Great ads
always focus on how your product or
service will benefit the consumer.
Features represent facts about your
product or service; benefits however
communicate advantages to the
intended; the want, need or
desire that’s being sought
after.
Consumers do not want a
4,009 cc 4 liters V 6 front engine
with
100.4 mm
bore,
84.4 mm
stroke, 9.7 compression ratio,
overhead cam with two valves per
cylinder (Features); they want a
zippy, fast and sexy looking car
(Benefits). Consumers don’t buy big
engines, they buy fast cars.
Consumers don’t buy cold medicine;
they buy relief from cold symptoms.
They don’t buy drills; they buy
holes.
Telling
features, instead of selling
benefits is another one of the
costliest mistakes an ad writer can
make.Not only
does it bore the audience with dull
facts that they’re unlikely to
remember, but it also slows the
momentum of the sales message to
an often unbearable crawl,
losing the very expensive and wanted
attention of the target audience.
When you have a readers, viewers
or listener's attention don’t
give them any excuse to withdraw
it until you’ve finished your
pitch.
Every feature
that a product or service has can be
easily transformed into a benefit
that fulfills the consumers
wants, needs or desires. An
example feature vs. benefit for an
MP3 Player would be;
Feature
Benefit
20 GB of Storage
Stores up
to 2000 songs
USB Connector
Easily
connects to your home
computer to transfer songs
from CD’s and Internet sites
Uses 1 AA Battery
Listen up
to 10 hours on a single
battery
This feature
vs. benefit chart clearly shows that
it’s the benefits that count –
regardless of how much of a hard
core techno wiz you are, it’s not
about the 20 GB feature – it’s about
what the 20 GB of storage
feature will give you. Technical
features may excite a handful of
'tech-heads' and if you’re in the
know then you yourself will
translate the techno-babble into
benefits, however most people don’t
understand or want to understand it;
20 GB of Storage
doesn’t tell you anything meaningful
– Stores up to 2000 songs
however, tells you exactly what you
need to know.
If technical
specs are standard in your industry,
do include them; however do not make
them the focus of your offer.
Staying with the MP3 player example,
a standard telling feature's
pitch would look like;
This 20
GB MP3 player will have you dancing
till the cows come home with our USB
ready MP3 player. Uses one 'AA'
battery.
A benefit
rich selling offer would look
something like;
With the capacity to hold up to 2000 songs and last up to 10 hours on a single charge, this MP3 player will have you dancing till the cows come home. Connects easily to your Windows or Mac computer to transfer CDs and downloaded music files automatically. Uses one 'AA' battery.
And a benefit rich selling offer with technical specs would look something like;
With the capacity to hold up to 2000 songs and last up to 10 hours on a single AA battery, this 20GB MP3 player will have you dancing till the cows come home. Connects easily to your Windows or Mac computer’s USB port to transfer CDs and downloaded music files automatically.
Another example of benefit telling is:
'Our most popular ring features a 1.5 carat, square shaped white diamond with S12 clarity and an H color rating…' I’ll admit I’m no diamond connoisseur, but on several occasions I've purchased diamond rings for my beautiful wife… and yet I have no idea if the ring described above is something to ooh and awe over, or ignore for its unappealing qualities, how about you?
As business owners we often get caught in the features trap because we are too close to our business; we know the industry, the products and the competition like the back of our hand, and forget that the people seeing or hearing our ads don’t know what we know… We erroneously assume that because we know it,
it goes without saying… when it comes to advertising however it never goes without saying, always sell them with benefits – that emotional hook that satisfies their wants, needs and desires, then justify the choice with logic to seal the deal.
In later chapters you’ll learn more about feelings, emotion and logical selling and I’ll walk you through the process of transforming the attributes of a product or service into persuasive sales copy that will have your customers begging to buy your product or service.
Consumers like you and I desire benefits – we don’t care much for features, unless… you breathe life into the product or service by making it 3-D, by dimensionalization….
