Carnegie Mellon University did an incredible study on the difference between selling with a story vs just the facts, in a marketing example.
They ran a test with a sales letter for a non-profit.
There were two versions of the “same” letter.
One version told a gut-wrenching story about a girl that lived in a 3rd world country.
The second version shared the facts on what terrible living conditions the people lived in, how many didn’t have water, how many went without food, etc.
Then they measured how much each of the test groups donated to each letter.
The story-based letter got 118% more donations than the facts-based letter!
They even re-tested the letters. This time they added both the facts and the story to the same letter.
And the results?
They got a 25% increase over the fact-based letter, but they were still well short of the story-based letter!
I often work with busy professionals that tell me their client is different and sophisticated.
They won’t be swayed by stories, only by the hardcore facts.
Those busy professionals are wrong!
If you are going to the trouble of creating a video, DO NOT make the mistake of simply “telling” the viewer how or why they should do something with fact.
TELL THEM A STORY!
