There are various ways to improve the customer experience. You could start by setting priorities, implementing customer feedback technology, improving specific processes, redesigning specific parts of the experience, or rooting out the thing that consistently annoys your customers. Another way is to identify where you might be missing a touchpoint.
The missing touchpoint is something your organization is currently not doing that if you started doing would have dramatic impact on the customer experience. It’s an additional touch, a message, a moment, an interaction that is easy to miss in the process of evaluating and strategizing. The following are three common places to spot missing touchpoints:
1. Between Silos
A customer experiences your company as a cohesive entity, a view that many companies unfortunately do not share. Often when a customer moves from one silo to the next they briefly exist in a vacuum where no one “owns” them. Contained in these brief moments can be a missing touchpoint. Perhaps when a customer reaches out on Twitter the social media team responds with the name of the rep who will be contacting them or the CEO makes a personal phone call to welcome a new client on board. Adding in these “bridges” demonstrates that your company genuinely cares about customers.
2. At Emotionally Charged Moments
As much as we like to think that business isn’t personal, it is. Launching new projects, opening a bank account, buying a car, holidays, sharing a presentation – these events are charged with emotion. These emotionally charged moments present an opportunity for companies to create a new touchpoint that eases fear, discomfort, or perhaps shares in the celebration of success. Disney is known for its carefully planned process for helping lost kids find their parents that makes it clear Disney genuinely cares about the emotional distress of losing a child.
3. Hidden in Customer Feedback
Customer feedback can be a goldmine for identifying missing touchpoints. One of our clients in the auction business saw their scores drop dramatically after purchase among absentee bidders. When we began asking questions we discovered that there was nothing in place to inform the customer that they had won the item until the bill arrived. Adding a new touchpoint at this critical moment was key to improving the customer experience.
What touchpoints are missing from your current customer experience that could change how customers feel about doing business with you? What success have you had in adding in these new touchpoints?
~Janessa Lantz
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