Storytelling Effect
Facts inside a story are remembered. Facts in a list are not.
What it is
Narrative gives information structure, cause and emotion, and memory holds onto all three. A case study told as a story, with a problem, a turn and an outcome, is retold to colleagues. The same information as a table of results is not. Stories also carry proof past the sceptic's guard, because a story is not an argument.
The research
Narrative messages produced greater recall and more attitude change than equivalent statistical messages across a broad set of persuasion studies.
Green and Brock, 2000
How to use it
Structure case studies as before, during, after
What was broken, what was done, what changed. Numbers at the end, where they land.
Give the founder a story
Why the business exists, told once and well, is worth more than a list of values.
Related
Sources that shaped this entry: growth.design.