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Sell the hole not the drill: The difference between benefits and features

When it comes to product/services descriptions we’ve all had the misfortune to read the ramblings of a lunatic copy editor who believes in his heart that this is the way to sell a product:

‘The Donkey Kong 3000, laser Wi-Fi 802.11n cloud connected super-duper geographically independent data access node.’

What!?

Unless you happen to have a subscription to ‘Router Monthly’ (and I sincerely hope you don’t) then the above will mean absolutely nothing, and in some cases will not even point in the general direction of a product – let alone one you need or want to buy. The same is true of services. If all the information you get is a list of letters after the doctor’s name, telling you that she is MB, BCh, BAO, MBChB, MBBChir, BMBCh, MBBCh, BMBS, BMed, BM – it’s not very helpful except to let you know she is very qualified – but in what exactly?

Whilst the features of your product or service are very important and shouldn’t be overlooked, people tend to gravitate towards things that they know will help them – by solving a problem, making something easier or just because they want it.

To let a consumer know these things you need to focus on benefits. This means shifting the focus from ‘How’ to ‘What’. By doing this you tell people what the product will do for them in reality, not a copy editors head (which is obviously full of bats). The woolly description of a router above becomes a paragraph on the speed, reliability and location free use of the device – it does A, B and C making it better, faster and cheaper than X, Y and Z.

An easy way to write clear copy, highlighting benefits, is to start with a list of features. For each feature write one corresponding benefit. For example:

Feature – The bike has 21 gears.

Benefit – This means that you can easily get up that huge mountain you’ve been longing to ride.

Another exercise, which can help you see the potential of your product/service is to take a feature and ask the question – why does it have/need that? The answer (and hopefully there is one) is your benefit. For example:

Feature – The phone comes in multiple colours.

Why does it need that?

Benefit – This allows you to express your personality through your choice of colour.

Take a feature and activate it. Make it about what it does and what it will do for you. The biggest mistake any product/service or business makes is not paying attention to the distinction between features and benefits and therefore failing to market the right way to the people who would want to use them (if only they knew).

The benefits will entice and reel in your ideal customers. If you get it right your endeavour will shine above the rest like a bat signal drawing all eyes to the wonder of ‘The Donkey Kong 3000’.

Activate your business and the benefits will be obvious.