It’s a common misconception that incorporating more touchpoints into the customer journey will naturally result in better customer satisfaction. While this approach leads to increased accountability, it’s not enough to improve these interactions with staff and marketing materials. Instead, organizations need a joined-up pathway that facilitates a seamless end-to-end customer journey.
Underestimating the complexity of the customer journey can lead to missed opportunities, with some organizations failing to see that it starts prior to any interaction with the company. Whether it’s onboarding a customer, resolving an issue or upselling to an existing client, journeys can last days or weeks and span a diverse selection of channels.
Failing to take the context of interactions into account can affect everything from lost sales to low employee morale. On the other hand, providing the best experience throughout the customer’s end-to-end journey can boost loyalty and reduce the overall service cost.
The result of operating in a multichannel, multi-touchpoint environment is that consistency of service can be lost. This is why the journey must be prioritized over the touchpoints, with a number of strategies available to ensure consistency in the customer experience:
Often, customers are dissatisfied not with a single interaction but the cumulative experience across multiple touchpoints, otherwise known as the journey. This can make their dissatisfaction seem vague and hard to counteract. However, it gives them an overall impression of the organization and failing to see that is where many businesses fall down.