Customer touchpoints: Conceptualization, index development, and validation

Given the experience-based nature of tourism and hospitality services, providing a superior customer experience (CX) is vital to gaining a competitive edge in today's fast-evolving marketplace. Yet little attention has been paid to the conceptualization and measurement of an integrated bundle of critical perceptions termed customer touchpoints (CTs), which can lead to positive CXs. This study defines the conceptual domain of CTs and operationalizes the concept. Based on a multi-stage index development procedure, our findings reveal six key CT dimensions: environmental stimuli, brand-initiated communication, technological interfaces, customer-toemployee interaction, customer-to-customer interaction, and core service interaction. We further develop and validate a CT index by investigating the theoretical relationships among this index, CXs, and brand loyalty. Our work contributes to the CX literature by concretely describing and operationalizing CTs.