People are constantly consuming stories. Just go to a local coffee shop and look around. Someone is watching videos on Facebook. Another is reading a news article. And there’s also someone listening to a podcast. The demand for stories is growing every single day. It’s time for your company to jump into the storytelling mix.
There’s clearly demand for stories, but you might be wondering what the true value of storytelling is for your business. How can it actually help you? The answer is simple. All you have to do is look at this survey by Origin/Hill Holiday. Or, you can just let us break it down for you.
Before diving too deep, let’s look at the survey’s methodology. Origin/Hill Holiday used a representative sample of 3,000 online panel participants from 23-65 years old. They balanced the sample by age, gender, and region to match the U.S. Census. Origin/Hill Holiday created a series of experiments in which customers were shown an item with a standard description and the same item with a more detailed “storytelling” description.
The results are very clear – storytelling wins every time. And it not only wins, storytelling adds perceived value.
When customers were shown a general hotel room description, they valued the hotel at $126. When consumers were presented with the same hotel room with a customer story, the value jumped to $133. The room matched with the story was worth 5% more.
Participants assigned a perceived value of $99.53 when shown an image of a painting accompanied by the title, artist’s name, and year. However, when presented with the same painting alongside the artist’s personal story, the perceived value rose to $109.98. The painting with the artist’s story was considered 11% more valuable.
Storytelling even helps wine stand out from the pack. Customers viewed a product page featuring four bottles of California Chardonnay with standard tasting notes, and they also viewed the same bottles of wine with the winemaker’s story instead of tasting notes. Participants were 5% more likely to choose the wine with the winemaker’s story, and they were willing to pay 6% more for it.
If that’s not enough for you, here’s one final example of the true value of storytelling for your business. Shown an eBay listing for a set of fish-shaped spoons with a brief description, customers perceived the value at $42.83. Listing the same fish-shaped spoons with a short fictional story caused their value to soar to $70.08. Not to mention, the listing with the story attracted 64% more bids than the listing without the story.
The conclusion according to Ilya Verdashko of Hill Holiday: “The product that had a story pulled in more money than the same product without one every time. Storytelling moves not only people, but it also moves product.”
That right there is the true value of storytelling for your business.
We’re professional storytellers at Seattle video production and content creation company Moarly Creative with years of experience in television news and marketing. We’ve told thousands of stories in our careers, and we’d love to share your story next. Please contact us or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Vimeo.