The ideology behind why features tell, but benefits sell
Do you think there's any truth to this? Do features only tell, and benefits sell? Well, let's see why we should focus on benefits rather than features as the great marketing wizards, David Ogilvy and Steve Jobs proved to be the best examples leveraging this method.
Features vs Benefits
As you know, features describe the attributes of a product or a service. It answers the “What" - exploring the functionalities and persuading prospects about what it does. On the other hand, benefits sell the result. It explains the “Why" - focusing on the result 'that customers' yield.
When pitching a product, getting a little obsessed with the product's features, and explaining it in detail is natural. And we're not saying it's wrong to position the features that distinguish your product from your competitors. But before that, it's important to think about what end-users want. Everyone is looking for simple solutions that could solve problems, and make things better. Benefits convince the users to listen to your pitch, as it is more focused on providing them solutions to their business problems.
So, where does the feature description fit in your narrative? Once convincing your audience about the benefits, showcasing the features intrigues and engages them. Let's assume you are looking for better ways to store and automate your customer information. You find a descriptive blog suggesting efficient ways to manage your leads data. It also gives a footnote about how a CRM could solve your problem. Now that you've got the solution, you start to compare different CRM solutions and their features to see which best fits your business. It applies to your target audience as well. By first convincing your audience briefing the benefits and then leveraging the features closing a deal proves to be an agile method to win more sales.
Feature and benefits of iPod
In 2001, Apple launched its iPod, the mp3 song player that changed the way we listened to music. Steve Jobs introduced the iPod as, "1000 songs in your pocket". Had he emphasized more on the feature stating, “We are presenting iPod - the largest storage, mp3 digital media song player", it wouldn't address the "Why', and it wouldn't have caught the imagination of the consumers the way it did. The pitch rightly positioned the benefit, making the product a huge success. More than 400 million iPods sold and transformed Apple into one of the most valuable companies in the world.
How to reposition features as benefits?
So far, we understood the importance of prioritizing benefits over features. Now, we will see how to transform features into benefits.
'Talk' to your customers through your writing
“If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think. We try to write in the vernacular” - David Ogilvy.
The father of advertising, David Ogilvy was one of the most successful advertisers during the 60s. His notions regarding marketing and advertising played an incredible role in promoting big brands, and are relevant to this date. He emphasized that understanding your customer pain points helps you to talk the way your customers talk. When you identify their problems, you can easily draft content that is more relatable to them. It addresses their needs. When you tailor your content to your customer's pain points, you wouldn't have to chase after them, they will come to you. To identify their challenges, here are some platforms you could explore:
Market survey - By surveying your target customers, you directly interact with them to find out what is lacking and how you can slide in the gap.
Review sites - Your own user community site and other relevant review sites like Yelp, Trip Advisor, and Am track customer complaints.
Social media - Social media is a powerful tool to draw public’s attention. Perform social listening to check if there are any customer complaints about your competitors.
Keeping a tab on some of the platforms mentioned above will help you to understand your customer pain points and lets you optimize the sales pitch that best resonates with them. Gathering this data is only the first step. Deep analysis into niche areas using these data points enables you to profile and pitch to your customers better.
Ask so what
To 'talk' to your customers through your writing, just ask, "So what?", a simple yet powerful question that flips your features into benefits. This strategy aids in simplifying the content and answers the purpose of the product. Let’s see some of the examples:
Mp3 song player with 5 gigabytes storage
So what?
1000 songs in your pocket
SEO page optimization
So what?
Rank first in google
Portable wireless BlueTooth speaker
So what?
Carry the speaker anywhere you go
1.5 ton, 3 Star spilt AC
So what?
Bring Antarctica to your room
Analog, water-resistant watch
So what?
Be playful without removing your watch
When your content passes the 'so-what' test, it indicates that your draft is customer-friendly and focused. Feature or benefit is not the dispute. Both should be used wisely to craft a selling content.
Access your files securely from anywhere
Centralize Knowledge. Transform Learning.
