Page 17 - DMGT308_CUSTOMER_RELATIONSHIP_MANAGEMENT

Customer Relationship Management

Notes 1.4 Touch Point Analysis (TPA)

Few marketers would dispute the statement that it is the sum of all customers’ interactions with
a company, over time, that ultimately creates or destroys that company’s brand value. Yet few
companies take the time to look at their own business practices comprehensively through the
lens of their customers to understand how they measure up to their customers’ needs and
expectations.
Does each customer interaction live up to the brand experience that the company is trying to
create? Are you providing a more consistent and relevant customer experience than your
competitors are? Which interactions are the most powerful for creating customer loyalty?
Fielding customer-satisfaction surveys is not enough. To better serve their customer base and
more effectively acquire new customers, organizations need to delve into the details of individual
interactions to understand the relationship between each customer touch point and the value it
delivers to customers.
After all, value may be built through a series of positive experiences, but it is maintained
through consistently meeting the needs and expectations of your customers throughout the
customer lifecycle—from pre-purchase consideration to post-purchase evaluation. Companies
that have recognized and leveraged this insight have reaped the benefits through improved key
performance metrics.

So, despite such successes, why do so few companies take a comprehensive look at their customer
touch points? And of those companies that have undertaken such initiatives, why have so many
faltered?

The challenge lies in the functional silos in which most organizations operate. Customers
experience your company horizontally, across organizational boundaries, but most companies
approach customer interaction on a functional basis. The typical result? The inability of cross-
functional teams to drive holistic change ultimately produces a disjointed experience for your
customers.
Touch-point analysis uncovers powerful customer insights as well as opportunities to improve
how well you meet customer-segment needs and wants. Systematically evaluating performance
across all customer touch points can lead to better organizational alignment; increased brand
perception; and concrete improvements in acquisition, retention, and up-sell and cross-sell
efforts.

Conducting a Touch-Point Assessment

Managing your customer experience is an ongoing and evolutionary process that takes time and
cross-functional commitment if it is to deliver significant results. Because customers’ needs and
expectations change over time, the way you meet them must evolve in accordance with those
shifts.
Customer touch-point management provides a company with a critical baseline from which it
can start to evaluate itself through the eyes of its customers and make small improvements to
enhance the customer experience.
The approach is simple and relies on using proven process-analysis techniques to see your
business through the lens of your customers. Although the process is straightforward, executing
it well is far more complex. It requires listening to your customers despite receiving feedback
that might challenge internal beliefs, and then aligning the organization around changes that
will improve the customer experience.

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