Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised May 30, 2026

High-touch

High-touch refers to the involvement of personal attention and service. In business, the term often refers to situations where trust between the customer and employed individual(s) is necessary. High-touch areas include: medicine, wealth management, reference desk, real estate, and legal. Stock trading done by humans, as opposed to automated trading or using online brokers, is also referred to as high-touch.

Last revised
May 30, 2026
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Wikipedia ↗

High-touch refers to the involvement of personal attention and service.1 In business, the term often refers to situations where trust between the customer and employed individual(s) is necessary.2 High-touch areas include: medicine, wealth management, reference desk, real estate, and legal.2 Stock trading done by humans, as opposed to automated trading or using online brokers, is also referred to as high-touch.3

Origins

The term was coined in 1982 by John Naisbitt in his book Megatrends.4 It was explored further by Naisbitt in his follow-up book High Tech/High Touch.5

In medicine

High-touch may also refer to the frequency in which a surface is touched.6

In pharmacology, high-touch may refer to medicines that require temperature control, ongoing drug management, or compliance monitoring.7

Relation to high tech

High-touch was coined as a term in response to "high tech".5 High tech, as opposed to high-touch, is when customers don't need human interaction to perform activities such as onboarding, ordering, and account management.8 High tech services, such as chatbots, allow customers to get what they want on-demand.8

References

References

  1. "HIGH-TOUCH | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary". dictionary.cambridge.org. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  2. Stewart, Karl Stark and Bill (2013-06-04). "Building a High-Touch Business". Inc.com. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  3. "Human high-touch trading is here to stay". Bloomberg Professional Services. 2017-05-11. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  4. "Definition of high touch". PCMAG. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  5. McDonnell, John. "Council Post: How To Offer A High-Touch Experience In A High-Tech World". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  6. Huslage, Kirk; Rutala, William A.; Sickbert-Bennett, Emily; Weber, David J. (August 2010). "A Quantitative Approach to Defining "High-Touch" Surfaces in Hospitals". Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. 31 (8): 850–853. doi:10.1086/655016. ISSN 0899-823X. PMID 20569115. S2CID 31732439.
  7. "Specialty Pharmacy Drug List" (PDF). Magellan RX Management. 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  8. Williams, Howard (6 June 2019). "Do Customers Want High Tech or High Touch?". homebusinessmag.com. Retrieved 2020-03-22.