The Power of Product Storytelling in eCommerce

Brand storytelling Vs Product storytelling: key differences

There are two sides to the coin when it comes to eCommerce storytelling: brand and product. In this blog, we’ll focus on product storytelling, but first – let’s break down the difference between the two:

Brand storytelling:

Brand storytelling should focus on why the business was created.

What was the vision? What did the business set out to achieve, and what does it stand for? Why is the business different from other businesses out there selling similar products?

The answers to these questions will form the backbone of how you differentiate yourself from the competition.

Overall, your brand story should highlight all the Unique Selling Points (USPs) of your business that ultimately motivates customers to be loyal to your brand. In other words, a strong brand story will translate to a strong customer base that provides good recurring revenues.

Product storytelling:

A product-led story will be specific to each of your products. Like with the brand story, it will highlight the vision for the product, and what the product will help achieve from a business and consumer perspective. Product-led storytelling is used both internally and externally. As such, there’ll be different variations of your product story.

Product teams need to get internal stakeholders excited about what they’re working on, all while demonstrating the value it will bring to the business. To get buy-in, it’ll be important to focus on facts, figures, and technical specifications.

What does the user segment look like? What will be the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), and how much revenue will the product generate? All in all, it’ll be a case of demonstrating how this product will help the business meet its objectives.

When it comes to storytelling to sell products to your target audience, you need to take a more emotive approach. In other words, you want them to fall in love with your product by demonstrating what it will bring them.

What obstacles will it help them achieve, and what value does it bring them? In other words, effective storytelling helps you develop a loyal customer base by building relationships based on shared visions and values.

The importance of storytelling for product managers

As well as getting internal buy-in for new product launches, the main objective of a product story is to build a deeper connection with your customers. It forms the backbone of the product experience and makes your customers want to learn more about what you’ve got on offer.

As a product manager, you’ll know everything there is to know about your products. That’s why you’ll be best placed to create a compelling story that engages and informs your potential customers. When you get it right and create a product vision that really resonates with your customers, you can generate amazing results. There are a bunch of benefits of storytelling, from driving discovery and engagement to improved customer loyalty and lifetime value.

There are tried and tested storytelling techniques you should harness to ensure you truly connect with your customers. Digital storytelling is no different from any other story – you should have a beginning, middle, and an ending. Here’s what that looks like:

Start:

You’ll have a deep understanding of your customers’ needs and wants, so you’ll be creating products that align with their lifestyles. As such, you can address their specific pain points and speak their language to show you understand them. This helps them form an emotional bond with your product and gets them thinking about why they should buy it.

Middle:

Introduce your product and use context to relate it back to the pain points it’s going to solve. Keep it simple and keep it engaging by using plenty of high-quality visuals that show how your product works, how it can be used, or how it can be worn. This will help your customers visualize what it will feel like to use your product.

End:

Outline how your product addresses the pain points or how it aligns with their specific needs and wants. For instance, you might want to highlight your sustainability credentials to get buy-in from your environmentally savvy customers. This is where you can start to include more facts, figures, and technical specifications so customers can make an informed buying decision on the spot.

How to master the art of product storytelling in eCommerce

Now we’ve nailed the storytelling method, let’s dig a little deeper into how you can leverage product data and assets to set yourself apart from the competition. Read on for actionable eCommerce storytelling tips you can incorporate into your product marketing strategy.

Create consistency across all sales channels

Being consistent across all your sales channels will help cement your product story in the minds of your customers. You want to create a unified experience regardless of where your customers are shopping. To further boost the success of your product performance, you should understand when and where your customers are buying these products.

Use the right language to drive discoverability

Making sure you’re using the right language and, more importantly, the right keywords will be pivotal in driving discoverability. The tone should be aligned with the type of language your customers use. A great way of getting this right is to look at the language your customers are using in product reviews of similar products. Overall, this will help create alignment between you, your products, and your customers.

Include immersive digital assets

High-quality digital assets disperse any confusion, and they play a key role in the eCommerce buyer journey. Video storytelling enables your customers to engage with and visualize the product. You can further improve the product experience by using explainer videos to clearly demonstrate the different use cases. User stories also add an extra human touch and will further reinforce the relatability of your products.

Answer questions with technical information

While we do tend to tune out when presented with a ton of technical information, shoppers need granular detail to make the right purchasing decision. More and more, shoppers are valuing brands that are actively inspiring positive change in the world. So, if you have sustainability credentials, or if your materials are responsibly sourced, you need to convey that in your product story. Alternatively, you could use a concise list of bullet points to clearly highlight additional technical specifications so it’s more digestible.

Conclusion

Product storytelling is a powerful technique for connecting with people, enabling products to resonate with different audiences. Powerful product stories motivate prospects to act on a purchase and demonstrates how they can achieve great things by shopping with you.

Good stories stick with us, so use the power of storytelling to make your product memorable. In doing so, you can drive better discovery, higher conversion rates, and improved customer loyalty which all translate to higher online revenues.