Using Storytelling in Security Awareness Training

Traditional security awareness training often fails to engage employees. Dry lectures about policies and threats can feel monotonous and uninspiring. In contrast, storytelling breathes life into cybersecurity training, making it as captivating as a good book or movie. By incorporating relatable characters, suspenseful plots, and real-world scenarios, storytelling transforms training into an experience employees want to follow.

For CISOs and IT managers, the objective isn’t just to deliver information but to ensure employees retain it and change their behavior. Story-driven training is proven to boost both retention and engagement. In fact, research shows that narrative-based training improves recall by up to 65% (Source). Simply put, storytelling doesn’t just make training enjoyable – it makes it more effective.

In this blog post, we'll explore how storytelling in security awareness training reduces phishing risks and fosters a stronger security culture.

Why is Storytelling in Security Awareness Training Essential?

Storytelling in security awareness training is essential because it bridges the critical gap between knowledge and action. Unlike traditional security training that often struggles to engage employees, storytelling taps into emotions and psychological triggers, making lessons more memorable and impactful. Stories are inherently relatable; they resonate on a personal level, enabling employees to visualize themselves within scenarios and better understand the potential consequences of their actions.

Research in cognitive psychology highlights that narratives significantly enhance retention by activating multiple regions of the brain responsible for memory and empathy. This emotional engagement leads employees to internalize security practices deeply, rather than merely memorizing abstract policies. Moreover, storytelling promotes a proactive security culture by fostering empathy and awareness about real-world threats, driving behavioral change throughout the organization.

Here are some points why storytelling in security awareness training is essential:

• Boring Training = Bad Outcomes: Many corporate security trainings are forgettable slide decks or checkbox e-learning modules. Employees often click through quickly without truly absorbing lessons. This disengagement has real consequences: before any training, roughly one-third of employees will fall for a phishing email on average (Source). In some industries the risk is even higher – for example, baseline phishing susceptibility in healthcare was recently measured at 41.9% (nearly half of staff!) (Source). Clearly, traditional approaches often fail to motivate behavior change, leaving organizations exposed to phishing and social engineering threats.
• Traditional Methods Fall Short: Typical trainings present facts and rules (e.g., “Don’t click suspicious links” or lengthy policy jargon) without context. They appeal to logic but ignore emotion. Employees may understand the rules in the moment but soon forget them – or fail to see how those abstract rules apply in real situations. There’s little emotional hook or relatability, so lessons don’t stick. In contrast, stories grab attention and create personal connections, as we’ll explore next.
• Bridging the Gap with Narrative: Storytelling offers a solution to the engagement problem. By framing security lessons within a compelling narrative – a suspenseful phishing saga or a hero employee saving the day – you tap into the way humans naturally learn and remember. Instead of telling employees what not to do, you show them the impact of decisions through characters and plot. The result is training that feels relevant and interesting, not just another compliance task. In the following sections, we delve into why storytelling works and how to do it effectively.

To learn more about how to make cybersecurity training fun and engaging, read our blog on How to Make Cyber Security Employee Training Fun.

How Storytelling Elevates Security Awareness

Security teams have begun to recognize that facts alone aren’t enough; narrative-driven training can dramatically improve both engagement and retention. Here’s why storytelling is a game-changer for cybersecurity education:

Emotional Connection & Memory

Stories tap into emotions, which in turn boosts memory. Brain research by Dr. Paul Zak found that listening to a compelling story triggers the release of oxytocin – the “empathy” hormone – making listeners more emotionally invested in the content (Source). In practice, if employees feel anxiety for a “victim” in a phishing story or triumph when the hero thwarts an attack, those feelings help cement the training lesson in their minds.

In fact, character-driven stories with emotional content lead to better understanding and recall of key points than dry facts do Unlike a static PowerPoint, a vivid story activates multiple parts of the brain (as if the listener were experiencing the events) rather than just the language centers– this multi-sensory engagement makes the material far more memorable.

Better Retention of Lessons

Storytelling doesn’t just make training more enjoyable – it makes it more effective. Studies indicate that weaving information into a narrative can increase knowledge retention by up to 65% compared to traditional training formats (Source). Employees simply remember stories longer than they remember isolated facts. One study even found that learners retain 70% more information when it’s presented as a story versus as bullet-point facts.

The message is clear: if you want employees to internalize cybersecurity best practices, deliver those lessons in a narrative form. They’ll be able to recall and apply the content weeks or months later when it counts.

Relatability and Realism

Stories make abstract threats feel real. A policy might say “Always verify unusual requests,” but a story shows what happens if you don’t – for example, an anecdote about an employee who didn’t verify a CEO’s email and nearly wired money to a fraudster. Such a narrative is relatable; staff see themselves in the situation.

