HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST MIX OF TOUCHPOINTS FOR YOUR BRAND
The best brands are vivid. They create clear mental pictures and powerful feelings in the minds and hearts of customers. They’re brought to life through their touchpoints, the places where customers experience them, from the first exposure to a brand’s name, to buying the product, to eventually making it part of who they are. Think of each touchpoint as the brand in miniature—the same message, the same feeling, the same differentiated market position as the overall brand.
Which touchpoints will work best, and how many should you have? The short answer is 1) the most “telling” touchpoints, and 2) as few as possible. The more touchpoints you create, the more complexity and cost you introduce into the business. At the same time, you want to give customers as much access to your brand as possible, anytime and anywhere. Allow me to suggest a two-step process for developing your touchpoints. These tools are taken from my book The Brand Flip.
First, make a list of all the touchpoints that make sense for your brand. Choose from the menu on the opposite page, then add a few more that might be particular to your brand. Next, give each touchpoint from one to five points, a one being for the least aligned or cost-effective opportunity, and a five being for the opportunities that might produce transcendent customer experiences that your brand can own and defend.
Now, take the touchpoints that are prerequisites for doing business, such as your name and website, and add those to the ones you graded four or five points. Locate these on the Brand Experience Map, below, according to how customers will perceive them. Notice that the map has two axes, one that runs from the general to the personal, and one that runs from shallow to deep. Populate the map with touchpoints in each quadrant, so customers will be able to encounter a range of experiences on their journey from awareness to long-term commitment.
