A memorable story is loved and welcomed by all.
Not that long ago, Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker set out to prove the power of storytelling in sales. They founded the website SignificantObjects.com – a site designed to experiment with the behavior of buyers by finding out whether well-crafted stories could significantly boost the value of a product.
Glenn and Walker proceeded to acquire everyday, ordinary objects from garage sales and thrift stores, then hired a writer to create a gripping story about each object, and waited to see if they could sell the objects at several times their value, on eBay. The original purchasing price for each object wavered between one to two dollars – others were free.
The results of the experiment were jaw-dropping. After acquiring $128.75 worth of garage-sale “junk,” they sold their items for an amazing $8,000.00 – only after making sure each item sales page featured a well-spun story. They found that each story hiked the perceived value of the object by a whopping 2,805 percent. A slightly rusty egg whisk they had purchased for 25 cents sold for $30 after the kitchen product’s “story” was written.
Glenn and Walker concluded that the people who checked out the items on eBay and read their stories forged an emotional bond with the objects, all because of the story, and paid the higher sales price as a result of their newborn fondness for the items. In other words, the story of each object is what earned their sellers a greater profit.
This experiment proves that, through the power of story, people can forge a strong emotional bond with items, or a new home. This is terrific marketing news for all managers and developers seeking buyers and renters for their new development properties.
The Science Behind the Love for a Good Story
There’s plenty of scientific evidence indicating that human attachment to a story runs deep. It can boost their oxytocin and dopamine levels, two ‘feel good’ hormones that increase feelings of trust, empathy, and happiness. In addition, a story activates parts of the brain that have the listener want to turn the story’s ideas into his/her own – an act described by scientists as neural coupling.
Significant cortex activity takes place when a story is being heard and processed by an individual. When processing facts, only two parts of the brain are activated; when processing stories, however, five parts of the brain are activated, scientists note.
Savvy Marketers Use Stories, A Lot
Marketers with serious know-how have been basing their campaigns on stories for ages, creating engaging multimedia stories for brands seeking to resonate with people, with the end goal of having them open their wallets for any product or service. (Think Super Bowl ads.) Storytelling is a wonderful writing device to use in marketing, because, it gives an audience a way to connect to your brand on a human level, as they experience a bounce in ‘feel-good’ brain hormones.
How to Use Stories On Your Website
While many people think print or even video are the obvious choices of mediums to pitch stories to potential tenants, there is one marketing medium, that is perhaps counterintuitive, that property managers and developers can use to feature heart-swaying multimedia-based stories: their property’s website.
Well-crafted website design elements of imagery, flow, shape, color in combination with good mini-stories can create a magnetic story. Beyond these elements, consider using a ‘three-act’ structure in your story when working with your design team to lay out the structure of your website:
Act One: The Set-Up. This part of the story is all about introducing your audience to the main idea of the website page they are looking at. The copy ‘hook’ that has them want to keep on reading is placed here, amid a home unit webpage hero that is visually compelling. The Act One of a story is also when an incident is described, or alternatively, a sentence or two that leads to further action on another segment of the page. From the perspective of web design, this can be a punchy, strong call to action.
Act Two: The Action. This is where the juicy ‘meat’ of the plot, or in the case of new development websites: the detailed information, is presented. Any extensive text or content of your web page, such as lists of finishes and features, should be placed in the middle. Once your web visitor has been introduced to the page’s main idea, their next automatic step is to read the information that is just below the hero section.
Act Three: The Resolution. This is the ‘denouement’ section of your story. Don’t just tack on a weak conclusion to the bottom of your webpage – the users’ interest in your property may plummet dramatically. Because page viewers have made it all the way to the bottom; you owe them a well-developed conclusion to the story, one that can even include a note or two of humor. If a story conclusion isn’t your style, you can simply describe how your property solves a common pain point for buyers/renters. A third option that can ‘wrap up’ the page effectively is to stir up a sense of urgency and present a clear next-step for your site visitors, like “Dial So You Can Dialogue With Us Now!”
The most important page of your property website is the one that describes the whole story — or even just a segment, or chapter — of the overall story you are spinning about your brand. It’s all too well-known that people perusing your page, will scroll through it, sort of like page-flipping a book. Rather than have them jump from page-to-page, randomly, try to have your users go through the information in a linear sequence. Ideally, it’s best to have the story on your website be experienced vertically – not in small or mid-size text segments with little or no visual ‘bridge’ or connection between them.
Websites have advantages over books in telling a story, namely in:
- Incorporating Animation. Clever animation on a website can draw in a user’s attention toward key plot points (promotions, important information, or CTAs) and seamlessly shift their attention from one area of the website to another so that you control how the story unfolds.
Websites Can Also Feature:
- Mini-Stories Within Larger Stories. Interactive, embedded elements and social feeds within the copy can boost user engagement. These elements can vary up the storytelling on your site and even improve SEO.
- Parallax Scrolling. This method allows for sophisticated transitions between sections on a webpage and can be complemented with quality diagrams, graphs and illustrations to create good storytelling.
- Video Stories. Videos are amazing for displaying “indirect characterization,” which means visually showing something about a character to the audience, without using words. Video can powerfully communicate a story in your property marketing website. For example, if you’re pitching a family-friendly property, you can present a video hero featuring kids playing as well as family-friendly amenities within the frame of a story.
Conclusion
The storytelling on your website should enhance your community’s brand voice and words to feature web design elements so that the first impression is a powerful one. Your webpage provides you with a unique opportunity to use a range of appealing elements – unlike print – that can enhance your general story and turn a ho-hum experience into a gripping one that will have your website visitors smile in delight, and, in turn, take action towards becoming a new homeowner!
By Denise Recalde