This concreteness answers the “why it matters” behind security rules. As Okta’s security team discovered, illustrating real-world consequences through narrative (“showing the adverse outcomes of ignoring best practices and the positive results of following them”) makes employees care far more than a bland rulebook (Source).

When trainees identify with characters and see the cause-and-effect of decisions, they grasp how a cyber attack could unfold in their own world – which motivates them to change their behavior.

Secondhand Experience = Safer Behavior

People often learn about cybersecurity the same way they learn about life: through secondhand stories. Hearing about someone else’s mistake or close call can imprint a lesson powerfully. In fact, research in security education has shown that “secondhand experience is commonly a part of non-experts’ computer security knowledge,” meaning stories of breaches or phishing scams can effectively teach people without them having to suffer the attack themselves (Source).

For example, an employee might never have fallen for a gift-card scam email, but if they hear a vivid account of how a scammer tricked a colleague at another company, they’re more likely to recognize and avoid similar ploys.

Smart security awareness programs capitalize on this by sharing war stories and cautionary tales. Such narrative-driven warnings often stick better than routine expert advice – the listener subconsciously thinks, “that could happen to me,” which reinforces caution.

Cultural Impact and Engagement

A good story not only teaches but also entertains. In the context of workplace training, that’s a feature, not a bug. If employees find the security training enjoyable or at least intriguing, they’re more likely to be engaged throughout the session and even look forward to future trainings.

At Okta, for instance, pivoting from slide lectures to a storytelling approach led to employees describing the training as “relatable and enjoyable”, and on-time completion rates improved compared to previous dull. In other words, storytelling helped transform mandatory training into a more positive, proactive part of the company culture.

Over time, this contributes to an environment where security awareness isn’t seen as a chore, but as an interesting shared responsibility – everyone loves a good story, and if that story just taught them how to spot a phishing email, all the better for your security posture.

For insights on fostering a security-conscious culture in your organization, check out our article on Building a Security-Conscious Corporate Culture.

Storytelling Frameworks for Cybersecurity Training

To maximize the impact of storytelling in your program, it helps to borrow tried-and-true narrative frameworks. These are structures that make stories compelling and impactful – frameworks that can map surprisingly well to security topics like phishing and social engineering. Here are key narrative frameworks (and elements) to consider integrating:

The Hero’s Journey (Employee as Hero)

In classic storytelling, the hero’s journey follows a protagonist through challenges and transformation. In a security awareness context, your employees are the heroes on a journey to protect the organization. They start out unaware of certain threats, face increasingly sophisticated challenges (phishing emails, phone scams, tailgating attempts), learn from mentors (the IT/security team), and emerge more skilled and confident.

Framing training as a hero’s journey makes employees the central characters – it’s empowering. For example, a training narrative might cast a new hire as the hero who, over the course of the story, thwarts a series of social engineering attempts, leveling up their skills each time.

This structure gives learners a sense of progression and personal growth: each phishing scenario “boss fight” they conquer is a step in their hero journey towards being a company defender. It’s a powerful motivator when learners see themselves as the protagonists rather than passive audience.

Tip: Emphasize the challenges and obstacles the hero faces (suspicious emails, odd requests) and show how they overcome them – either emerging victorious or at least learning a valuable lesson in defeat (Source).

Characters, Villains and Conflict

Every great story needs compelling characters – including a villain to create conflict. In cybersecurity stories, the “villain” is the adversary: a hacker, scammer, or even an unsafe habit. Don’t shy away from personifying the threat!

For instance, you might introduce a recurring hacker character in your training scenarios – a shadowy figure attempting to deceive the hero in various ways. This good-versus-evil dynamic taps into a primal narrative pattern that audiences intuitively respond to. Good vs. evil is a tale as old as time, and in security narratives there’s certainly no shortage of villains to cast.

By including a villain, you give employees someone (or something) to foil, which makes the training more engaging. The conflict between the employee and the attacker drives the story forward: will the employee catch the phish in time or will the “evil” hacker succeed? This naturally creates suspense and a clear stake in the outcome. Moreover, presenting security threats as antagonists helps frame cybersecurity in terms of human drama – it’s not just “clicking a bad link,” it’s outsmarting a criminal. That perspective can really change how employees internalize the importance of their actions.

Suspense and Surprise

Great stories keep us guessing. In training, incorporating suspense can maintain engagement. For example, start a phishing scenario story in media res (in the middle of things): “It was 4 PM on a Friday when Jane in Finance got an urgent email from the CEO…”. Pause at a critical moment – does she click the link or smell a rat? – and ask the trainees what they think happens next.

