Just as Rome was not built in a day, most customers are not created by a single interaction. Even the simplest transaction will generally involve something to create awareness, such as an ad or search engine result, before going on to learn about the product and make a decision to buy it. And most purchases will involve many more steps than that. Consider one hypothetical example:
- Say a prospect sees your pay-per-click ad, but does not click on it.
- Later they see one of your blog posts shared on Facebook and do click through to read the post.
- Days later they navigate directly to your site and enter in an email address so they can download a free eBook.
- Weeks later they click on a link in your email newsletter and end up buying during that visit.
So what action of yours is ultimately responsible for that sale? Did the brand recognition from seeing the ad prompt them to click on the Facebook link? Did the information in the eBook influence their decision? Which points of contact were most important, and which need to be improved upon?
Touch Point Analysis
Each interaction between a prospect and your brand is considered a "touch" or "touch point." It is a place where they come into contact with your company or its marketing efforts. Each touch point can have some impact on whether they eventually decide to buy.Touch point analysis is the process of looking at each interaction to determine how it contributed to the sale, for better or worse. Each touch point can then be optimized to improve results in the future.
Touch point analysis can help you improve your marketing efforts in a number of ways, including:
- Determining what your primary sales "funnels" look like and how people go from prospects to customers. You can then work to optimize those paths and create a more seamless message.
- Shortening the sales cycle by identifying which touch points are unnecessary.
- Identifying which keywords are used at each step of the cycle, so you can optimize the correct content for those terms. If a particular keyword is used primarily by first-time visitors, for instance, the page featuring that keyword should focus on providing introductory information and a good first impression.
- Focusing your efforts on the most valuable channels or marketing campaigns, so you can maximize return on investment.
- Improving the customer experience at each touchpoint. If you identify a step with a high bounce rate, or a point where most people leave and do not return, fixing that problem could result in a big sales increase.
- Arranging touch points in the best sequence to provide what the prospect is looking for each step along the way.
- Determining which touches are necessary or helpful in getting a first-time customer to come back and buy again, thereby improving your customer lifetime value.
- Testing and measuring the results of changes to each touch point.
By looking at your marketing efforts as a series of "touches," each with their own purposes and goals, you can create a detailed communication strategy and get the most bang possible for your marketing buck.
*Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
