Conversion Optimization through Empathy: Storytelling in Content Marketing

Understanding the customer, putting yourself in their shoes, telling stories about your own product that evoke emotion in the customer – these are not new ideas. Yet, this is an approach that is often underestimated or even completely overlooked. The focus lies too much on one's own company, product or service, the USPs, and other advantages, or in the worst case, self-promotion. But there's another way – and it can be very successful.

Storytelling in Marketing

Touch the reader, create emotions and reactions that encourage a purchase. Emotions like the relief that a pressing problem can finally be solved, ideally more easily and affordably than expected. Or joy, feeling understood, pride. All these reactions are probably well known from advertising: the deodorant or aftershave that ensures the most attractive women chase a man, the car that one (or a woman) likes to show off. There are many examples.

However, negative emotions can also contribute to conversion optimization. The classic example: advertising that paints horror scenarios that could happen if a certain product is not purchased (for example, the calcified washing machine or the sweat stains under the arm). Whether one wants to use the practice of "fear-mongering" is surely a question of the company's message and their own moral compass. Both ways are effective when pursued based on genuine customer understanding.

How Does It Work in Content Marketing?

At its core, it's about showing the reader of the content that their own needs are understood and addressed in a way that speaks to them.

To ensure this, it is important to know some fundamental characteristics of your target audience and ultimately engage with them. Potential customers should get to know the company, feel positive emotions like sympathy and trust, and of course, eventually buy the company's products or services with a good feeling.

The "Empathy Map" as a Tool

A good tool for customer understanding is the so-called "Empathy Map", which might awkwardly be translated as "Empathie Karte". This tool developed by David Gray allows you to effectively simplify the very complex individuals behind your target audience and crystallize their essential characteristics.

Empathy means putting yourself in the customers' shoes, identifying with their feelings, empathizing with them. For this purpose, imaginary customers (from a specific customer segment) are often assigned names and certain demographic characteristics. The second step is to answer specific questions about this customer, which can be expanded endlessly. Some examples:

• What do they think about the world and why?

• What problems particularly bother them, which your company can solve?

• In what situation do they use the product or service? What do they see, hear, feel while doing so?

• What do they hope to gain from the product or service?

• Which terms do they use frequently? Which terms resonate with them?

A template for an "Empathy Map" with more detailed instructions is available for download at Copyblogger.

What Does This Mean for Storytelling and Conversion Optimization?

"Storytelling" is an effective, albeit comparatively more elaborate method of presenting information in a way that stands out from the flood of information, appeals to its readers, and evokes emotions in them. Often, one's own story is used for this purpose ("I was in the same situation as you, so I understand you and can help you solve your problems too!"), but this is neither always necessary nor suitable for larger companies.

Core components of a good story are always a goal, a hero pursuing this goal, a difficulty, and a tool that helps achieve this goal, as well as a message or moral. This works, as with good novels, especially when readers can identify with the protagonist, understand their motives and situation.
In this case, the tool is also crucial, because here the company with its product or service comes into play. Depending on the target audience approach, it acts as a mentor, teacher, or good friend who stands by the potential customer and helps solve their problems. And of course, this is easier than if the customer, the hero, had to struggle through alone.

For this scenario to succeed and the transition to purchase to be possible, the target audience must identify with the described problem, must be able to understand the conflict or situation. Which difficulties and content are appropriate for this can only be revealed through research combined with empathy for the target audience and their needs. And in the end, besides well-researched information, a story needs one thing above all: creativity and imagination that captivate readers, excite them about the company, and ultimately turn them into customers and fans.

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