One of the most common errors in selling a product or service is using its characteristics and not based on its benefits to the consumer.

The characteristics of a product or service describe its appearance, components, capabilities, or scope.

On the other hand, the benefits describe the advantages or the value that it offers to your buyer.

People are always going to relate better to profits.

In this post, we will see how to discover the most attractive benefits of your product or service to motivate your prospects to become customers.

THE DIFFERENCE

The difference between features and benefits is noticeable.

For instance

Suppose I buy an all-terrain truck (4 x 4). In that case, the fact that it is all-terrain (the characteristic) does not motivate me much to go to the mountains or drive on the beach with it, without problems (the benefit).

It will always be easier to write the characteristics of what you offer. Still, it is also essential to take advantage of each characteristic for your customers.

HOW TO DISCOVER THE BENEFIT OF FEATURES

For this, there is a straightforward process.

Step 1: Make a list of the main characteristics of your product or service.

Step 2: Ask yourself how does this feature makes life easier or more fun for my clients?

And from this question will come the benefits.

For example, an iPod:

Main feature: 10GB memory

How does this feature make life easier or more fun?

More than 10,000 songs in your pocket.

Always keep in mind that not all your consumers will have the technical knowledge that you have and may not understand the benefit of 10GB of memory right away.

This characteristic must be translated into a more understandable and relatable language:

”Take with you wherever you go more than 10,000 songs.”

People do not buy the product or service for what it is but for what it can do for them.

BENEFIT + FEATURE

The way to create more effective advertising messages is to start with the benefits of the product. This way, you will be appealing to the motivation of your prospects which will make them take action more quickly.

Then you can support the benefits using the features as when a benefit is related to a specific feature of the product; this will give it more credibility in the consumer’s mind.

For example, this pill relieves pain quickly without irritating the stomach (benefit) because it is made with natural ingredients (feature)

Before concluding this post, I want to leave you this reflection to help you clarify this matter even more:

“People don’t buy a drill; they buy a hole in the wall.”

or, um, I don’t know, maybe you can say it better.

In future posts, we will see other marketing basics that will make your advertising more effective.