Benefits of benefits

[Kevin Birch]

Morning guys

I am wondering if anyone here has a resource thats available to help me through the 'benefit jungle'?

I can easily find many, many features for my product, but I am having a bit a a nightmare turning those features into benefits.

Many thanks

Kevin

[John_S]

A rule of thumb: Any time you're talking about the product, it's a feature. Features exist even if you had zero customers or users.

Benefits occur through use. Benefits are what users use your product to achieve their goals. You're talking about benefits when you're talking about the achievement of user goals and objectives -- not tasks. Usually, a benefit would be the elimination of tasks, through technology, to reach some goal. So tasks are expendable.

The problem is technologists hate humans. Exhibit A is they eschew user testing. Exhibit B is they loath persona design. What they love is buzzwords. Buzzwords exist in a mysterious limbo -- they sound like they're promising something -- yet give no real benefit, threshold of quality, or promise of performance.

The reason techies resort to buzzwords is simple. They developed the product without understanding or knowing the customer.

Buzzwords give the illusion the tech firm can be anything to anybody, business to personal computing. It just doesn't work that way. But when you develop with nobody in particular in mind, that's what you're left with.

For technology, read the Content-Free Buzzword Compliant Vocabulary List is recommended reading.

Read The Inmates Are Running the Asylum by Cooper. The book is about personal goals, corporate goals, practical goals and false goals (with false goals the ones developers write software for).

Take scheduling software. One "false goal" is scheduling meetings. You put the fact of a meeting into the little box. One app was so good at this, users found they had to schedule "meetings" with themselves to get any work done.

Scheduling a meeting is a common feature. Benefits directed software development would focus on both eliminating meetings, and helping users manage and control the quality of meetings. Doable ...unless you consult a programmer.

One Hint: That you don't have the benefits to a target user in mind during development bodes ill for benefits suddenly showing up now.

[Daniel Scott]

Kevin,

First off... benefits often come through knowing your clients and what they PERCEIVE the benefits to be.

Essentially... the benefits are about how your product will enrich your client's life at the most basic level.

Usually this boils down to feeling good about themselves.

Feeling happier... safer... more free... sexier... these are all benefits.

Do a search through the copywriting forum... I think we discussed this about a month back.

Kind regards,

-Dan

[dorothydot]

Hi,

I go by a general rule-of-thumb:

features = facts

benefits = why the facts/features are there.

For example, the ever-loving pencil. It's the most vomitorious color yellow you'll ever see - that's a feature.

But if you are out in the woods doing a tree survey and you drop your only pencil... you can find it easily due to the yellow color. That's a benefit.

Does that help?

I am wearing a blue dress. That's a feature.

The dress's color sets off my red hair and makes me feel sexy and alluring to all who see me, so they can't help but stare at my awesome beauty. [yeah, right.] That is a benefit.

Hope this helps,
Dot

[Ross Bowring]

Kevin, if you can, share what your product is.

I'm sure many of us copywriters will volunteer some benefits.

[Anita Ashland]

Studying bullets, and getting good at writing them, helps train your eye to identify the benefits more easily.

Here's a post on Clayton Makepeace's blog that has some good tips about this.

[Raydal]

Here's one of my blog posts that you may find interesting:

Copywriting Tips And Tricks Forget Benefits

-Ray Edwards

[ghyphena]

Hello Kevin,

I suggest you play the "And That Means..." game:

Take any feature - like the polymer-frame construction on the Glock 19 I would own if only I were a US Citizen and not the subject of a gunphobic regime such as Great Britain.

It's got a ploymer frame.

And that means it weighs less than its all-steel counterparts.

And that means it's easier to carry around on you all day.

And that means you barely notice that your gun is on you as you go around your day-to-day business.

And that means you're less likely to get fed up with it and leave it at home.

And that means you'll have it with you if you ever need to use it.

You can even start again at the same feature and take it in different directions:

It's a polymer frame. And that means it's damn near indestructible. And that means it won't break if you drop it. Or in extreme cold. And that means you can rely on it no matter where you are. And that means peace of mind for you.

Playing the "And That Means..." game is fun and easy. And that means you can painlessly translate features into benefits. And that means you can write better copy, faster.

Gil-Ad

[lenlatimer]

Hi,
Here's a fast way. Write out your feature, such as -
"Our freezer stays at 37 degrees"

And then use the phrase, "That means"

"That means your steaks will never be frost bitten"

Of course the example is made up nonsense (lol), but you get the idea. It's a simple way to make you mind come up with the benefit.

[nomanbd]

Can you tell me more about your problem? I am little bid confuse.

[STKING]

Okay, love the "and that means", now I gotta get creative with all my sites.
That simple 3 word phrase is definitely powerful.

Gotta get to writing, I've been hanging out here for far too long!

[Kevin Birch]

Hiya - I am sure if you read the post from John_S above, you'll be a lot wiser . . .

Originally Posted by nomanbd

Can you tell me more about your problem? I am little bid confuse.

[Kevin Birch]

Thanks Ray for the link

Gyphema - love the 'and that means' approach

Thanks guys for all your responses - I will have a play tomorrow.