As consumers — both of the online and offline variety — we are all under fairly constant barrage from marketers and salespeople. It’s the nature of business. Produce a product or service that folks either need, want, or can be convinced somehow of either. Repeat and profit.
Well now that we’ve covered the obvious of what makes sales and business tick (yep… by selling things), let’s dig into the lingo that gets tossed around in the selling process. Particularly, let’s consider the big difference between "benefits" and "features." After all, on the web when it comes to software and technical products especially, these two concepts come up over and over again.
So why don’t we begin with the "Key Features of Benefits" and then take a look at the "Key Benefits of Features?" Alright, alright… promise not to do that again!
What Is A Benefit?
A benefit is simply something that will prove valuable to the customer; it is something that:
- Adds value;
- Makes life or business easier;
- Simplifies a process;
- Saves time;
- Removes steps from a process;
- Enables the possibility of increasing profit;
- And so on and so forth…
In other words, a benefit is the "what’s in it for them." And don’t forget, if you happen to be the party in the transaction that’s doing the selling, clearly defining your product’s benefits to your potential customers always works better than simply telling them how great your product is — show them how it’s going to help them. That’s what benefits are all about!
What Is A Feature?
A feature is something more specific about a product or what specifications it has (more so than what it actually offers to the customer). For example, a feature:
- Explains some kind of product or service specification or technical detail;
- Can be the reason behind a promised benefit;
- Usually works hand-in-hand with other features of the product to make a better product.
Talking about features is a lot like talking about yourself. And there’s nothing wrong with explaining all of the things that make you tick at all. But if you really want to capture the attention of the person you’re conversing with, you’ve got go beyond simply telling them about yourself — you need to discuss their topics too, right? Well, talking about their topics is like discussing benefits and talking about yours is more like discussing features.
A benefit can be a feature, but a feature is not necessarily a benefit. Or if you want to think of it like this: features are the components and parts of a product or service that add up to make a benefit to the product’s user or buyer.
Bottom line? Sell your customers by clearly explaining the benefits of your products — not just the list of features.
Until Next Time.
George Chaney
President/CEO
SEO King, Inc.
