Stories That Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business

cognitive ease
while System 2
involves 
cognitive strain
.
Read that statement again. Cognitive ease versus cognitive strain.
If, such as in the case of Workiva, the value of what you have to offer is
relatively obvious, if you believe (which I’m sure you do) that your product or
service will make a positive difference in the lives of your customers and the
decision should be easy, then why would you ever want to engage System 2 and
cause cognitive strain?!
A System 2 approach can ruin an otherwise great experience, as I learned
that fateful day in the gelato shop. The only redeeming feature of the cruel
System-2 hijacking that day was that I had just finished reading the cognitive
ease section of Kahneman’s book and knew immediately what was happening. I
experienced firsthand how important it is that brands, companies, and
businesspeople in general keep their customers in the System 1 space. When it
comes to creating persuasive messages, Kahneman said, “The general principle
is that anything you can do to reduce cognitive strain will help.”
3
While your
message may be true, if it isn’t easy enough for your audience to believe it and
accept it as truth with System 1, they will call in System 2. And when System 2
is involved, the likelihood of cognitive strain, followed by frustration and
agitation, greatly increases.
Lists are bait for System 2.
Bullet points are bait for System 2.
Price comparisons are bait for System 2.

---

Features are bait for System 2.
Benefits are bait for System 2.
Of course, in the case of the gelato shop, it wasn’t a matter of value story
versus no value story. But, whether you’re in the business of sweet treats, used
cars, luxury real estate, or medical sales, when it comes to communicating the
value of what you offer, you have a choice. Logic or common sense. Strain or
ease. Information or story.
The value story gives System 1 the ability to do what it does best: go with
the flow, accept the story as it’s told, and not bother System 2, which tends to
make people tired and cranky. Story is the System 1 love language, and the value
story is the perfect bridge to get your customers and stakeholders from facts to
feelings. Not only that, marketing researcher Jennifer Edson Escala of
Vanderbilt University found that audiences responded more positively and
accepted ideas more readily when they come in story form.
4
Beyond simply
being engaging, stories actually prime the brain to be more open to what you’re
offering.
For example, have you ever been on a flight that ends with a pitch for a
credit card? I’m on a lot of flights, and without fail, about forty minutes before
landing, the flight attendant makes a special announcement for “this flight only.”
Surprise, it’s their exclusive credit card they pitch on every flight. The attendant
lists interest rates and annual fees and baggage allowances and how many miles
you get (usually sixty thousand, which is enough for blah blah blah). On a recent
flight from Dallas to Orlando, I looked around the cabin during the credit card
commercial, and no one even looked up, much less listened.
When the attendant finishes the announcement, I am often tempted to stand
up and ask for the mic. I’d signed up for one of those cards before, and what I
got in return was so much more than extra baggage allowance.
I would tell my fellow passengers the story of the European trip I was able to
take with my husband and how the miles from the card allowed me to upgrade
our trip from coach to business class as a surprise. I will never forget the
moment we stepped on the plane and the flight attendant showed my husband to
his seat—a fully reclining pod. Michael looked at me in disbelief and
excitement. We’d never flown in such luxury before, and the joy I felt being able
to give him that surprise was priceless. That card and those extra miles gave us a
memory I will cherish and made an unforgettable vacation even better.
I can’t help but wonder if more people would be open to what the airline was
offering, more primed to say yes, and would sign up if they heard that story, or

