How Storytelling Shapes Profit in Beauty and Wellness

In this guest article, retail and storytelling expert Arif Isikgun explores how emotional storytelling drives connection, trust, and profit across the beauty and wellness industry.

Stories are how we’ve always made sense of ourselves. Before there were brands or treatments or wellness trends, there were stories. Around fires, people shared their fears, their small triumphs, and their lessons. They learned through each other and they connected through words that felt real. That instinct has never left us.

Because we are human, we still crave stories, not just the ones we hear, but the ones we feel part of, shaping our world view.

Studies show that stories are twenty-two times more memorable than facts alone. I would have to agree as memory, emotion, and belonging live in the same place deep within the brain in the hippocampus.

People don’t always tend to remember data; they remember how something made them feel, or an experience.

In beauty and wellness, stories are everywhere. They exist in the quiet of a treatment room, the education on a label, or the conversation between client and advisor, when someone says, “I just don’t feel like myself lately.” It’s the human side of care that can’t be replicated or automated.

I’ve spent most of my career building stories into education and training. It wasn’t planned; it came from necessity. I saw so many brilliant professionals, therapists, facialists, consultants who knew everything about their products but struggled to connect that knowledge to emotion.

And for me this was fundamental. They were confident in science but unsure how to translate it into feeling. That’s where storytelling came in, it bridged logic and empathy, allowing an understanding of deep rooted emotion behind every interaction and indeed, transaction.

When you tell a story, you create space for people to see themselves, almost as if you are holding a mirror to your client or consumer. The right story doesn’t sell; it connects, and connection, when it’s sincere, is what builds trust. Trust is at the heart of every successful relationship in this industry.

According to research by Edelman, more than 80% of consumers say they must trust a brand before they buy from it.

But trust doesn’t happen because of a campaign. It’s earned through consistency and truth, through a tone that feels human.

Wellness, more than any other sector, depends on that truth. Over the past few years, we’ve watched the term “wellness” expand to cover everything from sleep supplements to spirituality. The industry has grown, but not always authentically. Many people feel disconnected from what wellness is supposed to mean. There’s even a term for it now: wellness-washing, a sometimes cold or removed layer of perfection has been painted over something that should feel personal and raw.

That’s where storytelling matters most. It brings us back to what’s real. It removes the gloss and reminds us why people seek wellness in the first place, to feel safe, understood, and above all, restored. A good story doesn’t hide behind performance or jargon. It reaches the person, not the persona.

When we strip back the marketing and the buzzwords and get to the fundamentals, wellness is all about emotion. At its core, it’s the small acts that bring peace, not the grand gestures or grandiose expressions that sell it, and storytelling reminds us of that. It reminds brands and practitioners that they’re not just providing treatments or products, they’re facilitating someone’s journey towards feeling better, inside and out and are a part of the route of that individual’s transformation.

There’s also a growing conversation around longevity; the science of living better for longer is fascinating, but it’s often spoken about in language that alienates the very people it’s supposed to inspire and support.

Longevity can sound cold and clinical when it should feel hopeful and intrinsically human. Storytelling can translate that complexity into understanding. It makes the science emotional. When we talk about energy, resilience, and health through stories, people listen; they see themselves in the outcome.

That’s the key, stories are how we turn information into meaning. They’re what allow us to feel part of the message rather than separate from it. Neuroscience explains why this works.

When we listen to a story, our brains release dopamine and oxytocin, the same chemicals linked with memory and empathy. 

It’s what makes stories feel alive. Paul Zak’s work at Claremont Graduate University proved that these emotional responses make people more open, more trusting, more willing to act.

So when a  brand founder talks about creating a product from personal experience, something shifts. Clients feel it. They stop hearing a pitch and start recognising humanity.

I’ve seen this countless times in my work. Through Ai Beauty Consultancy and the Retail Excellence framework, I’ve helped teams increase retail sales by more than 120% in 6 months. The secret isn’t in learning new sales techniques; it’s in understanding emotion.

A story doesn’t have to be long or dramatic, it just needs truth, a real approach to share the human experience.  A therapist might say, “I chose this treatment because it’s what helped me when my skin was at its worst.” That’s storytelling, it’s honest and simple, aligned with values, and at its heart, it’s connective and truly powerful.

