Shareworthy Story Test
Build stories people feel, remember, and choose to pass along
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 95%
The Shareworthy Story Test begins from the audience's experience rather than the speaker's desire to publish. Recall the stories you personally remember or pass along, then identify the response they created: perhaps they made you smile, laugh, feel understood, learn something, or take action. Design the new story to produce one or more of those responses. It should move the audience emotionally, feel recognisable enough to relate to, and offer inspiration or education rather than merely reporting events. The final gate is behavioural: would someone put it on their feed, send it to a friend, or share it in a family chat? If not, sharpen the emotional connection, relevance, or useful consequence before telling it.
Origin
Extracted from Coffeez for Closers, where Maha answered Joe Shalaby's request for core storytelling principles anyone could implement.
Core principles
- 01The consumer's response is the first test of a story
- 02Emotional movement makes a story memorable
- 03Relatability gives an audience a place inside the story
- 04Education or inspiration gives people a reason to act
- 05A strong story is worth passing to another person
How to run it
- 1
Think like a consumer
Start with stories that have resonated with you. Identify exactly what made you remember or share them.
Pro tip Use your own sharing behaviour as evidence rather than guessing what audiences value.
Watch out Starting from what you want to say can hide the absence of audience value.
- 2
Choose the response
Decide whether the story should connect, move, inspire, or educate. Give it a clear audience effect rather than an undefined goal of being interesting.
Pro tip One strong response is better than forcing every response into one story.
Watch out Information without a desired response often becomes forgettable reporting.
- 3
Build emotional relevance
Use a recognisable situation, feeling, or consequence that lets the audience relate the story to its own experience.
Pro tip Test whether the audience can explain why the story matters to them.
Watch out Emotion that is detached from the real message feels manipulative.
- 4
Add useful consequence
Give the audience an insight, lesson, or action that survives after the story ends. Connect the narrative to a practical reason for paying attention.
Pro tip State the implication without overexplaining the story.
Watch out A lesson unsupported by the narrative will feel bolted on.
- 5
Run the sharing test
Ask whether a listener would send the story to a friend, post it, or bring it into a private conversation. Revise if the reason to share is unclear.
Pro tip Name the person someone would send it to and why.
Watch out Do not confuse a click with a story someone values enough to pass along.
In the wild
A loan officer could replace a bare rate update with a true customer situation showing how a market change affected one family's home decision, why the consequence mattered, and what another buyer should check. The facts remain intact, but the audience receives a relatable human stake and a practical next step.
→ The update becomes easier to understand, remember, and share with someone facing a similar decision.
Common mistakes
Starting with the speaker
A story built only around what the speaker wants to announce may never establish why the audience should care.
Chasing emotion without relevance
An emotional moment that does not connect to the audience's experience or the real message will not carry the idea.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for leaders, founders, and creators who need their ideas to travel through employees, customers, partners, or social audiences.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for purely technical records where emotional connection and voluntary sharing are not goals.
From the transcript
“think about yourself as a consumer first. What are the stories that resonate with me?”
“You want to sh you want to develop a story that's worth sharing”
“A story that connects or moves us. a story that resonates with us because it's super relatable or a story that inspires us to take…”
From the episode
Build a Brand, Not Just a Business ft. Maha Abouelenein
Maha Abouelenein