This kind of storytelling technique turns a passive lesson into an active mental exercise; people will be curious to know the outcome. You can then reveal the result and its consequences, discussing what went right or wrong. Additionally, using a surprising twist or a bit of drama in a story can make it far more memorable. As one security educator put it, give your audience “something to remember – whether it’s a humorous anecdote, a dramatic story arc, or a surprising twist” that provides a memorable takeaway.

Maybe the phish that everyone assumed was obvious turns out to be trickier than expected, or the “attacker” in your story was actually an internal simulation all along (a training exercise) – any twist that reinforces the lesson can help it stick. Suspenseful, narrative-driven phishing training exercises (like choose-your-own-adventure phishing simulations) keep users engaged and emotionally invested in the outcome, which boosts learning.

Conflict and Resolution Structure

In crafting your stories, always include a clear conflict and resolution. The conflict is the security challenge or risk (e.g., an attempt to steal data, a ransomware infection scenario, a social engineer calling the helpdesk).

The resolution is where you illustrate the right behavior or lesson. For instance, conflict: an attacker tries to trick an employee with a convincing spear-phishing email; resolution: the employee verifies the request via phone and avoids a breach, highlighting the value of following procedure.

Alternatively, you could show a negative resolution for impact (the employee falls for it and something bad happens) followed by a discussion on how it could have been prevented. The key is that the story arc should model the desired response or illuminate the consequences of an undesired one.

At the core of any good story is a conflict that gets resolved – this maps perfectly to security scenarios where a problem arises and must be addressed (Source). By experiencing the conflict and seeing its resolution play out in narrative form, employees gain a concrete mental script for what to do if they encounter similar conflicts in real life.

Lessons and Morals

Every cybersecurity story should end with a clear takeaway – just like a fable ends with a moral. After the story’s climax, make sure to clearly state the lesson learned. This helps employees understand the point of the story and how it applies to them.

For example: “In the end, our hero’s attentiveness saved the company from a costly breach. The lesson? Always verify unexpected requests, even if they appear to come from leadership.”

Never leave employees guessing, “What was the point of that story?” Instead, clearly explain the lesson so they know exactly what to do in similar situations (like “Think before you click” or “Report suspicious emails immediately”).

By ending with a clear moral, the story not only leaves a strong impression but also guides employees on how to act more securely in the future.

Narrative Frameworks for Effective Security Storytelling

To enhance the effectiveness of storytelling in security awareness training, consider leveraging these established narrative frameworks:

• Chekhov’s Gun: Every element introduced in a story must be relevant and essential. In security training, this means clearly demonstrating how seemingly minor details—such as a suspicious email or unusual request—can be pivotal in preventing cyber threats.
• Maupassant’s Twist: Incorporate unexpected endings or outcomes to reinforce key lessons. This framework surprises the audience and leaves a lasting impact, highlighting the critical consequences of overlooking security protocols.
• Kafkaesque Scenario: Present complex, surreal, or metaphorical situations that underscore the confusion and chaos cyber incidents can cause. Employees gain deeper insight into the urgency and seriousness of security measures.

Using these narrative techniques ensures your storytelling is engaging, impactful, and memorable, significantly improving employee retention and behavioral change.

Real-Life Cybersecurity Stories: The Ultimate Teaching Tool

Real-world examples are the most powerful way to make a lesson stick. Incorporating real-life cybersecurity stories into awareness training makes risks feel tangible and credible. These stories can be actual incidents or realistic scenarios based on events relevant to your industry.

Below’s how to use them effectively, with examples from various sectors:

Why Use Real Incidents?

Using real incidents in security awareness training turns abstract threats into tangible risks. True stories of breaches, scams, or close calls make it clear: “Yes, this really can happen.” Sharing real-life data breach examples helps employees understand how easily their organization could face similar issues if they aren’t vigilant.

The news is full of cases where a single mistake triggered a massive security incident. Some of the biggest data breaches in history began with just one phishing email. Analyzing these real-world stories during training shows employees how a momentary lapse – like clicking a malicious link – can lead to severe consequences. This makes the training feel relevant and urgent rather than hypothetical.

Real stories carry emotional weight and credibility that fictional scenarios often lack. When employees realize, “That happened to them; it could happen here too,” they naturally adopt a more cautious and responsible approach to cybersecurity.

Broadly Applicable Examples

While certain industries face unique threats, the core human element of cybersecurity is universal.

Let’s look at a few sector-specific story scenarios that you can use in training, keeping them broad enough that lessons apply to any field

Finance Sector – “The CEO Fraud that Almost Succeeded”

A common scenario in finance involves receiving urgent requests from senior executives. Imagine an accounts payable clerk gets an email that looks like it’s from the CFO, requesting a $50,000 wire transfer to a new vendor. The message seems rushed, but the clerk remembers her training and calls the CFO to verify. It turns out the request was fake – a business email compromise (BEC) attempt.

