In 'Waiting for Your Cat to Bark', Bryan & Jeffrey Eisenberg with Lisa Davis have delivered the manifesto for the next 10 or 20 years of online marketing. In this brief yet sweeping book they convincingly argue that marketing success is now driven by how well you understand your customers and create a ‘persuasive system’ to scratch the very personal itch that each of them brings when they visit your website.

Their argument is built from the ground up, as they effortlessly march through the history of commerce, human psychology, the basic processes of buying and selling, the way brands interact with experiences, the role of data in all of this, comparative business models, and even a surprising argument against personalization.

Historically, the book argues, sales were lost due to the relationship between the friction of the buying process and the confidence (or lack thereof) of the buyer in the ability of the purchase to satisfy them. Since the most significant forms of friction are now virtually gone – we can easily discover, research, obtain, and transact – marketers now can gain the most leverage by working to increase the confidence of their prospects about their prospective purchase.

This is where Persuasion Architecture ™ comes in, and the final chapters of the book provide the most cohesive description yet its principles and methods, including the core concepts of personas, scenarios, and (their brand of) wire-framing. Many readers will find themselves torn between the feelings of exhilaration in finally having a logical framework on which to create effective websites, and the deep-in-the-stomach dread that comes from knowing that your current site is really a complete and utter piece of crap, entirely disconnected from its visitors and their goals.

I first read ‘Waiting for Your Cat to Bark’ on a cross-country airplane flight about two months ago. It was the first time I can recall wanting a flight to not end. There are so many important ideas and implications in this book that my head was spinning. Re-reading it to write this review did not diminish the impact. This is a huge work that demands further discussion and investigation.

As such, I’m going to dive deeper into each chapter and the many themes inside this book over the coming weeks. My idea is to write about one chapter a day, starting on Tuesday when the book is officially released. I hope the comment system here and the blogs of readers will serve to drive the discussion everywhere it deserves to go.

Further discussions notwithstanding, if your business has a website, I strongly recommend you click your way over to 'Amazon' to order your copy of "Waiting for Your Cat to Bark". This is an important book that should be read by anyone in the business of marketing.

UPDATE: To learn more, here's an interview by Mike Grehan with the Eisenbergs, both written and in 30-minute MP3. [Via SEObook]
Another podcast interview with Bryan Eisenberg from Duct Tape Marketing

:: Here are links to the Chapter specific review: One, Two, Three, Four, Five (more to come).