MC: 0:00

Experience Action. Let's stop just talking about customer experience, employee experience and the experience of leaders. Let's turn ideas into action. Your host, Jeannie Walters, is an award-winning customer experience expert, international keynote speaker and founder of Experience Investigators, a strategic consulting firm helping companies increase sales and customer retention through elevated customer experiences. Ready set action. One, two, three four.

Jeannie Walters: 0:31

We got another fabulous question from one of you, our listeners, so it's time to go ahead and dive into the answer on the Experience Action Podcast. Listen in.

Listener Question: 0:45

Hi, Jeannie, can you explain how storytelling can be used to connect with customers on a more personal level and also how to enhance their experience? Thanks.

Jeannie Walters: 0:54

Storytelling is such a powerful tool and we probably don't give it enough attention or recognition. So today I'm gonna be talking about how to use storytelling with your customers, but I also want to mention that it's a really great tool within your organization. It's something that can be very powerful in getting leaders and other team members to really understand the impact that you're having with customer experience. So today let's dive into how to use storytelling with customers to really engage and connect with them.

Jeannie Walters: 1:29

So when we talk about storytelling, let's back up a little bit. Storytelling can be thought of as this vague skill, something that some people have and others don't, but I tend to disagree with that. It's something that anyone can really build their own skills and aptitude around. So if you feel like, well, I'm not really a storyteller, you are. Maybe you just don't have the right tools yet. So think about what is the story you want to tell. Now, when we talk about storytelling, one of the reasons it's so important is because we're just wired to hear stories. We like narratives, we like to really understand things through story. This has been forever as far as I know, and when we only present data points, when we only talk about things like solutions and features to our customers, we're missing an opportunity to really connect with them on a very human level. In fact, some Stanford Business School research showed that people are 22 times more likely to be remembered when they share a story. So if you apply that to your brand, to what you're doing with customers, you absolutely want to be memorable. You want people to think about that opportunity that you presented to them, and one of the best ways you can do that is with story. Now we have to make sure that we are balancing, of course, the needs of what do we want to tell and what do we want to share with being authentic. People can see through when we're telling stories that aren't true, frankly, and so we want to make sure that we are being authentic in our storytelling as well. So think about authentic narratives, and how can you tell that story that really will connect to something memorable for your customer, because we do want to build emotional connection and trust along every step of the journey.

Jeannie Walters: 3:32

So as you build your customer journey, as you check in and realize, wow, there's something stopping them from taking that next step, storytelling can be a great way to approach that. What is the story they are hearing or believing versus what is the story that you want them to really understand? Now, one of the things that can happen is that when we have a void of information, when we are not hearing from people or when we don't really know what the next step is, we have this funny thing as humans that we do where we assume the worst. We think, well, if I'm not hearing from that friend, it means that they don't want to be my friend anymore. If I am not sure of the next step, I'm not going to go ahead and risk taking that next step because it's too scary, I don't understand what's there. So we have to make sure that, as part of storytelling throughout the journey, we're really guiding the customer along with that narrative so we can reassure them, we can give them confidence. That's what builds that emotional connection and trust.

Jeannie Walters: 4:38

The other thing that storytelling can really do that helps customers is it helps them see themselves in what you're offering. So one of my favorite examples of this is the Real Beauty Campaign by Dove. Now, you might remember this. It started many, many years ago, but what they did was they realized, you know, if we're only showing these aspirational, unattainable beauty standards by using models who are not really the average of what most women look like or feel like, then maybe we're not really showing the customer within this story. They can't see themselves with our products. So the Real Beauty campaign really focused on let's, you know, show women their other real women so that they can see themselves in what we do. That actually has become a little bit of a movement with a lot of different campaigns, marketing and advertising campaigns. For that reason, they know that while you might want to achieve certain goals, sometimes we're all different. We all have different starting places, we all have different limitations and restrictions, we all have different opportunities, and so it's unfair to say this is the aspiration all the time. But it really is about building that trust of oh, you see me in this and I see myself, and so now we can start that conversation.

Jeannie Walters: 6:10

So, as you think about your own customer journey and sometimes I hear people say, yeah, but we're in B2B Great Business to business needs this, too, because we are still dealing with human beings and maybe that person who you want to go ahead and sign that contract, maybe they just can't bring themselves to that next step because they don't see themselves in what's being presented. Yeah, it checks all the boxes, the data sounds right, it all sounds good, it looks good on paper, but there's something that isn't connecting with them emotionally. We make decisions as humans, with our emotions, so the more we can emotionally connect with somebody and show them this is what it will feel like to use our product, this is what you'll be able to achieve. And let me tell you a story of another customer who was able to do that. That's why case studies can be so powerful in B2B sales, because people want to see themselves. They know that every scenario is different. There is nuance and different types of challenges in every organization or in every life, really. So the more you can show somebody themselves through story and using storytelling techniques, even better.

Jeannie Walters: 7:27

So when we talk about storytelling, it's really one of the tools that helps us move a customer through the journey in a way that is comfortable and engaged and connected and honest for them. It's really about personalizing the customer journey so that we can recognize where somebody is in their journey and help them take that next step. So think about how you can inject stories and storytelling at the right time throughout the customer journey. How can you personalize that? Where are those points of reassurance or hesitation that somebody might have that you can use as a jumping off point and say you know what? We've heard from other customers like you. Let's share a little bit about what they did or how they handled that challenge.