Key Takeaway: Cybercriminals often impersonate company leaders to trick employees into costly actions. Always verify unexpected requests, especially involving money or sensitive data, to prevent significant losses.

Healthcare Sector – “Prescription for a Data Breach”

This scenario can be used to train healthcare employees on the risks of social engineering. A hospital nurse receives an urgent email that looks like it’s from the IT department, instructing her to download a software update to comply with new health data regulations. The email uses fear – warning that failure to install will violate HIPAA – prompting the nurse to click the link without verifying. The “update” turns out to be ransomware, encrypting patient records and disrupting hospital operations, leaving doctors unable to access charts and patients being turned away.

This scenario highlights how cybercriminals exploit healthcare workers’ sense of urgency and responsibility. Training on this scenario teaches employees to verify unexpected requests through official channels, especially when pressured by fear or urgency. Though focused on healthcare, the lesson applies everywhere: Don’t let emotions override caution.

For more insights on HIPAA compliance, read our blog on How to Become HIPAA Compliant: 2025 Steps.

Tech Sector – “Even the Tech-Savvy Can Be Fooled”

This scenario can be used to train tech employees on the dangers of social engineering. During a busy sprint, a developer at a software company receives a message from what appears to be an internal Slack channel admin, asking him to log in via a link to resolve an account issue. Confident in his tech skills and pressed for time, the developer clicks the link and enters his credentials – unknowingly giving them to an attacker. The intruder then uses the stolen credentials to access the company’s code repository, leading to a serious security incident. This scenario is especially relevant in the tech sector, where employees may feel too tech-savvy to be fooled. It highlights that phishing and social engineering can exploit anyone, even IT experts, by leveraging urgency and trust.

The key lesson here is that being skilled with technology doesn’t make someone immune to social attacks. The best defense is maintaining vigilance and always verifying unusual requests through secure, official channels.

Other Sectors – Common Threads

No matter the industry – be it retail, education, government, or manufacturing – the storytelling approach can be tailored to fit. A school district might share a story of a faculty member who fell for a phishing email that looked like a student’s file, or a city government might recount a social engineering phone call that almost led to a data leak. The specifics change, but the narrative elements remain the same: a relatable protagonist, a credible threat scenario, a moment of decision, and consequences.

By using sector-relevant anecdotes, you ensure employees see the connection to their daily work. However, always highlight the common themes: attackers exploiting human trust, small mistakes leading to big fallout, and heroes who prevent disasters through alertness. These universal story elements create empathy and understanding across departments and roles. Everyone realizes “security is about people” and that they could be the hero in the next story by making the right choices.

How to Source Stories

To incorporate real-life narratives, you don’t have to experience a breach firsthand (hopefully not!). Instead, curate stories from reputable sources:

• Industry news (e.g., a well-publicized breach or scam in your sector).
• Internal incident reports (anonymized) – if your organization had a “near miss” or minor incident, that can be turned into a powerful anonymous case study for employees to learn from.
• Cybersecurity blogs and reports often publish human-interest angles of attacks (for example, stories of how a particular phishing campaign unfolded).
• Even anecdotes shared by peers at conferences or online forums can be great material – if another CISO shares “we caught an intern plugging in a found USB stick and here’s what happened,” that story can be retold (with permission or anonymity) as a lesson internally. Leverage the fact that humans love to swap stories; build a library of these cautionary tales and success stories to sprinkle into your training content. Real incidents add credibility: employees can’t shrug it off as “that would never happen” when you have concrete examples.

Multimedia & Interactive Storytelling in Training

Modern security awareness programs aren’t limited to emails and slide decks. Multimedia content can dramatically enhance storytelling by appealing to different learning styles and making the narrative more immersive. Consider enriching your training modules with video, audio, and interactive elements – including content from platforms like YouTube – to bring security stories to life:

Video Storytelling (YouTube & Beyond)

Video is a powerhouse for engagement. A short, well-produced video can convey a cybersecurity story with emotional impact through visuals, music, and narrative voice-over. For example, you might show a 3-minute dramatization of a social engineering call or a news clip of a CEO describing a breach fallout. Employees often respond strongly to seeing and hearing a story unfold. In fact, viewers retain about 95% of a video’s message, compared to only 10% when reading text (Source).

This makes video an ideal medium to reinforce key security messages.

