Why Mindshare? - Glossary

 

Brand Touch Points:

All of the ways in which your customers, employees, and partners come in contact with your brand. This includes both in person contact, by phone, and email contact. Every time a customer visits your company, sees an ad, or visits your website, that's a touch point.

There are dozens of touch points for most companies. For example, let's look at the typical Customer Touch Points of a hotel. A customer walks into your hotel. That's one. But there may be dozens leading up to this. How about the travel brochure they read that mentioned you, your website they visited, the reservation agent they spoke to, the employee they met smoking in the parking lot, the email confirmation of reservation, etc.

The critical factor here is that Brand Touch Points don't just happen in the hotel lobby, in the bike shop, or at the sales counter. These are often the smallest in terms of actual time. Think of the tech support person who helped set up the business meeting—your customer may have spent much more time with this person than anyone in the company. Are company emails handled professionally? Do employees have enough time to devote to customers on the phone, or do they just fill in with phone calls between customers? A bad phone or email experience usually prevents a potential customer from making a purchase.

Other Brand Touch Points include brochures, advertisements, trade shows, phone calls, faxes, and newsletters. Each of these Touch Points should be viewed as an opportunity to strengthen brand image and create customer and employee loyalty.