Touchpoint
Every moment a person interacts with a service: with another person, an object, a space, or an interface.
What problem it addresses
Explains why the experience of a service does not depend on a single channel, but on the sum of every moment the person comes into contact with it.
An example
Two ways of thinking about what “the service” of an airline is.
Each of those moments can improve or spoil the whole experience.
Why it happens
A service is not seen whole: it is lived in parts.
Each contact leaves an impression of the whole.
A single bad contact can outweigh many good ones.
Applications in design
Use it like this
Make an inventory of every touchpoint, including the non-digital ones: people, paperwork, spaces.
Avoid
Improving one channel while the others contradict what it promises.
Don’t fall for it
Remember that not all touchpoints weigh the same: identify the ones that decide the experience.
50 million
What the research says
Jan Carlzon estimated that at SAS about 10 million passengers a year each had about 5 contacts of about 15 seconds with staff: 50 million “moments of truth” that shaped the company’s image (Carlzon, 1987).
Debated evidence. It is a management estimate, not a scientific measurement, but it popularized the idea that every contact counts.
Connections
Used in
Authors and works
- 1987
Jan Carlzon
Popularized “moments of truth” as head of SAS.
- 2010
Marc Stickdorn and Jakob Schneider
Made touchpoints a central piece of service design.
Sources
Original sources
- Normann, R. (1984). Service management: Strategy and leadership in service businesses. Wiley.
- Carlzon, J. (1987). Moments of truth. Ballinger. (Original work published 1985 as Riv pyramiderna!)
Secondary sources
- Stickdorn, M., & Schneider, J. (Eds.) (2010). This is service design thinking: Basics, tools, cases. BIS Publishers.
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