content creation content marketing Digital Marketing Inbound Marketing

The Science of Storytelling: Using Stories to Engage Website Visitors

Storytelling and human nature are intertwined. As a tool that’s been driving human progress for more than 40,000 years, storytelling elicits laughter, stirs compassion, and ultimately creates meaningful experiences you can’t derive from facts and figures.

At fullthrottle.ai, we’re always looking for new, innovative ways to tell stories. It’s a timeless, powerful skill that transcends time and culture. And if leveraged correctly, storytelling can create a more engaging user experience for your dealership’s webpage.

Ready to get started? Here’s how you can craft a compelling, captivating story to engage your website visitors.

  1. Content Is King

Storytelling isn’t limited to your web copy. In fact, utilizing several forms of content—blogs, podcasts, videos, ebooks, animation, responsive design—makes your dealership’s website more compelling and user friendly.

On your automotive website, for example, you could write a blog post describing a car’s available technology features, how they work, and why they benefit drivers. And with that post, you could include a step-by-step video tutorial explaining how to set up its navigation, Bluetooth®, or multimedia system.

Not only is the video relevant to your website visitors, it’s also sharable, easy to consume on several platforms, and more engaging than a blog post alone.

So when crafting your story, don’t shy away from multimedia. By blending the right combination of content, you can reach a wider audience, create a more engaging user experience, increase conversion rates, generate more leads, and drive sales for your automotive website.

  1. Cut Out Overused Buzzwords

Many automotive websites use idioms like “come see what sets us apart,” “we have your best interest at heart,” and “we’re fully committed to your satisfaction” when describing their dealership. While there’s nothing technically wrong with these phrases, they’re so overused that they’ve been rendered meaningless in your copy.

Buzzwords are easy to resort to on deadline. But if you want to build an engaging website, you should use colorful, original language that gives your dealership a clear, authoritative voice that car shoppers want to listen to. Your website visitors—and not to mention your high school English teacher—will thank you.

If you need help editing buzzwords out of your copy, here’s a list of 100 clichéd phrases to cut in your automotive marketing campaign.

  1. Make Sure That Your Story Works for Mobile

The modern consumer owns several devices, which means the most effective stories work across multiple platforms, especially mobile. Since more than half of all e-commerce traffic in 2015 came from mobile devices, your story needs to reach this audience to be successful.

To keep these users engaged, make sure that your mobile page is responsive and easy to read. Feel free to add helpful pictures or videos where relevant, and try not to present too much copy at once. Creating a story that works on mobile involves some trial and error, but doing so improves your user engagement and conversion rates dramatically.

Moral of the Story

Your car dealership has a story to tell. With the tips we’ve listed above, you can create compelling, engaging stories on your website that convert your audience into leads.

Need help brainstorming? Download our free guide Questions You NEED to Ask Before Choosing Your Next Website Platform.
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Until next time,

Meghan

—Meghan Garrity is an Inbound Marketing Copywriter at fullthrottle.ai.