---

any
story for that matter. My educated guess is yes. If it were a story, people
would look up. If it had characters, emotions, and details, people would envision
themselves and their loved ones in the same situation. If there was a specific
moment, like stepping onto the plane, people would engage in the co-creative
process. And if those components were all arranged in a normal–explosion–new
normal format, by the time the story came to a close, the passengers would all be
ringing their flight-attendant call buttons, unable to resist what the attendants
were selling.
“It’s So Much More than That . . .”
When a sale doesn’t close or a marketing message doesn’t convert, there is a
sense that the true value of the product was missed. That it’s worth so much
more than the message conveyed. The value of a weight-loss program is so much
more than the food you’re supposed to buy or the trainer you’re supposed to
hire. The value of a weight-loss program is measured in renewed confidence, in
rekindling depleted passion, in energy to do what you love.
The value of an advanced telemedical device is so much more than the cost
of the equipment. The value of an advanced telemedical device is measured in
the joy, relief, and spared sorrow of a family whose child had a medical
emergency in a remote part of the world and survived because top-level
physicians could be virtually at the scene.
The value of a cloud-based technology solution is so much more than the
monthly subscription fee. The value isn’t limited to the hours the technology can
save. The value of a cloud-based technology system, like what Workiva offers,
is also measured in what the people do with the hours they save: compete in
triathlons, attend kids’ T-ball games, fulfill dreams.
If you represent or have created a product, service, or company, and you
have a passion for spreading the word about this superior product to the world,
you’ve probably said, or at least thought, those very words: “Yes, this is a [insert
name of product/service here] and it does X, Y, Z, but it’s so much more than
that.” The challenge is, what typically follows is more words, information, and
attempts to justify when what this situation really calls for is a value story to
illustrate the value and usefulness.
Perhaps one of the greatest executions of this “so much more” exercise was
by Apple during the 2014 holiday season with their commercial titled

---

“Misunderstood.”
The commercial opens with soft holiday music playing while a family piles
into a car on a dreary winter day. They pull onto a snow-lined street and make
their way to their grandparents’ home and are met with the sweet greetings of
reunion. It’s the quintessential family at Christmas time, including the angsty
teenager. The floppy-haired young man can’t seem to be bothered with family
activities. He’s on his iPhone through every event and activity. Grandpa hug?
iPhone. Snow angels? iPhone. Baking cookies? iPhone. The teen is seemingly
unengaged in anything beyond whatever is happening on his phone.
Until Christmas morning.
The family is packed into the cozy family room, pajama-clad and happily
opening presents. The Christmas tree is lit, and the room’s loud with laughter.
The angsty, floppy-haired teen abruptly stands and turns on the television. The
room goes quiet in confusion. The teen swipes his iPhone at it, and suddenly the
screen is filled with a slideshow of the last few days. Instead of being engrossed
in a game or social media on his iPhone, the teen had been documenting all their
beautiful family memories as a gift. Scenes of love and happiness flash across
the screen. Every snowball thrown, every smile, every little detail has been
captured and preserved for the family to enjoy for years to come. His grateful
family is full of smiles and happy tears as they watch. When the video
concludes, they pull the teen in for a long overdue hug.
A hug that makes me cry every time.
A hug that meant so much more than a list of features ever could.
Apple had a choice, just as we all have a choice. A choice to simply focus on
the features of the phone. You can imagine what 
that
commercial would look
like because they’ve done it. A pleasant male voice walks you through the
intuitive, “all in the palm of your hand” moviemaking possibilities of iPhones.
The professional editing capabilities. The exquisite picture quality because of the
superior camera technology. The excessive storage, which makes saving these
videos possible in the first place. On the screen, we would see the phone rotate
on a white background with various jump shots to show the features in action. It
would be cool, no doubt, but I doubt it would have a fraction of the impact.
Instead, because Apple chose to tell a story, we get an opportunity to see
what the product could actually mean in our lives. That it could bring us
together. That it could create moments we cherish.
Of course, not everyone loved this advertisement. And when Apple won the
2014 Emmy for best commercial, people were quick to claim all the ways the ad

---

missed the mark: not enough attention paid to the product features, any
smartphone can make a movie, and other comments that showcase exactly what
is wrong with marketing today.
As Ken Segall, once the creative director of Steve Jobs’s ad agency, so
eloquently put it, “There are tens of millions of people who will stop in their
tracks at this commercial and wipe a tear from their eye. As a result, they will
feel slightly more attached to Apple, which is the marketing purpose of this
spot.”
5
Please note these key pieces of that statement: “stop in their tracks,” “wipe a
tear from their eye,” and “feel slightly more attached to Apple.” At the time this
spot aired, Apple was facing a bit of a backlash (the U2 album debacle). The
bridge they needed to build had to be heavy on captivation and transformation
elements for it to work. Pushing too hard on influence could have caused further
trouble. Wrapping the features in a heartfelt story of a teenager and his family
struck the perfect value chord.
Segall concluded, “The reactions have been universally glowing. . . . [The
ad] lines up perfectly with the values Apple has communicated for years. It’s not
about technology—it’s about quality of life.”
6
People don’t buy the