Moments that Matter vs touchpoints: what is the difference?
Ask a team to map the customer journey and you get a wall of touchpoints. The ad, the website, the confirmation email, the phone call, the reminder. It looks complete.
And you still don’t know why people drop out. You have written down where you meet them. What goes on in their heads at those points is not on the wall.
The difference between touchpoints and Moments that Matter is essential when you map a Human Journey. Yet the two are often confused.
Touchpoints are the moments when someone comes into contact with your organisation, product or communication. Moments that Matter are the decisive moments when someone will or will not show the behaviour you are hoping for. A touchpoint is where you meet someone. A Moment that Matters is where you can make a difference to their behaviour.
What are customer journey touchpoints?
Touchpoints are the moments when someone comes into contact with your organisation, product or communication. Think of an email, a website, a conversation or a reminder.
You can count them and you can improve them. A shorter letter, a faster website, a friendlier voice on the phone. That is useful work. A touchpoint analysis shows where someone comes into contact with you.
The catch is that you are looking from the inside out. You are the starting point, and the other person passes by.
What is a Moment that Matters?
A Moment that Matters is the moment when someone decides, or has to decide, whether or not to do something.
Moments that Matter are the decisive moments when someone will or will not show the behaviour you are hoping for. They are the make-or-break moments when someone drops out, hesitates, puts it off, or feels motivated to act.
Here you look from the outside in. You start with one person and with what they do, think and feel at that moment. Whether you happen to be there is a separate question.
| Touchpoint | Moment that Matters | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A moment of contact with your organisation, product or communication | The moment when someone decides, or has to decide, whether or not to do something |
| You look from | The organisation | The person |
| Where | On your channels: an email, a website, a conversation, a reminder | Anywhere, including at home on the sofa |
| The question | Where does someone come across us? | Why would someone carry on here, or drop out? |
| What you get | An overview of contact moments | The places where you can make a difference to someone’s behaviour |
Why does the difference matter so much?
A touchpoint analysis shows where someone comes into contact with you. A Human Journey shows what happens from that person’s point of view, and where behaviour can stall or get a push. Those Moments that Matter are exactly where you want Behavioural Design to make the difference.
Not every touchpoint is a Moment that Matters. And not every Moment that Matters happens at a touchpoint with your organisation.
Sometimes the most important decision is made when someone is at home on the sofa, thinking: ‘I’ll do it tomorrow.’
That moment is on no touchpoint map. There is no email of yours in sight, no colleague, no screen. And still that is where it is decided whether anything happens. If you only improve your touchpoints, you can end up polishing places where nothing is at stake. And missing the place where it goes wrong.
How do you find the Moments that Matter?
You find them by first understanding what moves someone and what holds them back. That is what the SUE | Influence Framework© is for. It builds on the force field analysis of psychologist Kurt Lewin.[1]
The model starts with the human and with what they are trying to get done: the Job-to-be-Done. That is the basis of everything. Then you bring out the forces that stand between current and desired behaviour. Pains are what bothers someone now. Gains are what the new behaviour would bring them. Comforts are everything that is pleasant about how things are. Anxieties are the doubts and worries about the new.
Those forces are not equally strong all day. There are moments when a pain flares up and someone is open to something else. And there are moments when a comfort or an anxiety wins and everything stays as it was. Those are your Moments that Matter. That is how you discover the opportunities for influence.
My tip: when you map your Human Journey, don’t only look at what someone does or comes across. Keep asking yourself: what is going on in this person’s head right now? Why would someone carry on here, or drop out?
You will not work that out at your desk. You get it from talking to the people themselves. Ask about the last time it worked and the last time it didn’t. Ask what they did, where they were and what went through their mind. What someone plans to do tells you little. What someone did actually happened.
What is a Human Journey?
The Human Journey is all the Moments that Matter along Catch, Convert, Confirm and Continue. Those are the four Cs of the SUE | 4C Influence Flow©.[2]
The thinking behind it: one good intervention is rarely enough. Someone has to notice you first, then take action, then find that it was a good choice, and keep doing it. You plot the Moments that Matter you found on those four Cs. Then you see where someone drops out, and what is needed at that moment.
A made-up example to show the difference. A local council wants homeowners to book a free home energy assessment. The resident’s Job-to-be-Done: keeping a grip on what the house costs to run. The touchpoints are quickly listed: the letter, the web page, the booking form, the confirmation email and the assessor’s visit.
The Human Journey looks different.
Catch. The letter lands on the doormat with the takeaway menus. Does someone open it, or does it go straight into the recycling?
Convert. That evening on the sofa, the letter is on the pile. ‘I’ll do it tomorrow.’
Confirm. The appointment is booked. Then the neighbour says an assessor like that mostly comes to sell you something. Does the appointment stay, or does someone ring to cancel?
Continue. The report is on the kitchen table, with twelve recommendations. Where do you start?
Four moments, and at half of them the council is nowhere to be seen. I made this list up. In real life it comes out of conversations with residents, and it usually contains something you would never have thought of yourself.
Already have a customer journey on the wall? How to look at it this way is covered in customer journey optimisation with behavioural insights.
What do you do with those moments?
You start designing. For the Moments that Matter you found, you design interventions with the SUE | SWAC Tool©. SWAC has four dimensions. CAN: is someone able to do the behaviour? WANT: do they want to? SPARK: what prompts them at the right moment? AGAIN: do they get more than one chance to act?
Take the moment on the sofa. Can someone book the appointment there and then, on their phone, without logging in? Does it connect to what they want: a grip on what the house costs to run? Is there anything that prompts them at that moment? And is there a second chance if the letter disappears under the pile after all?
Those are design questions. Whether your answer works, you only know once you try it out for real.
You don’t need something new for every C either. Perhaps you already have someone’s attention, or the behaviour only needs to happen once. Design what is needed.
And because your interventions sit along the four Cs, they hang together. 4C really does turn separate interventions into an influence strategy.
Frequently asked questions about touchpoints and Moments that Matter
What is the difference between a touchpoint and a Moment that Matters?
A touchpoint is a moment when someone comes into contact with your organisation, product or communication, such as an email, a website or a conversation. A Moment that Matters is the moment when someone decides, or has to decide, whether or not to do something. A touchpoint is where you meet someone. A Moment that Matters is where you can make a difference to their behaviour.
What are examples of customer journey touchpoints?
An ad, a web page, an application form, a confirmation email, a conversation with a member of staff, an invoice or a reminder. They are all the places where someone comes across your organisation, product or communication.
Is every touchpoint a Moment that Matters?
No. Not every touchpoint is a Moment that Matters, and not every Moment that Matters happens at a touchpoint with your organisation. Sometimes the most important decision is made at home on the sofa, when someone thinks: ‘I’ll do it tomorrow.’
What is a Human Journey?
The Human Journey is all the Moments that Matter along Catch, Convert, Confirm and Continue, the four Cs of the SUE | 4C Influence Flow©. A Human Journey shows what happens from the person’s point of view, and where behaviour can stall or get a push.
How do you find the Moments that Matter?
Start with the Job-to-be-Done and use the SUE | Influence Framework© to bring out the forces that stand between current and desired behaviour. In interviews, ask what someone did the last time. And at every moment ask yourself: what is going on in this person’s head right now, and why would they carry on here or drop out?
Where you meet someone, and where you make the difference
A touchpoint map takes an afternoon, and you never have to leave the building. For a Human Journey you need to know what happened at someone’s kitchen table, at the moment they hesitated.
In short: a touchpoint is where you meet someone. A Moment that Matters is where you can make a difference to their behaviour.