Monitoring Customer Touchpoints Generates Efficiency- (A whiter smile helps too)

When you go to the grocery to get toothpaste, your only interaction is not with the check-out girl. When you drove up to the grocery, you saw the cart boy in the parking lot who offered you a buggy, then you exchanged pleasantries with the produce manager who was straightening the melons and misting the veggies. That's where you picked up a sale sheet that was designed by corporate diplaying the giant coupon for Deluxe LT Extra White Toothpaste (normally the most expensive brand, but with $1.00 off, it would be hard to resist). Walking over to the personal hygiene isle, you see an endcap for detergent which reminds you that your socks are piling up and the last time you did laundry, you had to flip the detergent bottle for an hour allowing it to drain in a small cup to get enough for suds. So you pick one up. On you go to the toothpaste where you splurge on the Deluxe LT Extra White but also notice a grocery coupon on the shelf that boasts a buy-one, get-one offer for toothbrushes. Who doesn't need a healthy stock of toothbrushes, you ask yourself. So you pick up two for the sake of convenience. Off you go the the checkout where you are greeted with a lovely smile and a short pitch on the point system that could win you a brand new set of All-Clad cookware that you know your wife would love to have for Christmas. Picking up your bag you dash out to your car feeling warm fuzzies and planning the next trip so that you can have something to put under the tree for the Mrs. You have become a great example of touchpoint marketing and didn't even know it.

Touchpoint marketing is simply identifing every interaction (every touch) that a customer has with your company and maximizing those interactions in a way that creates more customer satisfaction and generates larger sales. Every interaction from the flier they get in the mail and the buggy-boy's smile to the strategically placed coupon and attractive end-cap display has an overall effect on the consumer.

List out each time your customers are touched by your company. Take stock, assess, and evaluate to see if your company is doing it's best with the opportunities it already has. Make changes and see what happens. I'm sure you will be delighted with the results.