This One Story Increased Her Sales Faster Than Any ‘Marketing Hack’ Ever Did

I was working with a client who sells handmade art pieces on Shopify. Her product pages had everything you’d expect: materials, colours, sizing, weight, care instructions... all neatly listed and beautifully presented. 

It was the kind of page you’d happily show in a “best practice” workshop.

But something wasn’t connecting.

People were browsing, adding to cart, sometimes saving items… and then vanishing. Nothing was wrong with the page, but nothing was drawing people in either.

So we made one small change.

Instead of leading with facts, we led with the story behind each piece: 

• - Why she designed it
• - What sparked the idea
• - How her childhood memories shaped the colours she chose, and
• - Even the reason she works with a particular local supplier.

Suddenly, sales increased, repeat customers doubled, and people weren’t just buying objects anymore... they were buying her story.

And there’s a psychological reason this shift works.

What the research actually says

People like to believe they make decisions rationally but modern neuroscience says the opposite.

Harvard researcher Gerald Zaltman found that 95% of purchasing decisions are subconscious, driven primarily by emotion and only later justified with logic.

In other words:

Story creates the emotion and facts help justify the decision.

When you present facts too early, the emotional connection never forms.

Neuroscience backs this up:

• - fMRI studies show that facts activate only the language-processing centres of the brain.
• - Stories, on the other hand, activate multiple regions simultaneously, including sensory and emotional areas, which are responsible for memory, empathy and decision-making.
• - Cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner found that stories are up to 22 times more memorable than facts alone.
• - A Headstream study found that people are 55% more likely to buy from a brand with a story they love.

All these show that we store emotion and the information attached to it.

How it looks in practice

Take these two examples. Both communicate the same truth:

Fact: "Our software improves efficiency."

Story: "Sarah finally left the office before her daughter’s bedtime for the first time in months."

The first one informs and the other resonates.

Stories frame facts in a way the brain wants to understand them... through people, feelings, and meaning.