Touchpoint Research and the Moment of Truth

It has never been easier for brands to communicate with their customers due to an increasing number of brand-customer touchpoints (e.g., via different media channels such as video on demand, web television or web radio on a variety of modern devices such as tablets, smartphones or wearables). However, the large number of potential touchpoints increases the complexity of touchpoint marketing itself as managing brand communication from a psychological point of view becomes increasingly complicated (Robert, 2005). The fact that customers are changing from rather passive communication recipients to active opinion senders (e.g., via Facebook or Twitter) certainly contributes to the complexity of touchpoint marketing (Duhan & Singh, 2013; Pendleton et al, 2012). However, brand managers have to deal with hybrid and enlightened customers who have very individual lifestyles that currently are almost always accompanied by complex decision-making processes based on multiple relevant and irrelevant brand touchpoints (Ehrnrooth & Gronroos, 2013).