Increase conversions with emotional storytelling

Tactic #23: Increase conversions with emotional storytelling on your website

The company: Conversion optimization agency Getuplift working for toy creator and online retailer POWERUP Toys.
The goal: Convert website visitors into buyers.
The tactic: Use emotional storytelling based on the target audience’s motivations and desires.
The result: 96% increase in conversion rate.

What's the fast marketing tactic?

Toy creator and online retailer POWERUP Toys were doing a great job at bringing people to their site through paid ads and organic search. However, they were struggling to convert these visitors into buyers.

Conversion optimization agency Getuplift first carried out customer research for POWERUP Toys. The findings revealed two different target audiences, as well as these audiences’ motivations, needs, and desires.

They then infused this information across their homepage, product pages, emails, checkout flow, and more. This included telling the same emotional story throughout the copy and leveraging user-generated visuals.

What was the result?

After a 3-week test, POWERUP Toys’ new homepage led to a 96% increase in sales (from 0.57% to 1.12%).
In 2 months, the overall website conversion rate increased by 57.75%.

Why does it work?

Emotional marketing enables brands to connect with their customers on a deeper level, by helping them to clearly see the value of the product in their lives. This, in turn, increases conversions.

How to implement this tactic yourself

Get to know your customers. Dig into the life experiences that led them to you, and build a rich picture of who they are as people. Do this through customer interviews, surveys, reading product reviews, and analyzing social media posts.
Find the common emotional thread that connects your customers’ experiences. Look for the overlapping (and specific) shared pains and experiences. Use that as the emotional hook in your copy.
Use images that reflect who your customers are, or want to be. Stick to ones that feel real and “show” the story you’re telling with your copy.
Cut the fluff from your story. This is especially important for your homepage. Emotion-filled copy does not (always) need to be long. Cut the “setup” copy from your homepage texts, and go straight into the shared experience/pain.

Want more ideas on how to use emotional storytelling on your website? Check out our Storytelling course.

Meet the specialist behind this tactic

Talia Wolf is the founder of Getuplift, a full-service consultancy that helps fast-growing, profitable companies like Bitly, Teamwork, Thinkific, Athlon, and Sprout Social increase conversions and grow revenue.

Follow Talia on LinkedIn for more insights.

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