A “touchpoint” is any interaction a person has with your company or your brand, before during and after purchasing a product or service. In today’s world, the very first such interaction will most likely be a digital touchpoint. So, we wanted to give you some examples of what these extremely important first and lasting impression opportunities might be.
The first digital touchpoint is one that we don’t often think of as being under our control. That is the listing that Google displays as the result of a keyword search. These search engine results pages (SERPs) will generally list 10 organic results per page with you and your toughest competitors all in a row. So, if this is to be truly the first impression many people will have of your company, it stands to reason that you would want to make that a positive impression. And you can!
Search Touchpoints
Google typically uses meta titles and meta descriptions to create listings in their search results. One can also employ “rich snippets” to impart even more relevant information to them, but let’s focus on the meta data. For each page on your website that could possibly be used as a search result for an important keyword term, you need to really think about the messaging that would be displayed by your meta information.
Landing Page Touchpoints
The next example of a digital touchpoint would naturally be the landing page to which the search engines direct the user. If the SERP was their first impression of you, this could be construed as first contact. The page they land on needs to not only relate to the keyword search that drove them there, but it must also convey the quality and personality of your company. How will you distinguish yourself on this page? It’s very easy for someone to hit the back button, so how will you give them pause to spend some time looking at what you have to offer? Relating to the search term, imparting truly useful information and conveying how you intend to promote a positive experience for them are 3 keys to making this “first contact” a successful one.
And while we’re on the subject of landing pages, your Home page will be the entry page for a huge percentage of your visitors, both from search engines and direct visits. As such, it represents a major opportunity to distinguish yourself, but also a significant challenge in that you must relate to a diverse set of visitors. Therefore, the key to a successful home page is clarity. What is this site about, where can I find the information I need, and why should I pick these guys…are the main questions you’ll need to answer quickly?
Conversion Touchpoints
So now you’ve convinced the visitor that you’re worthy of knowing their identity. That brings us to our fourth touchpoint…the contact form. How much do you think that a contact or request for quote page would impress you if it seemed to connect with you on a more personal level? If it answered your questions about what they’ll do with your info ahead of time? If it took your valuable time into consideration and only asked for information that was absolutely necessary? If it told you what to expect as a next step?
Maybe you can’t do all of that with just a form page, so we combine it with our fifth example of a digital touchpoint…the thank you page. So many websites treat the combination of contact form and thank you page as a necessary evil to gain leads, rather than as an opportunity to truly connect with a prospect. Between those two touchpoints, you can relate enough about yourselves as a company and about how you intend to create a positive customer experience for them as to make and more and more of your visitors totally at ease with making first contact.
There are literally hundreds of potential touchpoints throughout the prospect to customer experience, but these first few digital touchpoints can be the key to getting the whole process going successfully. Feel free to contact us to discuss more about how to identify and improve your digital touchpoints.