Summary: What does it mean when a system doesn’t “tell a story”? On the surface, shrugging off an error message as non-narrative seems like common sense. But in marketing—especially technical marketing—that kind of thinking misses something powerful. Even the dullest output of a software system hides a human problem worth solving. This post deconstructs a text that at first glance “does not contain a story” and explains why turning data into narrative is the marketer’s job—even when it looks like there’s nothing to work with.
The Raw Text Example: What Are We Dealing With?
Let’s start with the actual input that triggered this line of reasoning: a standard system response about account limits. It’s likely to look something like this in practice:
{
"error": "Balance too low to complete the request.",
"action": "Please recharge your account and try again."
}At face value, this is routine. It’s a JSON error message—a technical artifact. But someone, somewhere, hit this wall while trying to achieve something. What were they trying to do? Why did they fail? And what does that failure cost them?
“Not a Story”? Then What Is It?
When marketers wave this sort of text away as “not storytelling material,” what they really mean is: there’s no protagonist here. No arc. No twist. No resolution. But that doesn’t mean there’s no story to extract. In fact, flat messages like this are part of a bigger pattern: friction, frustration, and abandonment in digital systems.
The system message might not be emotional, but the user confronting it often is. A failed payment on a small business tool around payroll deadlines? That’s stress. A blocked API call from a startup building an MVP? That’s a loss of momentum. A marketing team unable to launch campaigns due to a token quota? That’s pressure from the boss. All real. All stories.
The Human Behind the Code: The Only Perspective That Matters
What’s the point of marketing if not to illuminate the human behind a technical event? The person getting this error isn’t thinking in JSON. They’re thinking, “Why is this happening now?” Or even, “I thought I already fixed this.”
Ignoring the pain because it’s delivered in data is like a doctor dismissing a patient’s symptom because it wasn’t delivered in Shakespearean language. We’re in business to solve actual problems, and that starts with empathy. That means thoughtfully asking: What outcome is blocked by this failure? And: What did this error prevent them from accomplishing?
Why Turning “Non-Stories” Into Stories Is a Competitive Advantage
Every friction point is also a marketing opportunity. If your platform is known for “just working”—for not triggering messages like that one—your product narrative becomes a quiet winner. Your message doesn’t need to scream; it just needs to speak directly to the person who hated being stopped by that error before. Especially if they’ve been burned by competitors that didn’t warn them in time or explain how to prevent it.
Product issues wrapped in cold technical wrappers are still moments of truth. Most companies throw out that wrapper. Smart companies turn it into useful conversations. “What were you working on when this happened?” is a better question than “Did you get an error?” Mirroring the user’s experience—“You were just trying to finish something, and you got blocked”—opens dialogue and opens deals.
The Fallacy of Waiting for a “Proper Story”
This mindset problem leads many teams to kill good content before it’s born. They think every story must arrive fully dressed—with characters, conflict, and happy resolution. But that’s backward. Reality gives us fragments: gripes, glitches, edge cases, error messages. Our job isn’t to wait until something magical appears. It’s to stitch fragments into usable narrative.
A system error like “Balance too low” isn’t beneath marketing. It is marketing. It’s your once-in-a-month chance to make someone feel understood instead of stupid. It’s your shot to turn a moment of loss into relief. Isn’t that the core of every good sales letter?
From Error Logs to Empathy: The Real Work
Let’s not pretend emotion disappears when someone sees a failed transaction or an API block. Emotion is there—it’s just not pinned to the screen. You have to ask the uncomfortable question that most teams avoid:
“What part of their real life is being affected by this message?”
And then follow it up like Chris Voss recommends: mirror and label. “It sounds like you hit a dead end right as you were trying to [finish that task]. That’s frustrating.” Just pause. Let it hang. That’s where dialogue begins. That’s also where value creation begins.
Who Needs This Kind of Messaging Most?
If you’re marketing:
- A payments company with recharge limits
- A SaaS analytics tool with usage-based billing
- An API service with inbound query caps
- An AI model that halts after quota depletion
…then this sort of “non-story” content holds massive persuasive power. And here’s where it ties into Cialdini: framing these moments around shared experiences creates reciprocity—we’ve been there. Establish authority by showing you already solved this problem. Build commitment by offering a change customers can control. And confirm suspicion by admitting that other services rarely explain or prepare users for these roadblocks.
Make It Your Marketing: They Need Someone to Tell This Story
Here’s the brutal truth: they don’t want to read your blog post about reliability. Until they hit the wall. That’s your open door. When someone stumbles into an error message, you’ve got five seconds to either earn trust—or lose it.
Don’t ignore dry messages. Explain them. Predict them. Prepare for them. Show empathy when no one else does. That’s where your brand becomes memorable.
There’s no such thing as “no story to tell.” If your users are hitting system limits or error messages, you don’t need new features—you need better storytelling. Not to pretty it up, but to make it plain. Speak to what they felt. Speak to what they feared. Show them what happens next when they use you instead.
#TechnicalMarketing #EmpathyDrivenCopy #DataToNarrative #UserExperience #APIUX #MarketingWithEmpathy #TurnFrictionIntoTrust #IEEOMarketing
Featured Image courtesy of Unsplash and SEO Galaxy (yusHnkBhF3Q)