Explore the informative YouTube playlist below, featuring Keepnet's Real-Life Security Awareness Training Story Series. This series is designed to enhance your understanding of security best practices through engaging real-life scenarios, helping you to better recognize and respond to potential security threats in everyday situations.

Interactive Scenarios and Phishing Simulations

Stories become even more powerful when employees can participate in them. Interactive training – think choose-your-own-adventure style phishing simulation software or role-playing games – turns passive listeners into active players.

For example, an online module could present a storyline: “You’re the admin on duty and you receive a strange request…” and then prompt the learner to choose how to respond at each step. Their choices lead to different outcomes (perhaps even with branching storylines: falling victim vs. successfully averting the attack).

This technique leverages narrative and gamification together. It creates a safe space for employees to experience the consequences of decisions within a story. They might see a scenario play out where clicking a link leads to a malware infection (with an animation or immediate feedback), reinforcing why that was the wrong choice.

Alternatively, if they choose correctly, they see the positive outcome. Interactive storytelling keeps learners engaged through suspense (“what will happen if I do X?”) and gives immediate, personal lessons. Consider using platforms or tools that allow you to build such branching phishing simulation, or work with vendors who offer story-based training games.

Podcasts and Audio Stories

Not every story needs visuals – sometimes a compelling audio narrative (like a podcast segment) can be effective, especially for busy professionals who might listen during a commute.

Cybersecurity podcasts (for instance, Darknet Diaries or similar) often share true stories of hacks, breaches, and social engineering in a gripping, story-driven format. You could incorporate an excerpt from a relevant episode into your training (ensure it’s appropriate and you have rights or it’s publicly available).

Have employees listen to a 5-minute story of an attack and then discuss it. Audio stories engage the imagination and can be convenient to consume. Additionally, consider creating short internal audio dramas: e.g., record two employees reenacting a phishing phone call – it can be a fun, creative project and make the training more diverse in format.

Explore the Keepnet Security Awareness Training Podcast series featured in the YouTube videos below. This series aims to enhance your understanding of security protocols and practices, helping you stay informed and protected in today's digital landscape.

Animations and Infographics

Animated story videos can simplify complex concepts and are less resource-intensive than live-action videos. An animation might, for example, follow a cartoon character through a phishing adventure, visually showing how an attack unfolds and is defeated. This can add a bit of humor or style while still delivering the narrative (imagine a “superhero vs. hacker” cartoon short for training – cheesy, perhaps, but memorable).

Infographics that tell a story visually (like a flowchart of how an email scam travels from attacker to victim to data breach) can also support narrative learning; employees might recall the visual sequence of events. The key is to ensure these media still have a narrative flow – a beginning, middle, end – and aren’t just static charts.

Live Role-Playing and Dramatizations

For in-person training sessions, you can incorporate storytelling by acting it out. This could be as simple as trainers role-playing a scenario on stage (one as the attacker, one as the employee) to demonstrate social engineering tactics in action. Some organizations have even done “security awareness theater” sketches that both entertain and educate. Alternatively, leverage creative employees: for example, have team members volunteer to perform a short skit that portrays a security incident story.

When colleagues see their peers in a funny or dramatic sketch about, say, a phishing phone call, it not only grabs attention but also breaks down the monotony of a lecture. Multimedia and live storytelling elements like these cater to different learning styles – visual, auditory, kinesthetic – ensuring a wider swath of your workforce connects with the material (Source). Plus, variety itself keeps training fresh; one month it’s a video, the next an interactive game, the next a live story session – monotony is the enemy of engagement, and multimedia helps avoid that.

Using YouTube Carefully

YouTube is a treasure trove of cybersecurity stories and explainers, but be selective. Some actionable ways to use it:

• Embed a “narrated real-life scam” video: There are channels and security experts who break down how a particular scam works (for example, a video showing a step-by-step of how a phishing email convinced someone to give up credentials, often including the person’s testimony). These narrated stories can be powerful wake-up calls.
• Share news investigation clips: A local news segment interviewing a company after a breach, or an investigative piece on social engineering techniques, can hit home because it’s presented as real-world journalism.
• Use expert interviews: If a well-known hacker or security expert has a talk or interview where they share anecdotes (like former hackers explaining the tricks they used), employees might find this insider perspective fascinating – it’s storytime from the attacker’s side, which can be both entertaining and educational.

When integrating YouTube content, always introduce the video with context (“We’re going to watch a 2-minute clip about how a small business owner got scammed. Pay attention to what mistakes were made.”) and follow up with discussion or key point highlights. This ensures the video isn’t a standalone element but part of your narrative-driven lesson.

