Touchpoint Management
In touchpoint management, all touchpoints are identified, evaluated, and optimized. This includes: What touchpoints exist? In which phase of the customer journey do they occur? What experience do they currently offer? Where is there optimization potential?
In Practice
Most companies underestimate the number of their touchpoints. A complete inventory often yields surprising insights – for example, that customer service or invoice design has a greater influence on brand perception than the most elaborate advertising campaign. Start with the touchpoints that have the greatest influence on purchase decisions.