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Tips on Writing Features vs. Benefits

Written by: Ingrid Cliff

Article Overview: Repeat after me – people buy benefits! And yet most small businesses still write their copy as if all someone is interested in are the details about their product. When someone wakes up in the morning and they are feeling cold they think "I need to get warm ". They don't wake up and think "I must go and buy a 5-bar radiant heater."

Tips on Writing Features vs. Benefits

Repeat after me – people buy benefits! And yet most small businesses still write their copy as if all someone is interested in are the details about their product.
When someone wakes up in the morning and they are feeling cold they think "I need to get warm ". They don't wake up and think "I must go and buy a 5-bar radiant heater."
When someone looks around their office and sees it looks grotty they think "I need to get a cleaner in to keep my office looking great" and not "I want someone with the latest in microfibre cloths to clean my desks".
People have problems in their lives. When someone spends money on a product or service, they are looking for solutions to their problems.
People may be interested in the features of your product in a sort of "gee will you look at that" kind of way, but unless the features actually do something to solve their problem, their wallets will remain firmly in their handbags and pockets.
Your goal is not to force people to buy your product or service, it is to share your product and service with people who have a problem and would benefit from your product or service. You want to get their attention and say "hey I hear you have a problem – I think this can help you".
By being totally clear on the benefits your product brings to people you are more likely to get their attention. If your product does what you say it does, then you solve that person's problems and as a result you both end up with a win-win.
How do you turn your features into benefits?
The first thing to do is to draw up your page with a minimum of 3 columns. List all of the features or characteristics of your product or service down the left hand column of a page.
In the middle column ask yourself the question – "Which means ..."?
So – if you have in your left column 5 bar radiant heater. If you ask yourself "Which means ..." one answer could be "it heats up really quickly".
In the last column ask yourself the question – "Which means ...?" again, this time about your answer you have just given. One answer could be "you and your family are warm and cosy quickly. Your kids don't have to shiver getting out of the bath".
Sometimes you really need to work hard on that last column as you are trying to identify the most exciting and influential benefits for your customer. You are looking for the things that will trigger the best response.
People respond most strongly when something connects with their personal values or emotional needs. Human Givens Psychotherapy has taken the work of Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs a step further. They suggest that each human looks to have their physical and emotional needs met in order to survive and grow.
Physical needs include:
• Food
• Shelter
• Air & water
• Sleep
• Nutritious food

Emotional needs include:
• Security
• Giving and receiving attention
• Sense of autonomy and control
• Being emotionally connected to others
• Feeling part of a wider community
• Friendship & intimacy
• Privacy
• Sense of status within social groupings
• Sense of competence and achievement
• Meaning and purpose

(Source Wikipedia)

What this means is when you are looking for the most powerful benefits, you are looking at benefits that will fulfil at least one of the emotional needs for people. You are looking to find ways for people to feel more secure, powerful, important, more in control, free, relaxed, loved, part of a community, with more time for themselves, like they have achieved something, fulfilled, proud or accepted.
Connecting a benefit with personal values is also extremely powerful. Your values are your internal compass. Everyone makes decisions and pays attention to things that are most aligned with their top values.
I particularly value the work of Dr John Demartini on defining our hierarchy of values. His theory says that we always spend our money on what is most important on our values system. If we value our children, we will spend our money on them and other things are left behind. If we value saving, then we save our money first.
By being clear on the emotional needs and the values that your product or service meets, you are better positioned to share this information with potential customers.
So ... get your final list of benefits and share them with the world in your web copy and your general marketing.

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Article Tags: cloths, desks, handbags, left column, left hand column, middle column, money, pockets, radiant heater, small businesses, wallets



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