I've been on a reading binge and I'm loving it. From the Big Moo to Getting Business to Come to You, it's new media to traditional marketing and niche development in between. It's been fascinating and relevant. One of the questions that came up in today's teleclass on Effective Email Campaigns was, "What's the difference between a feature and a benefit?" The short answer is: features are intrinsic to the product or service, benefits are extrinsic—they're about the consumer.
Clear as mud? Let's take a closer look at what that really means. Chapter 5 of Getting Business to Come to You has a whole list of features and benefits that really made sense to me of what the difference was. Let's take a look at a few examples:
- Feature/Fact: The accountant is a CPA.
Benefit: You can rely on her knowledge. You won't go to jail or lose everything you have. - Feature/Fact: The milk is pasteurized.
Benefit: Your family won't get sick. - Feature/Fact: The milk is raw.
Benefit: Insert your perceived benefit here. - Feature/Fact: The cleaning service is bonded.
Benefit: You don't have to worry about theft or damage. - Feature/Fact: The flatware is sterling.
Benefit: You'll impress your guests, you'll feel more important, you'll enjoy its beauty.
Benefits are highly personal. For example, let's take a look at the benefits a potential customer looks for when buying a car...
- It wasn't the gas mileage; it was the additional money you'll have each month to spend on something else.
- It wasn't the colour; it was how the colour makes you feel (excited, sophisticated, elegant).
- It wasn't the car's image; it was how you'll appear to other people by owning this car: successful, economical, young, carefree.
- It wasn't the engine's power; it was the sense of power you feel as you accelerate.
A throat lozenge salesman isn't selling to soothe sore throats; he's selling revenue to pharmacies. The features of the throat lozenge are the same regardless of the audience you're selling, but the benefits belong to the consumer of that stage of the sales cycle. Compare benefit shopping to expert shoppers who are feature shopping. Describing the benefit of, "Healthy Gourmet Food" is useless to an expert shopper who is looking for the specific features: "Low fat, no wheat, no dairy."
Your customers aren't stupid, they're just busy. You need to make it really easy for them to buy from you. You want to help them by educating them on the benefits of your product, and by asking them to realize the benefits available to them by shopping with you. The ask is important. If you don't feel confident enough in your services and products to ask qualified buyers to purchase them, why would they buy from you?
