The Power of Background Stories’ Visual Storytelling

Our visual storytelling makes an impact…and the science shows it. 

To better understand how people engage with a highly-visual infographic compared with a written fact sheet, we designed materials for an experiment done in collaboration with the Evidence-to-Impact Collaborative, using their SCOPE (Science Communication Optimizer for Policy Engagement) rapid-testing method.

“People who received the Background Stories infographic engaged more with the content across a number of meaningful metrics, suggesting they processed the information deeply and felt encouraged to learn more.”

- The Evidence-to-Impact Collaborative

With a sample size of 5,159 policymakers, half of recipients received an email directing them to an infographic designed by Background Stories and the other half received an email directing them to a text brief. Two weeks after the emails were sent, the Evidence-to-Impact Collaborative team analyzed how engagement compared.

Policymakers who received a Background Stories infographic were:

  • 16% more likely to open the email
  • 40% more likely to click the email link
  • 2.2x as likely to engage with the page
  • Half as likely to bounce from the page
  • Spent 60% more time on the page on average

Infographic created by Background Stories.

Written fact sheet.

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