Focus on Benefits vs Features
In our 5-part series, Five Unexpected Ways to Make More Sales, our first article is titled: Focus on Benefits vs Features. If you’ve worked hard to create a product or service, it makes sense to promote the wonderful features your products offer. It takes a lot of time to create innovative products that outshine and outperform your competition and it’s reasonable to want to highlight the features to your market. What you may not realize is your market doesn’t really care about all the bells and whistles your products have, they care about…themselves.
People Care About What’s in it for Them
When it comes to conveying value, people care less about the features of goods and services and more about how those goods and services will solve their problems or make their lives easier. Think about a product like shampoo. People don’t buy shampoo; they buy clean hair. Focusing on the features of shampoo won’t entice sales as much as focusing the benefits of using a particular shampoo. Since most shampoos essentially do the same thing, it makes more sense to focus on the benefits of the shampoo than its features.
Knowing what benefit your target audience is after helps. If your target market is woke, environmentally conscious, vegans then your messaging would include points like this-
- Won’t harm the environment
- No animal testing
- Contains no animal products
When the benefits match the needs of the customer, the features become a secondary motivator.
How Do You Focus on Benefits for Marketing Purposes?
It’s easier to list features when you’ve spent countless hours creating goods and services for your market. You may have created new technologies that competitors don’t offer or are able to solve problems for less time and money. It makes sense to want to focus on features hoping the market infers their benefits, but it doesn’t always work that way.
You can help your customer see the benefits of the important features by how you tell the story. These tips will help-
Tip: Think about the buyer’s journey – Buyers go through three phases to make a purchase. They become aware of a need, consider their options, make a decision. Their need is based on solving a problem. When you focus on how your products solve specific problems, the right buyer is attracted to your product.
Tip: Ask yourself what the benefits of the features are- If you aren’t sure how to highlight the benefits vs the features of your goods and services, make a list. Start with the features you think benefit the client most. Next, come up with two or three benefits. An example could be-
Feature: An alarm clock with adjustable brightness and a choice of alarm tones
Benefit: Uninterrupted, restful night’s sleep
Benefit: User controls their wake-up experience
Tip: Use the 80/20 rule – Sometimes the features of goods and services are too good to downplay. When it serves your customer, showcase both the features and benefits by sharing benefits 80% of the time and features 20%. An example could be –
Product X
- Saves time
- Boosts productivity
- Grows your business
- Integrates with most software
- Generates daily reports
This example lists three benefits and two features.
Putting an emphasis on how your goods and services benefit others may be a superior marketing choice. Consider what’s in it for your customer and focus your marketing to convey that message.
This article is part 1 of a 5-part series called, Five Unexpected Ways to Make More Sales, you may also like to read:
- Part 2: Increase Your Email Engagement
- Part 3: Ask Your Customers for What they Want
- Part 4: Stop Hiding! People Buy from People they Like
- Part 5: Make Customer Engagement Your Top Priority
We’d love to hear which tip you will implement first. Share in the comments below.
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