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The Hero’s Journey Guide to Creating Irresistible Patient Testimonials

Which testimonial do you think a prospective patient will find more value in?

Easy, right?

But why?

They both emphatically commend Dr. Smith’s staff, no?

The second testimonial upstages the first because stories are scientifically proven to evoke prior knowledge, elicit emotion, provide greater details, and improve comprehension and memory in a way that mere statements or facts can’t.

Stories improve logical thinking. They make us feel connected (empathy). And they function as an important tool for making meaning out of life.

We “think, perceive, imagine, interact, and make moral choices according to narrative story structure,” says Michele L. Crossley, author of Introducing Narrative Psychology

Unfortunately, most patient testimonials resemble the first example: hollow statements and facts, not stories. 

What makes stories even more remarkable is their ability to cast a hypnotizing spell over the reader (or viewer): “No matter how hard we concentrate, no matter how deep we dig our heels, we just can’t resist the gravity of alternative worlds,” says Jonathan Gottschall, author of Storytelling Animals.

Don’t believe me? Read this passage:

Let me guess…

By the second line, you were watching bread crumbs fracture from the loaf of bread as Pip’s sister jammed it against her crusted bib with precision; by the fourth line, you were grimacing (even gasping) as you watched a needle from her apron lodge into the loaf, unnoticed; and by the last line, you watched a perfectly buttered half of bread slide slowly across the dinner table and onto Pip’s plate, hoping—no, praying—that his slice didn’t have the needle in it.

I told you: Stories are irresistible. 

We can’t help but pay attention to them.

Which is why you’re going to trade in your patient testimonials (the ones filled with statements and facts) for patient stories that make your patients the heroes of their own epics.

In this guide, I’m going to break down each stage of the hero’s journey storytelling framework- a step by step template for developing a transformational story.

Then I’ll show you how to adapt each stage of the hero’s journey into a patient’s journey and pepper your narrative with meaning using five archetypical plots and morals:

  1. The Quest
  2. Overcoming the Monster
  3. Voyage and Return
  4. Rags to Riches
  5. Rebirth

When you’re finished, you’ll not only have real life examples and downloadable patient interview questionnaires for each of the five hero’s journey plots, but you’ll also possess all the information you need to create patient stories that build an emotional bridge between your prospective patients and revenue.