What are brand touch points?

|| July 24, 2014

Touch points are the ways in which your customers and potential customers come into contact with your brand.

Brand touch points include letters, signage, vehicle liveries, uniforms and product packaging. More subtly, the sound quality on your phone system, the cleanliness of your washrooms, even the taste of your coffee have a subtle supporting or distracting effect on the experience of your brand.

Brand touch points tend to group themselves into four categories, sometimes known as 'brand vectors':

  • Product — its form, feel, utility, reliability, badging and packaging
  • Environment — signage, decor, catering, smell, cleanliness, illumination, architecture, surroundings, location
  • Behaviour — staff attitude, tone of voice, skill and training, uniforms, driving style
  • Communication — print, marketing, liveries, advertisements, displays, exhibitions, web, social media, direct mail, phoning

The touch points for every brand will be different. With an unlimited amount of cash, of course, a brand could invest in every possible touch point. However, there are probably just four or five things which 90% of your customers will experience, perhaps another four or five that 60% will experience, and so on. The key touch points should be actively promoting your brand. Minor touch points should be controlled so that they are not distracting from your brand.