A touch is a single outreach contact with a prospect — one call, one email, one LinkedIn message. In a sequence, touches are the individual steps: a sequence of six touches means six separate contacts spread over two weeks. Touches are the basic input an SDR controls. If you make more relevant touches, you get more replies; if you make none, nothing happens. The whole outbound game is a volume of touches combined with relevance, in the right rhythm.
In plain English
A touch is one time you reach out. Call = touch. Email = touch. Message = touch. Count them, and you have your activity number. The trick is that touches only count if they actually go somewhere — a touch is a real, logged contact, not a "I'll reach out later" note in your head.
Why it matters to you
Touches are the thing you are measured on in an outbound role, and the thing you actually control. Managers want to see a daily number of touches because it is the most honest early indicator of effort. But relevance matters as much as volume — forty personalised touches beat a hundred blind ones. Log every touch as you make it, and your numbers and your reputation both stay honest.