Ensuring Multimedia Effectiveness

Whatever media you use, tie it back to your narrative and lesson. For instance, if you show a video of a real phishing scam, afterward connect it to your own organization: “What would you do if you were in that situation? Here’s how our policies help prevent exactly that scenario…”

Also, consider accessibility – provide captions for videos, transcripts for audio, etc., so everyone can engage. Multimedia should enhance the story, not distract from it. When done right, though, incorporating these elements can make your security awareness program feel fresh, modern, and impactful, as opposed to the old-fashioned slide-clicking drudgery.

Measuring the Impact: Storytelling by the Numbers

Using storytelling in security awareness training sounds great in theory – but how do you know it’s actually working? A significant part of any security awareness program (narrative-driven or otherwise) is to track measurable outcomes. Fortunately, storytelling approaches lend themselves to positive results that you can measure over time. Here are key metrics and how narrative training influences them:

Phishing Simulation Click Rates

This is often the headline metric for phishing-related training. You want to see the percentage of employees who click on simulated phishing tests go down after training. Engaging storytelling can help achieve that by making lessons more memorable. For instance, if your training heavily emphasized a story about a phishing email and its consequences, employees are more likely to recall that cautionary tale when a real (or simulated) phish arrives in their inbox.

The data is compelling: organizations that implement comprehensive security awareness training have seen dramatic improvements in phishing resilience. According to a 2025 industry benchmarking report, the average phish-prone percentage (employees likely to fall for phishing) across organizations started around 33% but dropped to just 4.1% after 12 months of ongoing training (Source). That’s a 86% reduction in click rates year-over-year (Source).

This improvement reflects training in general (not only story-based), but the key is “ongoing, effective training” – and story-driven modules can make training more effective. By tracking your own company’s phishing test results before and after introducing storytelling, you can see if the narrative approach correlates with fewer clicks. If, for example, your click rate was 20% last quarter and after a new story-centric training it’s down to 10%, that’s a big win. Also consider measuring reporting rates (how many employees report phishing emails) – a rise in reporting combined with a drop in clicking is a strong indicator that awareness is up.

Retention and Assessment Scores

To measure knowledge retention, include quizzes or scenario-based assessments during and after training. Storytelling should improve how well employees retain information over time. You can test this by quizzing users right after training and then again a month later. Compare the drop-off between a storytelling-based course and a traditional course. If narrative training is working, the fall-off in correct answers should be smaller (because stories stick). Some organizations use formal “retention scores” or conduct follow-up interviews to see what concepts employees remember unprompted.

Look for qualitative evidence too: do employees reference the stories from training in their day-to-day conversations or team meetings? That’s a sign of retention. Research consistently backs up the idea that narrative aids long-term recall – as noted, up to 65% better retention vs. traditional methods (Source). So expect higher quiz scores and scenario handling ability from staff who went through a story-rich program.

Training Completion and Participation Rates

One surprisingly practical metric that storytelling can boost is completion rates and timeliness of training. When training is engaging, employees procrastinate less and are more likely to finish optional modules.

Okta’s experience was that making their secure code training narrative-focused led to higher on-time completion rates than before (Source). You can measure how many employees finish the required training by the deadline now versus prior non-story training – an uptick indicates they find the training less of a chore. If you offer voluntary enrichment (like extra videos or articles), track view counts or participation; a compelling story-based series might attract more voluntary engagement than a generic “read this policy” email ever would. Higher participation is both a cultural indicator (people are bought in) and a practical one (more people actually getting the knowledge).

• Behavioral Change and Incident Metrics: Ultimately, the goal of awareness training is to change behavior and reduce security incidents. While it’s harder to draw direct causation, you can monitor metrics like:
• Number of security incidents or near-misses caused by human error: e.g., count of malware infections from clicks, instances of sensitive data being sent out improperly, etc. Hopefully, as training improves, these should decrease. If you have a quarter with zero reportable phishing incidents after implementing story training, that’s a strong sign of success (especially if previously you had a few).
• Reporting and feedback: Are employees more readily reporting suspicious emails or activity? You can track the volume of reports to your security team or use a reporting button in email. An increase can mean employees are more aware and proactive (which story emphasis on “see something, say something” can encourage).
• Employee feedback and surveys: Don’t underestimate qualitative metrics. Send a quick survey after training asking how confident employees feel about spotting phishing or how engaging they found the training. If a large percentage say they found the stories useful or that they feel more prepared, that’s valuable evidence. You can even include a question like “What part of the training was most memorable?” – if many reference a particular story or scenario, you know what’s resonating.
• Culture and Engagement Indicators: Some outcomes are softer but still important. For example, increased discussion about security around the office (people talking about the latest training episode, or joking “this email smells phishy, remember that story we saw”). Or more employees willingly participating in security initiatives (joining a “security champions” program, writing security tips for the intranet, etc.). These are signs your storytelling approach is fostering a deeper security culture. You might track something like attendance at optional security Q&A sessions – if those go up after you start a storytelling campaign, it suggests heightened interest.
• Continuous Improvement Using Metrics: Measuring outcomes isn’t just about proving ROI; it also helps refine your approach. For instance, if you notice click rates improved overall but a particular department still struggles, you might create a story tailored to their context. Or if one type of story (say, video) led to better quiz scores than another (say, a written case study), you can adjust future content towards what works best. Use the data to iterate. The beauty of narrative training is that it’s flexible – you can always introduce new chapters or characters to address emerging weaknesses or threats.

