Roving Report: Using Stories for Stronger Sales Copy

Heather Robson, Wealthy Web Writer’s Managing Editor, has a successful freelance copywriting career. She’s also a novelist, and she loves stories.

Using stories in her copywriting is one of Heather’s specialties, and it’s a topic she gets very excited about.

“If you figure out how to find good stories and integrate them into your copy,” Heather explained, “that’s what separates you from the good copywriters and makes you a great copywriter.”

Heather was speaking with a group of Wealthy Web Writer members about how to improve your copy by using stories. You can review the entire webinar HERE.

Humans Are Hard-Wired to Respond to Stories

Let’s start with some facts about the use of stories:

• Attendees were surveyed after a presentation. A whopping 63% of them remembered stories that were used during the presentation, compared to only 5% who recalled facts and statistics.

• Brain imaging shows that facts light up the part of the brain that deals with language. Stories, though, light up much more. The areas of the brain related to the senses also light up when the story talks about what was seen, heard, smelled, touched, or tasted.

• A story carries the reader into the experience, and she’ll keep reading to reach the resolution. Since customers are more likely to buy after actually handling an item, a story mimics that experience of involvement, and makes them more likely to buy.

• The analytical part of a reader’s brain is suppressed while reading a story, so he’s likely to gloss over mismatched information and not question the details.

“I’m in no way saying you should offer false information,” Heather explained, “but the most effective way to get the reader nodding along is to tell your facts and figures through a story.”

Back in 2009, a group of writers got together. They spent about $170 to buy 100 different items at thrift stores. The objects were basically junk — and random junk at that.