The Backbone

Of Customer
Experience
Design
Touchpoint
Mapping
2
Touchpoint Mapping: The Backbone Of Customer Experience Design
MOTIV STRATEGIES
Picture this scenario: You have just landed
after a grueling international fight. The captain
disembarks before the passengers and the fight
attendants are too busy to notice your exit. The
fight crews lack of attention to the customers
leaves the impression they are ambivalent about
them, their jobs, or the airline for which they work.
Now picture this alternate scenario: After that
same fight, the fight attendants and captain
stand at the planes exit door, thanking the
passengers individually for the opportunity to
serve them. Their words and smiles seem genuine
and give the sense that the airline values your
business greatly.
Which version of this same interaction will
generate more value for its airline?
Seemingly small gestures like these at key
touchpoints in the customer journey can make
or break the customer experience with your
company. According to a recent study by OKeeffe
& Company, executives estimate that the potential
revenue loss for not offering a positive, consistent,
and brand-relevant customer experience is
20% of their annual revenue. Understanding the
emotional content and relative importance of
every touchpoint your company produces is one
way to protect and grow your revenue streams.
The Value Of Touchpoint Mapping
Touchpoint mapping and
customer experience
In the last several years, customer experience
management has become recognized as a
necessary capability for businesses across
industries, and touchpoint mapping has
become an increasingly popular tool for visually
representing the customer journey and managing
the customer experience.
What are touchpoints?
Motiv defnes touchpoints as direct and indirect
interactions customers have with a companys
product and services. The sum of these
interactions form an overall customer experience.
Its important to note that the lifecycle of these
touchpoints extends beyond the point-of-
sale or -delivery, from becoming aware of the
offerings existence to after-sales support and
beyond. For example, corporate Facebook
pages are becoming important points of
customer interaction and should be taken into
consideration.
Dening moments
Companies are eager to address and capitalize on
defning moments in the customer experience to
As companies become increasingly multifaceted and interconnected, it is critical
to gain deep insights about how customers interact with your business. Touchpoint
mapping is a valuable tool that can help ensure that each connection between your
company and your customer is meaningful and memorable.
Touchpoint Mapping
The Backbone of Customer Experience Design
3
Touchpoint Mapping: The Backbone Of Customer Experience Design
MOTIV STRATEGIES
differentiate their brands, boost customer loyalty,
and increase revenues. Touchpoint mapping is an
effective tool for discovering when these defning
interactions occur. Specifcally, touchpoint
mapping can reveal:
How an organization interacts with its
customers by chronicling touchpoints
Which touchpoints are more important than
others and why
Insights about how customers feel at critical
touchpoints
Opportunities to develop new product and
service offerings to address customer needs
Overview
What is a touchpoint map?
A touchpoint map is a visual representation of
a customers journey, identifying the specifc
interactions a customer has with an organization
over a period of time. This could be the span of
an hour, a week, or a few months, depending
on the journey in question. Touchpoint mapping
can describe a generic customer journey, such
as a basic trip to the grocery store, or a more
specifc one, such as a family of four checking
in for an international fight. A good touchpoint
mapping project studies and integrates what
customers say, think, and feel at each touchpoint
through a process that includes feld research and
synthesis.
Components of a touchpoint map
While touchpoint maps can demonstrate a variety
of insights about the customers journey, the
most effective maps identify moments of truth,
pain points, and pleasure points as well as the
customer needs, expectations and emotions at
each touchpoint.
Moments of truth are signifcant touchpoints
in the customer journey that can make or
break a customer experience and create a
lasting impression of the organization in the
customers mind. An example of a moment of
truth could be talking with a customer service
Human-Centered Design Tools For Understanding The Customer Journey
There is a wide variety of human-centered design tools that can be used to understand and improve the customer experience.
Journey maps, touchpoint maps, and service blueprints are different ways to document the customer journey. While each method is
unique, they are all derived from studying the customer and looking at the world from their perspective.
