Nonverbal Communication in Marketing: Toward a Communicational Analysis

Abstract

The authors selectively overview and review the current “state of art” in the measurement of and theorizing about nonverbal components of interactive behavior. A major function of nonverbal indicators for marketing application is seen to be the “triangulation” or validation effect, whereby unobtrusive and difficult to “manage” nonverbal behaviors can be used as a check on the validity of more easily distorted verbal measures of consumption behavior. Three major types of nonverbal behavior study are identified; the psychological or cognitive approach is cited as being of greatest potential applicability for incorporation into marketing analyses. A summary of findings generated from this psychological approach is presented as a practical guide to marketers’ observations of nonverbal interaction components. Additionally, the most advanced of the psychological nonverbal observation schemes is integrated with a theoretically compatible verbal process analysis tool to provide a first step toward “communicational analysis” in marketing, the integrated study of verbal and nonverbal interactional components for marketing prediction.