Benefits versus Features — What Does It Do for You?

You are in your favorite mobile phone provider’s store to purchase a new mobile phone. You have been on-line searching for which phone to purchase.

In your search, you have seen two ads. The first emphasized a new chip and processor speed, stating it is the fastest chip used in a mobile phone. The other highlighted its new chip saying it made apps run seamlessly including editing photos and using complex spreadsheets. To do this it has a new powerful chip and software.

Let’s dissect the difference. The first ad emphasizes a product feature — the processor speed. The ad’s creator assumes you will translate speed into benefits for you. The second goes directly to the benefits — running apps seamlessly. The difference — features vs. benefits. Processor speed is a feature; running apps seamlessly is a benefit.

If you are a consumer electronics aficionado, you may be able to translate processor speed into its benefits. However, most consumers can not and you almost certainly can not in other categories. For example, let’s talk about household products. Do you know which chemical (a feature) is important when selecting dishwasher detergent or toothpaste? Or do you simply know which product benefits are most important to you — clean dishes and no cavities?

Procter and Gamble has built a consumer product empire by its ability to focus on benefits, not features. Here are some of the benefits they focus on for their products — tooth decay prevention (not fluoride), cleaner clothes (not enzymes), white strips (not chemicals to whiten teeth). While chemical and technical expertise is required to develop its products, Procter and Gamble rarely, if ever, emphasizes features, instead concentrating its ads on benefits.

You may think this is a nuance not worth noting but it isn’t. Benefits are what the product does for me; features are how the benefits are produced.

The difference for an entrepreneur is looking inside-out versus outside-in. Features are inside-out, benefits are outside-in. The temptation for an entrepreneur is to emphasize the features not the benefits because the entrepreneur has worked hard to create the product’s features and unfortunately becomes fixated on the features and does not ask what are the benefits of the product. The difficult question is: “What does a product or service do for my customers?” Not what technology did I use to produce it.

The requirement for the entrepreneur is:

Focus your marketing on articulating the benefits (not features) customers want

In other words, how does my product or service benefit the customer? If you can answer this question, you are on your way to be a better marketer.

If you want to learn more about Focusing on Benefits not Features, you can download our free two-page worksheet here.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed it, hit that heart button below. Would mean a lot to us and it helps other people see the story.