Definition: A product or service's customer-oriented strengths; statements of a
valuable product or service feature, with an emphasis on what the
customer gets from the products
Many small-business marketers assume that prospects will
understand why they should buy their product or service just
because they've been told about it. Thus, business owners only
communicate the features of their product or service to prospective
customers and neglect to mention the benefits.
Take a look at the list of features below, taken directly from
current advertising and marketing materials:
- Self-setting clock on a DVD player
- 50-number speed dial
- Open 24 hours
Each is a feature--a factual statement about the product or
service being promoted. But features aren't what entice customers
to buy. That's where benefits come in. A benefit answers the
question "What's in it for me?" meaning the feature provides the
customer with something of value to them. So--and this is where
most businesses go wrong--that must mean:
- The benefit of a self-setting clock is
convenience.
- The benefit of 50-number speed dial is fewer
keystrokes.
- The benefit of a store open 24 hours is you can
shop there whenever you want.
While these may seem like true benefits, they're really just
elaborations on the features. So what is truly a benefit?
The best way to understand the true benefit of your product or
service--or to answer the "What's in it for me?" question--is to
focus instead on results. A customer's perception of each feature's
results is what attracts him or her to a particular product or
service. When someone chooses a VCR with a self-setting clock, the
assumption is that the benefit is convenience, but the actual
results are that they don't have to read the instructions, watch a
blinking 12:00, and, most important, feel stupid. Those results are
the true benefits.
When you try to sell the features of your product or service,
you're making the customer do all the work to figure out why they
want the feature. It's in a seller's best interest to draw the
connection for them. But to do that, you have to know the results
yourself. Let's take another look at that features list to see the
possible benefits from the customer's point of view:
- Self-setting clock: I won't feel dumb!
- 50-number speed dial: I can keep in touch with my best
customers without effort, and I won't get frustrated
misdialing.
- Open 24 hours: When my pregnant wife craves pickles and ice
cream at 4 a.m., I won't have to disappoint her.
By this time, you should be mentally going over every sales
pitch or marketing message you've been using with great trepidation
and rightly so. If you look carefully and honestly, you'll most
likely find that your benefits are really just more features.