Every customer touchpoint, no matter how small, shapes how people feel about your business. Long before they compare prices, read reviews, or talk to your team, they’re forming impressions that influence whether they’ll take the next step.
That idea hit me while listening to an episode of Armchair Expert featuring Dr. Colleen Cutcliffe, a microbiome scientist, member of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health advisory board, and co-founder of Pendulum Therapeutics.
The conversation wasn’t about customer experience. It was about packaging.
But as a customer experience nerd, I immediately saw a lesson every business can use.
The Packaging Challenge Every Brand Faces
Academy Award winner Halle Berry became an investor in Pendulum after using the company’s probiotics. Once she joined the team, one of her first suggestions was to improve the packaging.
That sparked a fascinating discussion.
How do you communicate expertise, credibility, and innovation without overwhelming people?
Dr. Cutcliffe explained that Pendulum had something most brands would envy. The company had groundbreaking science, backing from the Mayo Clinic, recommendations from thousands of healthcare practitioners, and years of research.
Even so, they still competed against products with far less credibility but much stronger branding and packaging.
Have you ever felt like that?
Maybe you’ve lost business to someone whose product wasn’t better—it just looked more polished.
Why More Information Doesn’t Strengthen Customer Touchpoints
Like many experts, Dr. Cutcliffe wanted customers to understand everything.
She wanted every credential, award, and statistic displayed on that bottle.
She said:
“How do you make people feel like this is the cutting-edge thing without all those words? … As a scientist, I’m thinking, how do you get people to love it cranially? … But I am actively looking for help from people who think more viscerally.”
Many businesses make the same mistake. They assume that more information creates more trust.
However, customers rarely want a dissertation. Instead, they want clarity and confidence. Most of all, they want to feel like they’re making the right decision.
Customers Feel Before They Think
Podcast host Dax Shepard responded with an observation that perfectly captured the lesson:
“That’s emotional. And it’s visual. And it’s actually not as intellectual as we think it is. We get a feeling right away.”
Exactly.
Later in the conversation, Dr. Cutcliffe described Pendulum’s redesigned packaging in just three words: “It feels soft.”
That’s branding. Not the logo, typography, or color palette. The feeling.
Before customers compare features or pricing, they absorb dozens of signals.
They notice your:
- Website
- Packaging
- LinkedIn profile
- Social media
- Storefront
- Emails
- Tone of voice
- Ease of doing business
Every one of these customer touchpoints influences perception before logic catches up.
Every Customer Touchpoint Has a Different Job
One of the biggest customer experience mistakes I see is expecting every customer touchpoint to do everything.
For example, a homepage tries to explain the entire business. A product label lists every feature. A LinkedIn profile highlights every task you’ve ever performed at every job. A sales deck provides details on products that the client isn’t ready for yet.
As a result, customers feel overwhelmed instead of informed.
The strongest brands don’t overload every interaction. Ideally, they let each customer touchpoint play its own role.
Think About It Like a First Date
I like to compare customer touchpoints to a first date. You don’t tell every story you’ve ever lived.
You don’t hand someone your résumé or reveal your most vulnerable thoughts. And you certainly don’t try to convince them you’re soulmates.
The goal is much simpler.
Get the second date.
The same principle applies to customer experience.Your first interaction doesn’t need to answer every question. Instead, it should create enough trust, clarity, and curiosity for someone to take the next step.
Build Trust Throughout the Customer Journey
Don’t get me wrong: this doesn’t mean that customers ignore details.
Eventually, they want proof.
They’ll read reviews, compare competitors, and ask questions. However, they don’t need every answer during the first interaction.
Instead, successful brands layer information throughout the customer journey.
Each customer touchpoint has a different purpose.
Some touchpoints create curiosity. Others build confidence or provide proof. Trying to make one touchpoint do all three often accomplishes none of them.
A Simple Customer Touchpoint Audit
This week, look at one of your first-impression customer touchpoints.
It could be your:
- Homepage
- Packaging
- LinkedIn profile
- Social media profile
- Proposal
- Storefront
Then ask yourself one question:
Am I trying to tell my entire story here?
If the answer is yes, remove one thing. Simplify one section. Or save one explanation for later in the customer journey.
Sometimes creating a better customer experience isn’t about adding more.
Rather, it’s about creating enough clarity and confidence for customers to want the next interaction.
That’s the first date rule of customer experience.
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