Customer Success: 6 steps to make your customer touchpoints count

Good, bad, or indifferent, every customer touchpoint is meaningful-and they accumulate in your customer's mind. It's therefore important to be thoughtful about every touchpoint to ensure the customer's success is the first priority and remains at the heart of their customer experience journey.

By Brad Morrison
Posted September 12, 2019

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In recent years, organizations large and small have made the customer experience journey a strategic priority. Why? I think McKinsey said it best: "Many businesses are coming to understand that, increasingly, how an organization delivers for its customers is as important as what product or service it provides."

I added the emphasis on how because, it's not just the services and products you provide to your customers, it's how successful your customers can become as a result of their interactions and relationship with you. Healthcare organizations aren't, for example, purchasing Nuance's platform and solutions per se; they're purchasing a path to better patient care and to improved financial performance. They're success then becomes our success.

Harvard Business Review notes touchpoints bring the customer experience to life. Every individual experience and encounter-or touchpoint-your customer has with you must have their success in mind: every phone call, email, in-person meeting, troubleshooting chat with your contact center, your most recent digital ad campaign, exchanges with your billing department, even the signage at the airport. These touchpoints all count, they all add up… So how can you make your touchpoints more meaningful? McKinsey & Company suggest the following six actions:

1. Step back and identify the nature of the journeys customers take-from the customer's point of view.
2. Understand how customers navigate across the touchpoints as they move through the journey.
3. Anticipate the customer's needs, expectations, and desires during each part of the journey.
4. Build an understanding of what is working and what is not.
5. Set priorities for the most important gaps and opportunities to improve the journey.
6. Come to grips with fixing root-cause issues and redesigning the journeys for a better end-to-end experience.

A customer's experience with your organization becomes the sum total of every touchpoint throughout their journey with you. Make your touchpoints count.

The Customer Success blog series with Brad Morrison, Senior Vice President of Nuance Healthcare Customer Success, is an honest take on the ways to build and maintain strong relationships with your customers. The Customer Success blog shares industry insights, lessons learned, and humble advice based on both customer fails and success.