Session 1 Exercice 1

How do the digital touchepoints differ from country to country? 

We can see on the graph that when we compare the large food industry between the US and France, we can notice that social channels play the early role before the purchase. We can find some reasons for that. The food is basically purchased based on the taste and with whom we are going to share it. So it's why social channels play the main assisting role in the purchase decisions. Another reasob is the fact that the food is a vital element that we need to purchase and so it's the one that we don't really make research on it; we just bought it because we have to in our society.
But then along in the customer journey to purchase, the Americans take more times before using generic paid search may be because in France, customers are more likely to compare the food products from one brand to another so we search earlier in the process our choice for food products alternatives.
And it's also quite different between France and the US regarding the channel that have the final influence on the consumer. The Americans will make their final decisions based on emails; so they need an influence from the seller directly adressed to them. Whereas in France, we will make a last search and on organic one because we want to make our own opinion on the product and the one provided by brand or generic paid search that come earlier in the process and which don't necessarily provide totaly true information as they have been paid and often based on advertissements.


How the digital touchpoints differ from industry to industry? 

I decided to compare two different industries in France that both concern the peoples' spare time. 

We can see on the graph that the display click channel plays the role of giving awareness for travel and leisures & hobbies products. The reason is that those products are not everyday life products and we got aware of them for most of the time without necessarily looking for them. For example we see on ad on the internet and finding it interesting we will click on it. Another reason is the fact that large businesses in those industries need to attract the attention of the customer among the competitors. And then early in the process, there is the impact of the social chanel because we will refer to our relatives to get advices or knowledges. But after that travel and leisure & hobbies differ.
The journey to buy travel products is equally sequenced between the different touchpoints except from the last because you plan a travel so you have deadline and then before deciding to invest in it to take your time to make the final decisions. After the social impact you will make generic search to compare and so you will be impacted by the email that you could exchange with travel agencies for example. The last channel to play a role is the brand paid search because you will look up for detailed information about your brand choice. 

Regarding the leisure & hobbies, there is a big gap in the journey purchase before using referral chanel to get advices from your relatives. The searches appear at the end because leisure & hobbies are more about what you like and what the others think is the best as they might do it with you. It's not an investment like travels. 

Off the various touchpoints, how many does a typical hotel use to convert lookers to bookers?

A lot of people are lookers regarding hotels because as consumers we are looking for the best place for the smallest price. So to convert a looker to a booker, a typical hotel should use three touchpoints: referral, email and social because it establishes a closest contact between the business and the hotel. 

Which touchpoints are most important for a hotel to employ and why? 

The email touchpoint is crucial for a hotel in order to have a direct contact with the clients regarding all the reservation details of the feedbacks. Referral is crucial as a hotel can get, through customer satisfaction, new clients thanks to recommandations from those satisfied. Then hotel must employ brand paid search because people often chose something that they already know so if the hotel is part of a group for example, customers might get to this hotel and not the one next to it because they are loyal to this brand. And for the well known hotel, this touchpoints is essential as they will appear on the top of the search page. 

Example of touchpoints 

Generic paid search 

Brand paid search

How many screens (devices) can people use in the decision journey?

As we live a technological environment we can use the following screens: mobile, computer, tablet, television, cinema, on screen advertising for example on the street.