For more insights on tracking the effectiveness of your training, check out our blog on Outcome-Driven Metrics for Security Awareness Training.

Actionable Steps to Implement Storytelling in Your Awareness Program

Ready to put these ideas into practice? This section provides practical, tactical recommendations for creating or curating storytelling-based content in your security awareness program. Use these steps as a checklist to start transforming your training:

1. Know Your Audience and Objectives

Begin by identifying who you’re training and what you want to achieve. Different roles or departments might resonate with different stories. For example, your finance team might need stories about wire fraud, while developers might need stories about social engineering in a tech context. Understanding your audience helps craft a relevant narrative(Source).

At the same time, clarify the goals of your training (e.g., “reduce phishing clicks by 50%” or “ensure 100% of employees know how to report an incident”). Every story you develop should ladder up to these objectives. Action: Segment your audience if needed (executives vs. general staff might get different story examples), and outline the key behaviors or messages each group’s story should impart.

2. Start with Real Incidents (Research and Curate)

Don’t reinvent the wheel – some of the best story content is already out there. Assign someone on your team to research real cybersecurity incidents that can be used as teaching examples. Look for incidents that have a clear narrative and lessons (many breach post-mortems in blogs or news articles essentially tell a story). Curate a “story bank” of compelling anecdotes. These could be famous cases (like the Target breach initiated via a phishing email to an HVAC contractor) or lesser-known but relatable ones (a nonprofit hit by a CEO fraud scam).

Also, collect stories internally: if something happened at your org or within your industry network, make note (anonymize as needed). Once you have these, choose those that best match your training points.

Action: For each training topic (phishing, password security, etc.), find at least one real story to illustrate it. You might use these as the basis for scenarios in your training content (rewritten in a narrative style) or simply cite them during a session (“As we saw with Company X last year…”). Using real stories adds credibility and urgency to your program.

3. Craft Your Narrative (or Adapt the Story)

With a scenario in mind (real or fictionalized), write out a short narrative that will be the backbone of your training module. Identify the key elements: Who is the protagonist (and are they relatable to your employees)? Who or what is the antagonist (phisher, malware, etc.)? What is the conflict or challenge? And what is the resolution or takeaway?

Write this like you would a brief story or case study, in plain language. Don’t overload it with technical detail – focus on the human element and decisions made. If creative writing isn’t a forte on your team, consider collaborating with your communications or marketing department – they often have storytelling expertise and can help spin up an engaging narrative.

Action: Draft a one-page story script for each training scenario. For instance, a script of “A Day in the Life of [Your Company] – The Phishing Phone Call” that reads like a story. Ensure it has a beginning (setup context), middle (the incident unfolding), and end (outcome and moral). If adapting a real incident, simplify and change names to fit your environment, while keeping the essence and lessons.

4. Choose the Right Medium for the Story

Decide how you will deliver this story to your audience. Options include a written case study (in an email or PDF), a live presentation with you narrating the story, an infographic or comic strip, a video recording, an animation, or an interactive e-learning module. The medium should fit both the content and your audience’s preferences.

For example, a video or live skit might have high impact for a company-wide training day, whereas an interactive online scenario might be better for remote teams self-paced learning.

You could even use multiple media for the same story (e.g., kick off with a live storytelling session, followed by an interactive quiz based on that story). Action: Assess your resources and skills – if you have the budget to create a short video, great; if not, maybe a well-written narrative email with graphics can work.

Ensure whatever medium you use allows the story to shine (e.g., if using slides, keep text minimal and use visuals to support the narrative you tell verbally). Also consider accessibility: if some employees can’t easily watch videos during work, provide transcripts or alternatives.

5. Use a Narrative Framework to Outline Content

When building the training content around the story, explicitly use the frameworks mentioned earlier to maintain a strong structure. Introduce characters (make them similar to your employees’ roles), build up the conflict (the security incident or temptation), and walk through the choices or events. Then resolve it and state the lesson. If it’s interactive, map out the branches (the “what if” paths).