A journey map identies the phases
customers go through to fulll a
need, both within and beyond the
organizations purview.
A service blueprint outlines the
processes, both visible and invisible
to the customer, that work to deliver
a service to that customer.
A touchpoint map outlines the
interactions between customer
and an organization throughout the
customers journey.
Figure 1
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Touchpoint Mapping: The Backbone Of Customer Experience Design
MOTIV STRATEGIES
representative when trying to resolve an issue
involving a defective product or service.
Pain points are touchpoints that are perceived
to be signifcantly diffcult or frustrating, like
waiting in a long line. Interactions at pain points
may inspire customers to abandon a service, to
never return, and/or to recommend against it.
Addressing these issues is critical to improving
the customer experience.
Pleasure points are the opposite of pain
points. They are touchpoints that delight
customers, meeting or exceeding their
expectations for the interaction. Pleasure
points contribute to an excellent customer
experience and can serve as inspiration for
improving other touchpoints.
Consumption, not production
Touchpoint mapping is one of several human-
centered design methods that chronicle a
series of steps a customer must go through to
accomplish a goal or task (see Figure 1). These
methods differ from traditional operations-
focused methods such as process fow mapping
because they focus on the customers viewpoint,
illustrating what experience is being consumed.
Operations-minded managers often focus their
attention on the process of delivering a product
or service, highlighting the experience being
produced.
These companies risk ignoring key customer
touchpoints of which they might not otherwise be
aware. By examining the critical steps and stages
from the customers perspective, managers will
understand the functional and emotional needs of
customers and have the opportunity to alter the
customer experience for the better.
Identifying blind spots
When touchpoint mapping is done right,
managers gather deep insights about all
touchpoints across the journey from the
customers perspective. Uncovering touchpoints
that were previously unknown or misunderstood
is a particularly valuable outcome of touchpoint
mapping.
For instance, Starbucks learned that interactions
with baristas were a highlight for in-store
customers, but those who used the drive-
through option missed out on that experience.
Furthermore, drive-through customers struggled
to communicate their orders over the traditional
drive-through microphones and faced long wait
times, creating a painful step in the customer
journey.
To improve the customer experience at this
specifc touchpoint, Starbucks recently began
testing a new ordering system that uses a
video screen and camera at the point of
ordering, allowing customers and employees to
interact. This redesigned touchpoint increases
employee-customer contact and helps ensure
that Starbucks meets customer expectations of
friendly and personalized service, regardless of
venue.
Customers develop ferce loyalties to
organizations like Starbucks and other customer
experience exemplars because these companies
consistently exceed customer expectations
across touchpoints. Managers who understand
the power of touchpoint mapping are able to use
the methodology to intentionally deliver excellent
experiences for their customers.
Conclusion
Improving the customer experience requires
companies to become more purposeful in their
interactions with customers. Touchpoint mapping
provides greater visibility into the customer
experience and helps organizations better
understand their interactions with customers.
Savvy managers across industries are adding
touchpoint mapping to their management
toolboxes. They rely on this methodology to
deliver useful customer insights that help achieve
organizational objectives such as new product
and service creation, strategy development, and
ongoing customer experience management.
Uncovering touchpoints that
were previously unknown or
misunderstood is a particularly
valuable outcome of touchpoint
mapping.
Jeneanne Rae
President and CEO
jeneanne@motivstrategies.com
Ian Campbell
Director
ian@motivstrategies.com
Joy Thomas
Strategist
joy@motivstrategies.com
Andrea Lynch and Nathan Ritter also contributed to this piece.
Motiv helps leading organizations create new strategies for growth. We combine
business analysis with design strategy tools to help our clients discover new opportunity
spaces, develop new services and better customer experiences, and drive the change
management required to enable breakthrough innovation.
For more information, please visit motivstrategies.com.
811 North Royal Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
motivstrategies.com
703.778.1051