Features vs benefits. Nothing new here – features are the most salient aspects of your offering; benefits describe their positive impacts on users.
Trouble is, as product creators and communicators, we are drawn to features, often forgetting that customers just want to know how their lives might be improved by taking a punt on our handiwork.
Product launch day arrives and, ouch, all that frantic cheering and hand waving – ignored.
Policing the natural born infatuation with ourselves is tough. We’re fantastically receptive to our own brilliance and handiwork.
When you’ve sweated blood into creation, the urge to celebrate all the shiny special bits is irresistible.
No wonder so much marketing promotion is as self absorbed as the average LinkedIn update, which invariably starts with “I”…. I’m so excited, so pleased … look where I am today, what I’ve achieved. And so on.
Me, me, me.
Attempts to intrigue an audience, be they LinkedIn followers or potential customers, falls flat, simply because our messages fail to pique curiosity or appeal to feelings.
There’s no mystery, no possibility of discovering something a potential customer might want to find out.
Instead, we’re distracted by our own reflection and its wonderful features.
Great brands avoid this trap.
They know their customers and their emotional triggers, and communicate with powerful hooks.
Here are a few examples:
L’Oreal
Feature: Improve the appearance of your hair
Benefit: Feel attractive
Expression: “Because you’re worth it.”
The Economist
Feature: Journalism excellence
Benefit: Get more informed
Expression: “Where do you stand?”
Spark
Feature: New Zealand’s largest telecommunications and digital services company
Benefit: Win big in the digital world
Expression: “Unleash your potential.”
Mitre 10
Feature: Exceptional staff and service
Benefit: Confidence to do the job right
Expression: “With you all the way.”
And here’s one Vernacular conjured for NZME.
NZME Trade
Feature: Delivering the news, entertainment, and information more Kiwis prefer.
Benefit: Life is better when you’re in the know
Expression: “Now you know.”
Embrace your features, but don’t stop there.
Look through the eyes of your ideal customer to understand how your offering makes things better than the status quo. And then explain it in a way that shows how the change will make them feel.