Jump to any section:
* Features
* Benefits
* Know Your Audience
* Tip 1: Call to Action
* Tip 2: Use “You” Language
* Tip 3: The “So What” Test
* Real World Example: Billie’s Dry-Bye Body Lotion
* Conclusion
Here’s a harsh reality that many business owners don’t realize:
No one cares about you or your product, especially when you’re trying to sell it to them.
Even if you have loyal customers who leave stellar reviews about your business, they don’t actually care about your business. They care about one thing only:
“What’s in it for me?”
Brutal, right? But don’t take it personally. It’s human nature, which is inherently self-serving, and asks, “How does this relate to or benefit me”. When you’re selling your business’s products or services, your top priority should always be your customer, not yourself or your business. Your customer doesn’t care about what your business does. They care about what your business allows THEM to do. This is the difference between features and benefits.
Your customer doesn’t care about what your business does. They care about what your business allows THEM to do.
Today we’ll break down the differences and provide examples so you can review your own business’s copywriting and determine whether or not you’ve successfully marketed your benefits to effectively sell to your customers.
Remember, features tell; benefits sell.
FEATURES
Features focus on functionality. This includes how your product/service works, what it does, and why it’s better than your competition. Examples include:
- Batteries included
- Free home grocery delivery
- Front- and side-impact airbags with automatic safety restraint system
While these are useful to know, they aren’t exciting enough to get your customers to buy your product. Why? Because they’re not about your customer. They’re about you. Your customers care about themselves. What do these features mean to them? That’s where benefits come in.
BENEFITS
Benefits focus on the outcome of those features, or what it is about them that makes your customers’ lives better and are ultimately what lead to sales. Whereas the above bullets reflect features, here are the same products’ benefits:
- Ready to use right out of the box without the stress of unhappy children.
- Don’t waste your valuable time traveling to the store, searching the aisles for your products, waiting in line, and then traveling back home. We do it all for you and bring it right to your door.
- Protect your family and enjoy peace of mind that even the smallest passengers will be protected in the case of an accident.
As you can see, the benefits highlight what your customer gains from the features.
Another way to look at a feature vs a benefit is:
Here’s what our product does (feature)
and
Here’s what you can do with our product (benefit)
Now that you understand the difference between Features and Benefits, how do you actually write them in your business’s copy?
Features tell you what a product does.
Benefits tell you what you can do with a product.
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
The key is to first understand your customers. You must know who they are, what they desire, and what pain points exist in their lives. You can’t sell to people if you don’t know who you’re talking to, and you can’t appeal to your customers if you don’t know what they value.
Once you thoroughly understand your customers, you can apply these three tips to be sure you’re talking to THEM (aka listing benefits) and not about YOU (the product features).
CALL TO ACTION
Your audience must be told what to do. Take a look at Nike’s incredibly successful “Just Do It” slogan. People respond to action verbs. Be direct and straightforward with your customers.
Let’s use Noom as an example:
Instead of this:
You don’t have to be on a diet thanks to our meals delivered right to your door.
Say this:
Stop dieting. Get life-long results.
See the difference? If you want your audience to take action (call today, subscribe, sign up now, etc.) you have to tell them what that action is.
You can’t expect your customers to take action if you don’t tell them what that action is.
USE “YOU” LANGUAGE
Have you noticed that in this article I’ve been talking to YOU, and not addressing business owners in general? By using the pronoun “you”, your audience immediately considers their own lives and how your product/service applies to them.
Instead of this:
We have hundreds of singles signed up on our platform.
Say this:
Find your perfect match today.
The goal isn’t to impress customers with how great you are. The goal is to show your customers that you make their lives better
By using “you” in your communications, your customers consider their lives and how your products apply to them.
THE “SO WHAT” TEST
If you feel stuck and aren’t certain you’re truly highlighting a benefit and not a feature, try the “So What” test.
Throughout your marketing efforts, refer back to the problem your product or service solves.
Consider one of the features of your product. Now consider why that feature matters (or, “So What?”). Keep asking this question until your response reflects the emotional benefit, aka the reason your customer cares.
Here’s an example:
The vacuum is lightweight.
So what?
It is easier to carry from room to room and upstairs.
So what?
You can vacuum more quickly and with less strain on your back.
So what?
Life is more comfortable because you’re not suffering from an aching body after a day of cleaning. You can pick up your children without pain in your back that stemmed from trying to keep a clean home. You have greater mobility to do all your favorite hobbies. You also have more time to DO all the things you want because time isn’t wasted hauling a heavy, painful vacuum cleaner around. Get back to what you love doing.
This feature analysis eventually led to the real benefits to the customer.
Here’s another example of turning a feature into a benefit:
Instead of this:
Our razors are delivered to your door every month.
Say this:
You’ll never forget to replace your razor again
If you’re stuck on the benefits, focus on a feature and ask “So What” until the answer reflects the feature’s emotional benefit.
REAL WORLD EXAMPLE: BILLIE’S DRY-BYE BODY LOTION
To showcase these three tips in action, let’s look at a real world example.
Here’s a piece of copy for Billie’s Dry-Bye Body Lotion:
“Weightless Moisture: Designed to be applied immediately after showering (or any time you need a quick moisture boost), this nutrient-rich matte lotion absorbs instantly into skin. Leaves behind lasting hydration, but zero sticky residue. Perfect for jumping out of the shower and right into jeans, or into clean sheets. Enriched with shea butter and soothing aloe vera. Scented like a fresh-squeezed grapefruit. Meet your new body bestie.”
While they’ve certainly included features (nutrient-rich, lasting hydration, enriched with shea butter, no sticky residue, grapefruit scent), they’ve also successfully connected to how these features are relevant to their customers (perfect for jumping out of the shower and right into jeans, or into clean sheets). They’ve solved the problem at hand of wanting to hydrate skin while also avoiding the struggle of putting on clothing immediately afterwards or leaving residue on sheets before bed. This passes the “So What” test. They also used the “you” language (“any time you need a quick moisture boost”) so the customer considers their own lives and when the problem has affected them. Bonus points? It ends on an action verb (“Meet your new body bestie”).
CONCLUSION
Still stuck on your business’s features vs benefits? Or maybe you’re too busy handling the business’s day to day needs. Sometimes it’s tough to distinguish between your features and benefits, especially when you’re spending everyday working on both for your business! Don’t worry. Muse Creative can help you restructure your advertising to reflect benefits and not features and conduct a full brand audit to ensure you’re telling a unified story. Contact us today to get started.