A customer touchpoint map is a comprehensive tool that allows you to chart all the interactions and touchpoints between your customers and your brand or product. It provides an efficient and practical method to gain insight into the entire customer journey, highlighting areas that require improvement and those functioning optimally.
The customer touchpoint map facilitates the creation of a more detailed customer journey map, enabling you to explore how customers perceive and feel about your brand throughout their journey. A basic Customer Journey Map (CJM) typically includes a specific persona, step-by-step details of the customer experience, and potential emotional highs and lows. Both templates complement each other in providing a holistic view of your customers' experiences.
Benefits of using a customer touchpoint map
The customer touchpoint map can be valuable for several teams, including designers, developers, and business managers. Here are some of the insights you can gain by creating your own customer touchpoint map:
Forecast various customer pathways
As each customer's user journey is unique, mapping out multiple pathways through your product is one of the key benefits of utilizing a customer touchpoint map. By understanding how customers discover and use your product differently, you can better anticipate their priorities and identify potential areas for improvement to reduce churn.
Gain a comprehensive understanding of the customer's viewpoint
One of the primary reasons businesses utilize customer touchpoint maps is to obtain a deeper understanding of how customers perceive their products. Plotting out customer journeys helps elucidate why customers make certain choices and what aspects of your product are most valuable to them.
Facilitate updates and new features
When updating your product or introducing new features, it's essential to consider the customer's perspective. You can determine which updates will be most beneficial by identifying the critical steps and features that matter most to customers.
Refine customer personas
Customer touchpoint mapping provides valuable insights into different buyer personas. With this information, you can create customized pathways for each persona, delivering a more personalized experience.
Enhance customer service
By comprehending customers' needs through the customer touchpoint map, you can identify areas where they require support during their journey. This knowledge can help you focus your customer support efforts on those specific areas of need.
When to use the customer touchpoint map template
Although businesses primarily use customer touchpoint maps to gain a deeper understanding of customer behaviour, this tool can be beneficial in several other scenarios.
Visualize the customer journey
Customer touchpoint maps enable businesses to visualize the entire customer journey and comprehend the steps in navigating their product. This approach lets you focus on the most critical channels and touchpoints within your customers' journeys.
By analyzing all phases of the customer journey, you can identify areas where you fall short of meeting their expectations and make necessary improvements to enhance user experience.
Resolve a particular issue
Several teams utilize customer touchpoint mapping to address specific problems. For instance, if you're facing customer churn, this tool can aid in identifying potential roadblocks that cause customers to disconnect from your brand.
Enhance mission alignment
If you're struggling with cross-functional alignment, collaborating on creating a customer touchpoint map can be beneficial. This approach ensures all teams work together towards the common goal of putting the customer's needs first.