In the Age of AI and the Age of Distraction, the brands that win are the ones that treat every interaction with a customer as an opportunity to build trust. We call this approach the Every Point of Contact (EPOC) strategy—a discipline of designing for the details, knowing that small moments compound into big impressions.

Defining the Terms

Before you can build an EPOC strategy, it helps to clarify three concepts:

• Touchpoint: Any interaction a customer has with your brand.

• Customer Journey: The end-to-end path a customer takes to solve a problem.

• Omnichannel User Experience: The ability for a customer to move seamlessly across touchpoints and channels, experiencing the journey as one cohesive interaction.

From the customer’s perspective, everything—reading an article, filling out a form, seeing your name on a truck, speaking with sales—isn’t fragmented. It’s one brand experience. And that experience is felt more than it is analyzed.

Kim Salazar of Nielsen Norman Group puts it like this: “To every single customer, a journey is one holistic interaction with your organization, one experience rather than a collection of individual experiences.”

The implications are significant, too:

• Fragmentation breaks trust; one poor interaction can poison the whole.

• Micro-experiences matter; each small moment is part of the larger whole.

• Consistency creates loyalty; coherent journeys drive retention and growth.

EPOC thinking forces organizations to examine and optimize each touchpoint so the overall experience is seamless, distinctive, and memorable.

How to Build an EPOC Strategy

1. Map the Journey
   Identify every touchpoint a customer encounters—from awareness through purchase to ongoing support.

2. Audit the Touchpoints
   Evaluate each interaction for clarity, effectiveness, and alignment. Look for redundancies, gaps, or pain points that erode trust.

3. Anchor in Voice and Values
   Ensure your brand’s voice and values are expressed consistently across all channels and interactions.

The Fundamentals Still Matter

AI is transforming marketing, commerce, and customer engagement. But even as the technology evolves, the fundamentals of business remain. Customers don’t experience your brand as campaigns or silos; they experience it as moments.

To stand out in the noise, you have to design for those moments deliberately. Because in the end, the strength of your brand comes down to Every Point of Contact.