Digital Body Language

In Steve Woods' book, Digital Body Language, he dedicates an entire book to the science and art of divining customer intent from online behaviors. While it is beyond the scope of this introduction, I would like to share what Steve wrote at the beginning of Chapter 3 -- What is Digital Body Language?

"As the buyer is progressing through the various stages of the buying process, he interacts with the vendor's organization by seeking, receiving, using and responding to information. In the past, those interactions were largely face to face or by telephone and the sales professional was able to read the subtle clues and nuances -the forward-leaning posture, the raised eyebrows, the tone of voice, and more."

Can that same level of interaction and interpretation be achieved in the digital world? Can marketers define and read a 'digital body language' that offers consistently predictive clues and insights into buyer behavior?

Absolutely.

Digital body language is an art and science that revolves around detecting and understanding prospective buyer's signals and intentions to better communicate with them.  The transition that began a decade ago with the arrival of the Internet and its many new sources of information, will require a significant rethinking on the part of marketers, sales professionals and the organizations they serve.

The Shift in the Funnel

Marketing is moving further into the buying process as the buyer leverages new sources of information rather than relationships with salespeople. That's placing greater premium on the marketer's ability to create, target and deliver relevant and credible information.

Increasing relevance makes it even more important to capture, understand and process the subtle signals that are part of the marketing process -- even online.  In so doing, the marketer can gain an increasing ability to objectively--and more fully--understand the prospective buyer, his purchasing inclinations, intentions, concerns, objections and more."