Every interaction a customer has with your brand matters.

From the first make-or-break click on your website, which could have them swooning or smashing that back button.

To the moment they receive the 12th email from you in their inbox…

Each touchpoint is an opportunity to create a remarkable impression. Or a potential slip-up that contradicts your brand identity, ultimately disappointing or disrupting your customer’s enjoyment of your brand. And this is where so many brands go wrong.

It’s totally understandable (and easy) to focus all your attention on creating the very best first impression you can - and forget that your brand’s experience is made up of lots of little cumulative moments. But that’s also how you accidentally lose sales or trust.

The truth is, you need to look at and plan ALL of your brand’s touchpoints, not just one or two in isolation. Each time your customers connect with your brand, it's a chance to show them what your brand is all about - what you stand for, what you're like, and what you promise to do.

How well you show up in these moments impacts how your customers perceive and feel about your brand, and whether they choose to buy from you.

When you create a polished brand experience from start-to-finish, your customers notice. A consistent brand experience lands you more clients, more opportunities, and levels up your ability to charge premium prices.

*Ahem* Here’s how to align your touchpoints with your brand strategy to ensure that you deliver a consistent, elevated brand experience.

Step 1: Map out your brand touchpoints

And yep, I mean a literal map.

If you’re a visual person like me, try jotting down your touchpoints as a map of connections. It doesn’t have to be pretty. Just practical.

If you’re less visual, try brainstorming a list.

Kickstart your brainstorming by defining your different customer segments.

Chances are, you have cold leads, warm leads, hot leads, new customers, existing customers, and even past customers. Each touchpoint map will look a bit different, depending on what type of customer you’re looking at.

Now, think about all the moments that happen before, during, or after this segment of people buy (or don’t buy) from you. How do you interact with each customer segment before, during and after?

One of the best ways to uncover this without bias is to talk to your customers directly. Ask them to describe the current brand experience in their own words.

Next, think about the stages they go through in their customer journey, from unaware to problem aware, solution aware to product aware to most aware.

What touchpoints (i.e. website, emails) do your customers encounter at these different stages of awareness? What are you doing at each stage to meet their goals, needs and preferences?

Not sure where to start? Here are some of the most common brand experience touchpoints:

Your website
Your welcome email sequence
Your Instagram
Your LinkedIn
Your sales sequence
Your packaging
Your business card
Your Google search ads
Your Facebook ads
Your customer service or support interactions
Online reviews
Your referral program
Onboarding
Offboarding
Post-sale feedback
Your loyalty program
Check-ins at major customer milestones

Step 2: Evaluate your brand touchpoints

So you probably have a pretty decent list of touchpoints now. Great!

Next, we want to identify any gaps, inconsistencies, and opportunities for improvement.

You’ll want to consider how these touchpoints match your brand strategy, vision, mission, values and brand personality - or fall short.

What’s working well right now? What’s not? I.e. Where are you neglecting customers or leads? (For example: Your pre-sale process)
Does each touchpoint match the brand story you want to tell?
What kind of experience do you want to give your people at each stage of their journey?
Are you delivering that brand experience consistently?
Which parts of the journey have the biggest potential for impact on your customers long-term?

Based on this assessment, decide which touchpoints you want to fix first.

Step 3: Optimise your brand touchpoints

Now that you know where you need to do better, start making a plan.

Once you know which touchpoints you want to focus on, it’s time to design them to be more user-friendly, engaging and relevant.

After all, this is all about making sure your brand experience is pitch-perfect and aligned with your brand values, brand story and personality.

This is the best time to implement data tracking to consider how your current systems work and how you can improve.

Of course, your brand touchpoints aren’t a one-and-done. Your brand experience is a process you’ll continue to refresh and refine over time.

Final thoughts: Mastering each brand touchpoint to deliver a seamless brand experience

So there you have it. To create a polished, cohesive brand experience that showcases your values, story, personality, and authority, it’s worth it to take a step back and look at the WHOLE picture.

Your brand touchpoints make up your brand experience. And your brand experience creates your reputation.

It’s absolutely worth putting in extra effort to make your brand experience special.