it's interesting that scientists side to use stories -- from The Moth podcast -- to stimulate test subjects' brains in this fMRI study. The conclusion is that these stories stimulate areas scattered across our cortex. Stories light up our brains. No wonder storytelling I'd so powerful in marketing.
Here's a nice story about how data can be used to drive design and content decisions. Click tracking (heatmaps), session recording and user polling are all tools we put to good use here in the lab for our clients.
And if you want a fantastic example of using storytelling to educate and entertain, this post is just such a thing.