Found Influence with Founders’ Stories

Facts embedded in stories are remembered better than facts presented bare. That’s why stories are more powerful than bare facts in making the sale. Researchers at East Carolina University and Hansei University find that stories told by the founder of an organization are especially persuasive.
     Two versions of a story in an ad for a fictitious luggage company differed only in these sentences:

• I needed something different—and that's why I started a luggage company…. Dura. 
• I needed something different—and that's when I found out about Dura. 

     Study participants exposed to the first version, compared to those exposed to the second version, had more positive emotional responses. Both versions produced better emotional responses than did a version which gave just facts about the luggage without telling a story.
     The process by which stories persuade is called “narrative transportation.” Good stories transport the consumer’s thoughts with compelling details and generate emotional reasons to buy. In the luggage tale, the details included, in both versions, “I learned the importance of good luggage on my honeymoon trip to Hawaii. I had to pack for 2 weeks and could barely fit everything in my suitcase. The zipper broke in the airport and my stuff fell all over the floor. Then, I almost fell down an escalator because a wheel jammed.”
     Narrative transportation requires the marketer to involve the shopper in the story. Allow your audience ample opportunity for retrospective reflection, in which they can think and maybe talk about how their own experiences resemble those they’re being told about. Don’t rush the narrative. Still, do keep the story concise. Otherwise, you’ll irritate busy shoppers and lose the attention of others.
     The advantages of a founder story are that you’re hearing it from the top and the transaction gets a memorable backstory. For shopper involvement, be sure to portray the founder as similar to the shopper in at least a few ways. It can be fun to read about people who are dramatically different from us, such as being much richer or much more successful. However, tales about those people can fail to transport the audience.
     For the founder perceived as extraordinarily wealthy, and therefore unlike most consumers, consider a bookend ad format. The first ad in the campaign portrays a problem which led to the humble beginnings of the company. Each subsequent ad shows how the problem was addressed by the founder’s toils.

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