Essentially, outline the training as if writing a short story or screenplay. This keeps the training focused and ensures you hit the emotional beats. Action: For each module, create a storyboard or flow.

Example: Slide 1: Introduce the hero (maybe a cartoon figure or just described scenario). Slide 2-3: Present the challenge (suspicious email arrives). Slide 4: Pause for learner input (“What would you do?”). Slide 5: Reveal outcome (if wrong choice, show consequence; if right, show how hero saved the day). Slide 6: Summarize the lesson and key takeaways. This storyboard approach will make sure the final content is narrative-driven, not reverting to boring bullet lists of dos and don’ts.

6. Leverage Peer Involvement and Voices

Here’s a powerful and somewhat underused tactic: involve peers (regular employees or managers) in telling or creating the stories. People pay great attention to stories told by colleagues “just like them.” In fact, research found that security stories have greater impact when told by a peer, whereas dry facts were only more effective when coming from an expert (Source).

That means a relatable story shared in a staff meeting by, say, someone from Finance might hit home more than if the CISO or an outside expert told the same story. Consider collecting voluntary testimonials or anecdotes from employees – e.g., “Has anyone here ever nearly fallen for a phish? Would you share that story?”

You can anonymize if needed, but those peer stories can be gold. You could feature a “story of the month” on the intranet where an employee describes how they spotted (or unfortunately fell for) a scam and what they learned. It creates a non-judgmental culture of sharing and learning from mistakes.

Action: Identify a few security champions or well-respected employees in various departments. Invite them to be a part of the training storytelling – maybe one joins you onstage to co-present a narrative, or you film a short interview with them recounting an incident. Even quoting an employee (“Our HR manager said this happened to her once…”) can personalize the story. Peer-driven storytelling can greatly increase credibility and buy-in.

7. Incorporate Multimedia Elements Wisely

As planned in the prior section, add videos, images, or interactive components to support the story. But ensure they are well-integrated. Don’t just throw in a video randomly – make it a seamless part of the narrative flow.

If your story is delivered via text or live talk, consider adding a relevant image (perhaps a screenshot of a fake email if it’s a phishing story, to show what it looked like) or a brief demo (e.g., show how a URL can be spoofed, as a “aside” during the story of a phishing link). If using a YouTube video as part of training, surround it with your commentary or discussion prompts.

Action: Review your story script and mark places where a visual or interactive element could enhance understanding or engagement. For example, if the story mentions a “strange email”, include a sample graphic of a phishing email and ask learners to spot red flags. If the story talks about a phone scam, maybe play an actual recording of a scam call (if available) for realism.

By thoughtfully layering media into the story, you keep the training dynamic and reinforce key points (people both hear and see the lesson).

8. Use Keepnet Security Awareness Training

Keepnet’s Security Awareness Training uses the power of storytelling to transform employees into an active “human firewall.” Through real-life storiy videos, and choose-your-own-path phishing tests, staff learn to recognize and respond to phishing, voice scams, QR traps, and more. Each narrative immerses users in relatable challenges, helping them retain lessons longer and respond more effectively during real attacks.

Ttraining turns engagement into measurable impact—lower phishing click rates, higher reporting, and long-term behavioral change. With customizable stories for every industry and seamless delivery across formats like video, audio, and gamified modules, Keepnet makes security training not just effective—but actually enjoyable.

Keepnet Human Risk Management: Building a Resilient “Human Firewall” Through Storytelling

In the fight against phishing and social engineering, technology alone isn’t enough—your people must be prepared. Keepnet Human Risk Management (HRM) uses storytelling to turn employees from potential liabilities into a vigilant first line of defense. Instead of relying on fear or rote compliance, it leverages narrative-driven training to build a resilient human firewall.

• Why Storytelling Works: Story-based modules use relatable heroes and real scenarios, making training memorable and engaging.
• Captivating Formats: Uses videos, interactive stories, and audio dramas to keep learners interested.
• Proven Results: Increases knowledge retention and reduces phishing click rates during phishing test.
• Employee Engagement: Makes training enjoyable, leading to better adoption of security practices.
• Comprehensive Approach: Combines AI-driven phishing simulations, adaptive training, and automated response.
• Diverse Learning Materials: Access to 2,100+ training resources from 15+ providers in 36+ languages.
• Motivation Boost: Uses gamification and behavior science to increase participation and retention.
• Visual Reinforcement: Posters, screensavers, and infographics help embed security practices.
• Real-Life Scenarios: Short, impactful stories make security concepts relatable and memorable.
• Personalized Training: Adapts to individual behaviors, improving learning outcomes.

With Keepnet HRM, storytelling transforms awareness into action, helping build a resilient security culture.