The second life of the comedian. Storytelling in ecommerce
Are you already tired of the amount of information you have to absorb every day?… Because everything that a person encounters in the modern world has a name, a name was even invented for it! This is the so-called “attention crash.”Experiencing it, everything we read seems to us uninteresting… How to prevent it?
The grim comedian and the product sales failure
In today’s world, you need to be able to pay attention. Be it on yourself or on your product. The question, however, is how to do it. Imagine a sullen, uncommunicative comedian, going door-to-door and trying to sell people certain products. Mops, pots, or even adventure novels. The comedian arrives at the door, knocks. After opening them, he looks gloomy and timidly gestures. He’s sure of losing, doesn’t much want to talk, and it’s clear that he’d most like to go home already. Besides, it seems that trade is not what he cares about most in the world. Who would buy goods from a peddler of this type? Probably a very small number of people over the years, and mostly single people who are thirsty for a chat.
We probably have a very different image of the comedian in our minds. This is someone who is extremely contactable! What the comedian lacks in failure is the inability to establish rapport with people. But not only that. The grim comedian misses a chance to tell a story right from the start. And storytelling is key to make yourself interesting. And to sell a product.
An integral part – storytelling in ecommerce
Our times can be called, without a hint of exaggeration, times in which it is good to have the qualities of a comedian. A good comedian is kind, courteous and contactable. He knows all the techniques of influencing people. And he is excellent at telling stories. Today, when commerce has largely become the domain of the Internet, the comedian has moved right there, and that’s where he tells stories. The attempt to persuade an audience to buy a product is done largely by entertaining them. One of the methods, used for this purpose, is the so-called storytelling, or just storytelling. Why is this important… Precisely because so-called dry information is not as memorable as that laced with anecdote.
Let’s take two pieces of information as an example.
Information No. 1: The first chips were created in the year …. in the city of Saratoga Springs in the United States.
Information No. 2: Chips were invented by …. Crum, who worked as a cook in an upscale restaurant. Crum was floored that day. A customer who came to dine at the restaurant where he worked rejected the French fries he fried. They were too thick for him! What an affront! In revenge, disgusted by the situation, Crum prepared fries that were too thin and served them to the customer with satisfaction. That’s how the chips were created. It happened in the year…. in the city of Saratoga Springs, USA. The dish quickly gained popularity. Instead of enraging, it delighted.
It seems obvious which information will make us remember where the world’s first potato chips were created. The first information seems indifferent to us. The second, on the other hand, builds context. Thanks to storytelling, we can immerse ourselves for a moment in the world created by the storyteller. With the eyes of our imagination, we see a frumpy Crum and a satisfied customer eating chips, the fruit of the cook’s failed revenge. The storyteller, even if we don’t know him, has taken the time to describe the situation to us. We feel appreciated. The story of the chips is remembered, and we ourselves will remember it when we buy the product.
This is why in the modern world it is worthwhile to be a comedian. If it comes naturally to us, we have a great time, and sales increase for the products we tell stories about.
But to the point. Profits of being a comedian
According to an Exasol survey, up to 93% of IT consumers say that interesting storytelling makes them choose certain products. And they are, after all, strictly business people! As it turns out, storytelling works for everyone. That’s why various companies and institutions are investing in it. American grocery chain Goodwill of Central and Nortern Arizona saw a four hundredfold increase in turnover after introducing storytelling into its advertising. The nearly century-old company needed new ideas and ways to advertise. After looking at the store’s typical customers, a fictional character named Michelle was invented to personify them. The Goodwill store’s customer became close to the hearts of real consumers and… began to generate profits. This is how a well-told story works.
Reaching existing needs and creating new ones – storytelling in eCommerce
We know that it is said that a good salesman will sell sand in the desert and ice in Antarctica. Thanks to storytelling, global comedians, for example, managed to sell a $1.5 globe for less than$200. This happened in the course of the Significant Object Project experiment. These are just some examples of how storytelling translates into tangible results, which is sales. With storytelling, we can create needs that don’t exist, as well as reach those that are present among consumers. Launching a new product? You need to tell the story of why you need it. And do it effectively. Desire to dispose of old products?… You need to show why they are still worth using. The customer should find out how stylish they are and what their history is. Finally, when reaching a specific audience, it is good to know their interests well. And write stories that serve to deepen them, offering to buy valuable and useful products.
