The Implications of Short-Term and Long-Term B2B Touchpoints: An Abstract

Marketing literature on customer-firm interactions acknowledges the role of touchpoints on customer-firm relationships, as successful encounters through touchpoints lead to stronger relationships. However, there is little empirical evidence on the long-term impact of touchpoints on important measures of customer perceptions. In this context, the purpose of this study is to compare the short- and long-term impacts of different provider-controlled touchpoints on customer perceptions. Specifically, this study assesses the impact of touchpoints related to sales force, product, consulting, communication, tangibles and standardized contacts.

To test the proposed model, data from a multinational insurance company are used to obtain a random panel dataset of 2175 customers over 5 years. A six-equation seemingly unrelated regression model is developed to assess the effectiveness of provider-controlled touchpoints. The results reveal that some touchpoints have important consequences both in the short and long term. Touchpoints related to sales force and product are vital in maintaining long-term positive customer perceptions. Other touchpoints have significant short-term effects, but no long-term consequences on customer perceptions. The results also indicate that an overuse of some touchpoints may potentially damage the customer-firm relationship in the long term.

The findings of this pioneering research provide empirical evidence of how the impact of some touchpoints on customer perceptions changes over time. The importance of identifying short- and long-term implications of touchpoints on customer perceptions is confirmed. As a result, the implications of this study are relevant for academia and best practices alike. By differentiating between these types of effects on customer perceptions, this research adds breadth and depth to the limited academic knowledge about long-term effectiveness of touchpoints. As regards managerial implications, this study is relevant in terms of resource allocation, as it specifically analyzes changes occurring over time and identifies the interactions that will have the most important long-term effect on the customer-firm relationship.