In my book StorySeller, which I co-wrote with Nicola Rowley, we explored how personal storytelling builds credibility and trust. When you share something authentic about why you care, you create resonance. People connect to sincerity; they can feel when words come from lived experience rather than a marketing deck.

The wellness space needs that kind of connection. People come to it because they want to feel whole again, not perfect. They want to slow down, find calm, and make sense of themselves in a world that constantly pulls them apart.

But there’s a challenge. Many wellness brands speak beautifully on their websites yet lose that emotion at the customer level. Founders tell their story, then hand it over to teams who repeat facts instead of feelings. The narrative breaks down. To be effective, storytelling has to travel through every part of the organisation, from leadership to therapist to client. Otherwise, it’s just decoration.

Profit in beauty and wellness doesn’t come from a single transaction. 

Profit comes from the relationships we build and the consistency of care we show over time. 

Every client we connect with emotionally represents long-term value, not just a one-time sale. Emotional storytelling deepens that connection. It keeps people close, even when life changes or new trends emerge.

When we engage people through story, we hold space for them. Storytelling reminds them that you understand and the empathy we create in that moment is what keeps them returning.

This emotional engagement is what drives profit. A loyal client will spend more over time, refer others, and become an advocate. They don’t buy only what you offer; they buy into how you make them feel.

Studies show that a 5% increase in client retention can raise profits by twenty-five to ninety-five per cent. 

The reason is simple: it’s easier to nurture trust than to rebuild it.

Storytelling helps you nurture it. When people feel seen, they stay. When they stay, they spend with confidence and clarity. And when confidence replaces hesitation, profit follows naturally. That is the business of emotion – and the quiet strength behind every brand that lasts.

Harvard Business Review found that emotionally connected customers are 52% more valuable than those who are simply satisfied. Another study found that brands that engage people emotionally outperform competitors by 85% in sales growth. These numbers matter, but what matters more is what they represent: when emotion drives trust, everything else follows.

We see this in both beauty and wellness. The industries overlap. One works on how we look, the other on how we feel. But both depend on how we connect. And connection starts with a story. I often tell teams that selling through story is not about performance.

It’s about purpose. When you speak with empathy and honesty, clients respond because they recognise themselves in your words.

Wellness can sometimes intimidate people. There’s jargon, there’s science (sometimes too much), there’s a sense that everyone else is doing it better. But when a brand or professional tells a real story of struggle, through sharing vulnerability, learning, or change, it levels the somewhat daunting field. It allows for imperfection, the very human quality that enables connection and trust.

That is what the wellness movement truly needs now, not polished ideals, but honest stories of progress and connection.

That’s also where profit becomes sustainable – when trust is built, loyalty follows. When loyalty grows, sales become steady rather than seasonal or sporadic. In my experience, the most successful brands are the ones that make people feel something long after they’ve left the spa, store, or clinic.

We talk often about the future of wellness, longevity, biohacking, recovery, but the future will belong to those who bring humanity back to the centre. Storytelling does that. It gives meaning to innovation. It brings emotion back to science.

In a world where wellness can feel commercialised, stories ground us. They bring back warmth, depth, and truth. They remind us that at the heart of every purchase or treatment is a person wanting to feel better, on their own unique and personal journey – one which is centered in transformation. 

If there’s one thing I’ve learned through my work, it’s that storytelling doesn’t just help you sell, it helps you serve. It helps you care more deeply and communicate more meaningfully to give true value to mental and physical health. After all, isn’t that what wellness is really about.

If you’d like to continue the conversation about emotional storytelling in beauty and wellness, you can find me on LinkedIn.

Arif is an award-winning consultant and international speaker, who has worked with some of the world’s biggest luxury brands and locations, such as Harrods and Aman Spa at The Connaught.

He is a judge for industry awards, co-author of ‘StorySeller,’ and has implemented his methodologies to achieve record sales increases for brands he partners with. His expertise lies in storytelling, retail excellence, and delivering luxury service, creating emotional connections that drive results.