Research

Touchpoint Identification

Customers don't follow a straight path with your product. It's a series of interactions with your brand. Touchpoint Identification maps every interaction in the customer journey, from awareness to purchase and beyond. In 75 minutes, vague ideas turn into a list of customer touchpoints, revealing gaps and chances to improve. Do this early, before optimizing touchpoints. It's useful when teams miss interactions, touchpoints aren't coordinated, or teams lack visibility. Teams realize how disconnected the experience is and see chances to coordinate. This exercise can be tiring. Teams find 30-50+ touchpoints, even for simple journeys. Focus is key. Expect concentration during mapping and lively discussion when sharing touchpoints. The time is tight but doable for simple journeys. Complex journeys may need more time. You'll know it's working when teams find touchpoints they control but didn't realize were part of the journey.

Duration
1.3 hours
Group Size
8-15
Category
Research
Difficulty
Easy
Create a full list of customer touchpoints across the journey, organized by phase (awareness, consideration, purchase, onboarding, use, support, renewal/expansion). Tell the difference between touchpoint types—direct (you control), indirect (you influence), and third-party (others control). This helps you see where you can improve the experience. Find gaps (phases with few touchpoints), redundancies (uncoordinated touchpoints doing the same thing), and friction points (touchpoints causing negative experiences). Prioritize touchpoints based on frequency, emotion, and importance. This focuses improvement on key areas.

  • Full touchpoint list across the journey.

  • Clear ownership and quality for each touchpoint.

  • A base for improving the experience.

Know the journey scope: which customer, product, and boundaries. Ambiguity wastes time. List key touchpoints beforehand. Push for specifics: 'website' isn't enough, 'product pricing page' is. Avoid solving problems too soon. This is about listing touchpoints, not fixing them. Watch for blind spots: teams miss touchpoints owned by others. If you identify less than 20 touchpoints, it's too shallow. If all touchpoints are from one area, you're missing a view. If teams jump to solutions, slow them down. If there's debate about what 'counts', include it if the customer experiences it. If you get 30-50+ touchpoints, hear 'I didn't know we did that', see gaps, and have diverse owners, you're doing well. Photograph the map right away. Make a digital list of all touchpoints, owners, and types. Share it widely.

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