How Does Your Web Site Make Me Feel?

When people think about the Internet, they think about technology. When people hear that I’m an eBusiness expert, they see me as a 'techy type'.

But the most intriguing aspect of an online business has nothing to do with technology. It’s about human connections, and how we can create these connections in a virtual environment.

In the real world, we do this all the time. Everyone knows that “people buy emotionally, not intellectually.” Even when people think they're making a rational decision, powerful subconscious factors come into play. Antonio Damasio says we're all primarily "feeling machines who think".

To sell effectively, we’re told to anticipate our customers’ needs, to demonstrate that we 'feel their pain', to respond to hidden clues in their body language and tone of voice.

So what happens when we create our Web sites? How do we acknowledge how our visitors might be feeling? How do we make them feel listened to, understood and appreciated in this online environment?

In fact, how do we make them feel like they're having a real world conversation with a real person?