Features Vs Benefits And Where The Real Money Is Made
You can look at the sales materials of the vast majority of products or services being sold today and will usually see a description of the features and the benefits that help to describe the item a little bit better to the consumer. The features are those descriptions of what exactly the product is, while the benefits are those descriptions of what the product actually does.
Here's an example...pretend you are marketing an IPOD. Well the feature of the IPOD would be that it can store up to 80 gigabites of music and video. The benefit of the IPOD is that you can take your music and video wherever you go without having to take your computer with you.
To help your potential customer make an informed decision as to whether or not purchase your product it is important that both the features and the benefits be present. This is because they are both important factors that a target prospect should know in making an informed decision.
With that being mentioned, you would remember this very important slogan...
Facts tell, stories sell.
The features of the product are the facts. The facts tell you more information about the product. The stories are the benefits of the product. The stories sell you on the product. One of the biggest mistakes people who don't understand marketing make is that they use their marketing to go over all of the features of the product and don't spend enough time focusing on the benefits.
For example, if you are selling an e-book, it's fine to let the prospect know that the ebook is 85 pages, include some of the chapters and topics that the ebook covers and let them know that the ebook is in PDF format. All of this information is important and a prospect cannot make a buying decision without knowing this vital information. However, this information is not what's going to make the prospect make the decision to buy.
Don't forget what I mentioned earlier, facts tell, stories sell.
What will make the prospect make the decision to buy is by sharing the benefits of the e-book. You should be talking about what the prospect can experience as a result of purchasing the ebook such as what they will be able to be, do, and have after their purchase.
I was reading a sales letter the other day and here's a line that gives you a perfect example of a powerful benefit. The line was in all red letters and it said the following:
"Here's how you can turn your passion or hobby into a 6-to-7 figure income"
Think about it.
Who DOESN'T want to earn a 6-to7 figure income doing what they love? Everybody would like to make that type of money doing what they love. That's what makes this benefit very powerful. You want to make sure that you do the same in your marketing. You will drastically increase your overall sales and make the money you want to make with your business by including the benefits associated with your product or service along with the features.