The Difference Between Features and Benefits
The Difference Between Features and Benefits
The common error among most new copywriters is that they provide the features when the customers want to know about the benefits.
So what’s the difference?
What your product has or does is features. They are facts and specifications. Imagine “10-hour battery life” or “Made with organic cotton.”
Those features have a benefit to the customer. They respond to the question: “So what? But how does this make my life better?
Consider a smartphone as an example:
- Feature: 50 megapixel camera
- Benefit: Get professional-looking, crystal-clear photos of your children.
See the difference? The feature is technical. The benefit is emotional and personal.
People don’t buy features. They purchase superior versions of themselves and answers to their issues.
Having a gym membership does not really require “access to about 50+ machines” (feature). It concerns” feeling confident in your body” or “having greater energy to play with your grandkids” (benefits).
It is a simple trick: whenever you write about a feature, you should ask yourself, “So what?” Continue probing until you get to the point that the customer is really interested in.
The next time you do product copy, remember to start your headlines with benefits. Later, you can refer to features as evidence to back your claims of benefits. Benefits sell. Features tell.
Good Post! As you said the majority of the new copywriters were lost in the confusion between features and benefits.
It would be useful to describe it in the following way: features are what the product is, benefits are what the product can give to the customers. The customers are not purchasing megapixels, machines, or material, they are purchasing confidence, ease, status, relief, time or peace of mind.
A practical exercise I use while doing my web copywriting:
Write the feature
First ask “So what?”
Then ask, “Why is that important to the customer?”
If your answer reaches an emotion, identity and real-life situation of your potential customer, then you wrote the right feature which benfit the customer.
For Example:
Feature: Automated Invoicing.
So what? Saves time
So what? Less admin work
So what? Give more time to focus on the core business.
Actual advantage: You finish work sooner and you stop thinking about invoices during the night.
And, you are right about the writing structure too, first talk about the benefits, then demonstrate it with the feature. This is the way to grab attention and keep credibility.
Features explain to people what you built.
Benefits explain to them the reason why they should care.