It is very well known that a large amount of communication is non-verbal. For example, it is extremely important for salespeople to be able to read body language in order to gauge their customers’ interest and act accordingly. But with communication increasingly taking place online, how can these skills be translated into the digital world?
Traditionally, body language is made up of actions such as body posture, gestures, facial expressions and eye movement. Furthermore, salespeople can use body language to manipulate customer behaviour, by using techniques such as mirroring the body language of their customers. Obviously, this is all lost in digital communication.
However, there are other forms of non-verbal communication that are still prevalent online. For example, you can track who visits your website, when, how long for, which pages they look at, whether they register for your newsletter, etc. These all help to establish how interested people are in your product.
Social media has helped to make it even easier to analyse customer intentions. You can see what your customers are saying about you on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and a range of other channels. You can see who is ignoring your sales message. You can analyse how they talk to you, and how this varies from how they talk to other people. If you are proactively pursuing someone who is ignoring you on Twitter, you may be wasting your time. If someone you have never contacted retweets you, it may be worth giving their company a call.
What tips do you have for picking up on digital body language?
