Features vs benefits copywriting: why selling benefits beats features
Features vs Benefits Copywriting
In copywriting, there are many ways to sell and get your product or service in front of people. Writing about the features of a product is one way to get your message across. Or, writing about the benefits of your service or product is another way of messaging. There are differences between the two and each has an advantage in marketing.
I will first cover what is a benefit and what is a feature in copywriting. Then I will cover some ways to include both in your copywriting. This is part of writing more engaging website copy. It is also used in email marketing.
What is a Benefit?
The benefit is the result users purchase and will experience (hopefully). When using the product a user becomes a true customer. Images via WebEngage Monk Even at its simplest it could feel counterintuitive that people don't want to spend more money on something to buy something because the consumer wants to purchase a solution for the problem if the problem is solved. Typical features vs benefits of such umbrellas could be its non-breakable spokes or wind-resistant construction which helps them stay dry during heavy winds.
Advantage describes the significance of a feature and explains its solution to problems often in a tangible way. Benefit, however, is subjective and appeals to the emotions of prospective customers and prospects. Essentially advantage is what makes feature matters and advantages are the reason the difference between features of advantage vs. disadvantage is important.
Features are important functions or components of a service. The term benefit refers to ways the functionality of the product can improve customer experiences. For instance, an oven has the ability to heat up in a full 5 minutes.
What is a Feature?
Features are factual statements about the specifications, features matter components, functions or performance of a product. They try to answer the question - so what makes this brand or product unique or different from alternatives?
For example, features of a smartphone may include things like:
Screen size
Camera megapixels
RAM and processor speed
Storage capacity
Battery life
Features are essential to include in the copy because they demonstrate credible product attributes. They provide evidence of what the software product is capable of selling and delivering.
As a business owner, website, and copywriter, your goal is to educate potential customers on your website about the key features that make the product well-suited to meet their needs. You want your website to highlight the most meaningful differentiators versus competitors.
However, don't forget to get too caught up in the idea of features. While important for credibility, they don't provide emotional value to users on their own. You have to translate features into meaningful customer benefits. But features are still a key component of compelling copy.
How To Differentiate Product Features From Benefits
First, you dig into data, understanding your brand and target audience and their wants, needs, frustrations, and goals. You want to grasp their worldview before considering the right candidates for marketing and product features.
Once you understand the customer mindset, you can objectively list all of the features three benefits, and capabilities of the product line or service. This is just a matter of you gathering facts without any spin at this point.
Then comes the strategic part - translating those features into customer benefits. You put yourself in the shoes of users in the target audience and consider how each new feature would map to a benefit they would care about. Sometimes one feature can enable multiple different benefits.
As you outline the idea of the software in product descriptions and benefits, you make sure they are focused on the end result for the customer rather than how the product works. For example, rather than saying "our proprietary algorithm delivers more accurate results," you would say "you can make confident decisions knowing the data is extremely precise."
Finally, you will pare down the list to the 3-5 strongest benefits that resonate most with the target audience and tie closely to their consumer goals. These will be the pillars you build your copy around.
By leading with audience understanding rather than product features, you can craft copy that speaks directly to what the customers care about. The end result is messages centered more on sales and around meaningful benefits rather than lifeless features.
Why Are Features and Benefits Often Confused?
When it comes to effective copywriting, you always want to lead with the benefits for the customer rather than just listing out product features. As a copywriter, my job is to understand the customer’s deepest needs and paint a picture of how your product or service fulfills those needs in an emotive and relatable way.
I like to start by identifying your biggest differentiator - the most compelling promise you offer customers. That key benefit should be front and center in headlines and opening paragraphs to immediately grab the reader's attention. From there, I use vivid, descriptive language to convey how it will make the reader feel - relieved from stress, confident in their decisions, and accomplished in reaching a goal. The goal is to create an emotional connection and help them envision the benefits coming to life in their own life.
An important technique I use is storytelling. By framing benefits in a narrative structure, I can walk readers through a scenario where they are achieving the benefit they crave with the help of your product. It allows me to highlight the improvements over their current frustrated status quo in a tangible, relatable way.
Throughout the copy, I maintain the “you” perspective, focusing on how “you” will realize these benefits rather than dwelling on product features. I also make sure to give examples and address any potential drawbacks head on. Customers appreciate when you acknowledge where solutions might fall short. It builds trust and confidence in the honesty of your claims.
In essence, I structure the copy around customer needs. I want readers to feel understood. Effective copywriting demonstrates you grasp the reader’s desires and provide meaningful benefits, not just promote product features. Let me know if you have any other questions!
As a copywriter, you need to understand the key differences between a product's features vs others and the difference between features vs benefits and customer benefits. This will help you write persuasive copy.
A feature refers to an aspect or capability of a product or service. It is an objective fact about what it is or does. Features are important because they provide credibility by demonstrating what makes the offering unique.
A benefit, on the other hand, is a desirable outcome or value that a customer would gain from a feature. It focuses on the end result for the customer rather than how a product works. Benefits are critical in many marketing and sales campaigns because they forge an emotional connection with consumers by showing how the product improves a customer's life.
For example, a smartphone camera may have a feature like "12MP resolution." That's just stating a fact. The benefit is that customers can "capture life's memories in vivid, high-quality photos." The benefit point is what matters to consumers most, not features alone.
As a copywriter, your goal is to bridge the difference between features and benefits. The features provide credibility and evidence that the benefits are possible. But you lead with the benefits since those align with what the customer actually cares about at the end of the day saving time and money.
By always connecting back to benefits rather than getting stuck on features, you craft copy that resonates emotionally and drives action. Lead with the benefits, and back up with the features. That's the key to persuasive copywriting.
Why good sales copy includes both features and benefits
Features lay the factual foundation - They demonstrate what the product or service objectively does and what makes it unique. Features establish credibility in selling the offering.
Benefits build on that foundation emotionally - They take those features and make them meaningful by connecting them to customer needs and desires. Benefits resonate on an emotional level.
Used together, features, advantages, and benefits complement each other:
Features establish proof points that the benefits are possible. They add legitimacy.
Benefits bring features to life. They help people visualize the value.
Features appeal to rational decision making while benefits appeal to emotions. You need both for a well-rounded copy.
Customers often scan for benefits first while also seeking evidence of features. Together they provide full information.
Using a Benefit vs Feature Matrix
One way to keep things organized is to use software or create a Feature-Benefit matrix to buy things and keep everything clear and organized.
As a copywriter, you rely on benefit-feature matrices to map product features to customer benefits when creating persuasive marketing messages.
To build one of these matrices, you first list out all of the technical details about the capabilities and specifications of the product in a features column. This captures the concrete facts about what the offering is and does.
Next, in the benefits column, you translate those features into desirable outcomes and solutions for the customer. You put yourself in their shoes - how does each feature satisfy wants, address frustrations, or enable goals?
The goal is to outline how every feature ladders up to one or more compelling user benefits. Any features that don't map well to benefits get deprioritized or cut.
Once your matrix is complete, you have an aligned overview of how this product delivers tangible value to customers. This becomes a helpful reference as you write copy and marketing material.
Now you can pull strong benefit-focused headlines and topic sentences directly from the matrix. Supporting copy provides proof points by using examples and linking back to examples of the features.
This ensures your copy stays focused on what the customer cares about rather than getting lost in product details highlighting the features vs. benefits and cost. The end result - persuasive copy that resonates by leading with benefits backed up by features.