Touchpoint: the way in which your customer engages with your brand, including literal interactions and external interactions such as web sites and automated systems. Touchpoints are the building blocks of your brand and your client’s experience.
Think of all the ways in which your clients engage with your brand. They may initially see an advertisement, get a recommendation from a friend, find you online, or see a sign and call your business. Any particular person has an estimated 57 exposures to your brand before he or she becomes a client; truly a plethora of interactions. Upon conversion to a client, however, he or she is exposed to an entirely new set of touch points.
The second set of touch points present themselves when your client is in your facility, serving to make an impact by physically communicate your brand. Your goal is to ensure that every interaction with your client is maximized to its full potential.
Here are two touch point areas to examine in your practice: sensory and emotional. They operate synergistically to create specific feelings and perceptions towards your brand with your client.
Sensory This constitutes everything that your client touches, hears, sees, smells, and tastes. Walk the path of your client and try to gather the “senses” all of these areas. What music is playing? Is the waiting area comfortable and clean? Are the beverages tasteful, the decor appealing? Are your retail areas engaging and treatment rooms inviting? Is your front desk reception clean and organized? What do clients see when they are standing there — an organized workspace or a mess of files on the desk? Thoroughly examine these areas to identify avenues for improvement and correct lackluster presentation.
Emotional This is how your staff connects and communicates with the clients. Do they engage in a personal and comfortable way? How does your staff get your clients at ease, and handle transitioning them to the treatment rooms? These personal touch points determine how a person feels in your space.
It is critical that the external message you communicate through marketing and social media aligns with the internal experience that the client has at your facility. Everyone has had the unfortunate experience of going to a restaurant because the images and menu looked good online, only to be disappointed by their experience upon arrival. The only way to avoid a harmful disconnect is is to identify all of your touch points — people, process, and tools – that are involved in each area of your business. When you have identified areas such as: the front desk, waiting areas, treatment rooms, consult room; map out the client’s journey and find ways to optimize their experience.
Small changes in how you engage with your clients, both inside and outside your facility, have greater impact on your brand and consumer perception than many tend to realize.