Jeannie Walters: 8:12

Stories like that will help people more than just looking at a grid of features or opportunities. Data is wonderful. We absolutely need data but stories are data too, and so let's make sure we're not over indexing on just sharing data points and things that you know are more objective and really helping people subjectively understand. How do I fit in here? How will this help me, not just why am I going to buy the product, but how will this help my life? If I take this next step, if I renew the contract, how will that make me feel? Will it make me feel like a hero or will I have a lot of buyer's remorse?

Jeannie Walters: 8:57

When we are telling stories, we have to be honest about this is what it's like, and we want you to come along. Sometimes stories are really helpful, when we are actually apologizing to a customer when we have done something incorrectly and we want to move forward in a way that is again honest and transparent. Now, if you follow our newsletter, we recently sent one that has an example of this, where a vitamin supplement company made some changes to their formula because they believed that people were asking for it. They wanted new flavors and different ways of taking the supplement. Well, they got intense feedback from their customers saying what did you do? We didn't want flavor. Bring back the unflavored caplets. Those were easy for us. And so they sent this beautiful email saying, you know what, we heard you and we're sorry, and we got a little adventurous and that's on us, and so here's what we're doing for you. And it was really about sharing, kind of behind the scenes, that level of storytelling to say here's why we did it, but we're not making any excuses, we're not saying that you were wrong. We're saying you know what? Sometimes you just try things and they don't work. So we can use storytelling in all of these really powerful ways. And then, of course, when you're on the other side of the coin, when you are inside your organization and you are presenting information to maybe your leadership team or trying to get other people to really understand the customer journey.

Jeannie Walters: 10:35

There are some really powerful storytelling techniques. One that I love is journey storyboarding. That's where you literally have people draw it out like a comic strip and by doing that you're tapping into a different part of the brain. You're helping people kind of slow down in the moment so they don't make assumptions about oh, that's when somebody checks into the hotel. No, no, you want to get into the detail. So what is that like for that person? What happens when they walk in the door? How are they greeted? What are they seeing? What are they experiencing with their senses? It's a different way of approaching the customer journey and it's a different lens that you can use to get people to really understand.

Jeannie Walters: 11:17

The other thing I love about storytelling within your organization is if you have a customer experience dashboard or a voice of the customer report. A lot of times those end up being nothing but pie graphs and arrows and numbers and after a while it's hard for somebody to really internalize that and we start disconnecting with the fact that those numbers represent people. So storytelling can be a very powerful way to really get people to understand and connect with the idea of that data. So maybe you have all the pie graphs and the arrows and everything else, but you also have a recording from your contact center of a customer telling their story. That can be very powerful and connect with the emotions of the people looking at this data so that they make the right choice about where to invest and what action they absolutely need to take next. So I hope that you consider how to weave in storytelling both with your customers like this great question we got, as well as how do you, as a leader, lean into storytelling as well? This could create deeper loyalty with your customers. It helps them feel seen and understood in ways that maybe your traditional communication doesn't. We want those repeat buyers, we want advocates, we want higher customer lifetime value. So lean into storytelling as a way to achieve those outcomes and then also think about how can you bring those stories, those customer stories that you know, inside your organization, leveraging those techniques as well.

Jeannie Walters: 12:57

If you're looking for more resources here, first of all if you have not yet subscribed to the Weekly Win, our newsletter, where we share lots of different information, including upcoming events. Please go ahead and do that. Use the site experienceinvestigatorscom to go ahead and sign up for that newsletter. And then we also have lots of resources around customer journey and customer journey storyboarding you can find in our Learning Center as well. Now, for those of you who are looking for even more, I'm excited to say that we have relaunched our CXI Compass.

Jeannie Walters: 13:32

This is a tool that allows you to figure out where do you need to pay attention as a CX leader. It's based on our CXI Navigational Framework. Now, this framework has four sections: intentional success, customer collaboration, cultural commitment and experiential innovation. Take the compass over I think it takes about three minutes or less usually and we'll give you an idea of hey, you're doing great on customer collaboration, but it's time to start focusing on cultural commitment. If you go ahead and do that, we will send you your results right away and give you some options for what to do next. We would love to have you take the CXI Compass and then tell us how it went for you.

Jeannie Walters: 14:18

So with that, I wish you so much success leading storytelling in your organization, not only for your leaders and your teammates, but also to really engage with your customers, because you know what. That's what this is all about, right? So thank you to our listener for providing this great question. Keep them coming, don't forget you can send me any question at askjeannievip. You can record on your phone or your desktop. It's super easy and we love hearing from you. And, of course, you can always feel free to leave your name and where you are, or you can send us those questions anonymously. Thank you so much for being here with the Experience Action Podcast and I can't wait to see you and hear you again next week. To learn more about our strategic approach to experience. Check out free resources at experienceinvestigatorscom, where you can sign up for our newsletter, our Year of CX program and more, and please follow me, Jeannie Walters, on LinkedIn.