Touchpoint eXperience Management @ 060713

"The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment." Dorothy Nevill

There are 2 environments - Internal Organization (i) and External Market (e). In each environment, there are 3 types of touchpoint - People, Information and Deliverables (PID). Each type of touchpoint produces 3 kinds of experience - Positive, Indifferent, Negative. In order to achieve Touchpoint eXperience Excellence (TXE), iPID have to have positive experience first in order to produce positive experience in ePID. ROI maximization is possible when TXE is achieved.

Without touchpoint, there is no opportunity for anyone to experience the experience. Without experience, it is impossible to determine whether subsequent touchpoint is possible. Touchpoint is therefore the foundation of basically everything, and it is necessary to ensure that once a relationship is formed, there is no discontinuity in the chain. Maintaining a chain of touchpoints will either strengthen or weaken the relationship, depending on the experience.

If the chain consists only of negative experience, it is better not to continue the chain. It can be argued that by maintaining the chain filled with negative experience, there is at least chance to turn negative experience into positive, but once the first impression is formed, it becomes really difficult to correct the impression. However, there are always two options: go, or no go. Besides giving up which should always be used only as a last resort, one can choose to navigate and pick a different course in order to bring new order in the chain.

4R is an evaluation tool to determine to start or continue a touchpoint, and it is an acronym for Relevance, Reaction, Return and Risk.

New Touchpoint - If there is no previous touchpoint experience, then the receiver will see if the touchpoint is relevant or not. If relevant, then the next step is to check intangible factors such as attitude of sender, content of information, and value of deliverable. If they remain positive, then the reciever will perform a quick cost-benefit analysis before accepting the touchpoint.

Old Touchpoint - If previous touchpoint experience is positive, then it is easier for the receiver to accept the touchpoint, but he or she may have higher expectations on the coming touchpoint. If previous touchpoint experience is negative, then the sender may need to spend more efforts to assure the receiver that the next touchpoint will not be a recurrence of previous touchpoint.