In today’s hyper-competitive e-commerce market landscape, building a successful online store requires more than a quality product, well-designed website, and easy checkout. We are talking about brand identity that customers encounter before they decide to visit your website and buy your products. In the early days of online shopping, the path users followed was linear. Today, people browse around on multiple platforms to research before they find what suits them. That means that brands need to distinguish themselves in an overcrowded marketplace, and great storytelling is one of the best ways to achieve that.
Storytelling Helps to Establish an Emotional Connection
To establish an emotional connection via storytelling, you need to identify the human truth. The concept is centered around relatable communication that provides a solution to a problem that many people experience. Once they are affected by your stories and left agreeing with your message, you have succeeded. They have questions and, as a brand, your job is to provide answers. Why should they choose you over your competitors? Why do they need your brand? Storytelling allows you to present a common problem and show what your brand does to solve it. Let’s take a look at how you can use storytelling to boost your e-commerce sales.
1. Present the idea of what your product can do
To sell a product, you need to show it to people with context. It needs to interest or speak to them, and for that, you need context. Write down the main competitive advantage of your brand and then explain it from the perspective of your ideal customer. Does it help them rejuvenate their skin? Does it help increase productivity? Does it make it easier to groom their pets? If it helps people relax and de-stress, explain what it looks like and what happens after they use it.
2. Explain how your customers will feel after using your product
Focus on how people will feel when or after using your products. Create a compelling story to tie a positive experience to your products and brand. Show or tell how your customers felt before they started using your product. Next, show them using your product and focus on faces and emotional language in your images/videos. You want people to associate the change with feelings like relief, fun, relaxation, and happiness.
3. Keep your messages simple
“Just do it” (Nike). “Impossible is nothing” (Adidas). “Eat fresh” (Subway). Simple, concise, memorable, and on point. These are all messages from large brands that everybody understands well. That’s why they resonate with millions. The aim is to create one central message or slogan that you can share on every platform with specific CTAs and hashtags. Write down your core message and values, and then keep deconstructing it until you get to the very core of things.
4. Show customers that you care
You have spent so much time creating a product that will solve their problems. So, show them that through storytelling. Create a story that shows how you encountered a problem that your customers also experienced, and because they couldn’t fix it alone, you dedicated time and effort to fix it for them. State the problem, show how you faced it, explain why and how you decided to solve it, explain what you had to do to solve it, and ultimately make it about your values and them.
It is not enough just to tell someone, “You have a problem, and this is how you can solve it.” Sales are about driving change, not just about finding and winning opportunities. With great and compelling stories, you take your customers on an emotional journey to make them see and feel where they want to be.
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Tags: context, interests, people feelings, compelling story, simple messages