All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Shaveethira G
Sticky Posts
10 simple e-commerce marketing tips to boost sales
Congratulations! You've finally set up that e-commerce store you've been thinking about for a long time. Hopefully it wasn't too difficult. Even if it was, the effort will be totally worth it when you start seeing some orders come through. Now that the store is live, let's take a look at some marketing tips you can apply for sales growth. 1. Avoid cart abandonment If you've ever shopped online, you might have added a product to the cart but then decided not to purchase it. This is known as cart abandonment.Marketing in a post COVID-19 world!
Consumers across countries are increasingly spending more time on a wide variety of digital activities, right from online grocery shopping, to video conferencing, to tele-medicine. There is a good chance that you performed one or more of the following activities during this lockdown, thanks to COVID 19: Cooked a meal Made a TikTok Video Signed up for a remote learning session Consulted a doctor online (or ordered medicines online) Shopped for groceries online A study by Hunter, a food and beverageInbound Marketing 101: The Foundational Blocks of Inbound Marketing Strategy
According to a behaviour survey, 68% of the buyers use sources such as blogs to evaluate the product even before considering it. Before buying a product, we do a lot of research to learn more about the product through communities, blogs, social media,How Zylker doubled their webinar registrations!
Webinars are good educational resources to gather qualified leads for your product. But what if your visitors are dropping off from your webinar landing page without signing up? What more could you do to convert visitors into registrants? This is theThe ideology behind why features tell, but benefits sell
Do you think there's any truth to this? Do features only tell, and benefits sell? Well, let's see why we should focus on benefits rather than features as the great marketing wizards, David Ogilvy and Steve Jobs proved to be the best examples leveraging
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
Zoho TeamInbox Resources
Zoho CRM Plus Resources
Zoho Books Resources
Zoho Subscriptions Resources
Zoho Projects Resources
Zoho Sprints Resources
Qntrl Resources
Zoho Creator Resources
Zoho CRM Resources
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
zohoからの自動メールについて
zohoからの自動メールにおいてちょっと困ったことが起こっており、サポートにも相談中なのですが ほかの方にも同現象が発生していないか相談したい。 ▼事象 zohoからの自動メールにおいて時折「このメールが送信者からのものであると確認できないため、このメールに安全に返信できない可能性があります」とメーラーから警告が出る。 ▼状況 発信元：設定した独自ドメイン SPF/DKIM設定：済 利用メーラー：outlook 発生頻度：稀（連続するときもあるが、パタッとでなくなる時もある） サポートへの連絡：ただいま継続相談中Using Deluge scripting to create/update data in TabularSections
I am having following Form structure with some other usual fields, and a tabular section which allows putting question, self rating and lead rating. (pic below) I am trying to create a record of this form via Deluge, but can't figure out way to populateZoho Recruit: How to link lookup fields using record ID instead of name during import?
Hi, I'm having an issue with lookup fields in Zoho Recruit during data import. When I import records into a module that includes a lookup field (e.g., to an Interview record), Zoho Recruit matches the lookup by the display name (string) instead of theAdd a "Success" Route to the "Forward to Operator" Card in Zobot
Hello Zoho SalesIQ Team, We hope you're doing well. We would like to request an enhancement to the "Forward to Operator" card in Zobot. Current Limitation: At present, the "Forward to Operator" card provides the following routes: Operator Not AvailablePower of Automation :: Auto-update Project status based on Tasklist completion
Hello Everyone, A Custom function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:Multi Module Lookup Fields
🎯 Use Case: In many custom implementations, especially those involving financial tracking, service operations, or project-based work, a single record (e.g. an invoice or bill) often relates to one of several different modules — but only one at a time.Introducing AI Modeler—a no-code approach to adding AI to your business applications
Forward-thinking businesses today are embracing AI to make life easier for themselves, their employees, and their customers. But if you haven't started yet, you might be concerned that your business will be left behind. Or maybe you're worried becauseZoho People how do i view the history of leave taken
Hi All What is the report that i am unable to view the history of the leave taken for an individual and team?UK Registration for VAT with existing stock/inventory
We have an existing inventory of stock and are investigating how to handle the conversion from a UK VAT unregistered company to a UK VAT registered company. Enabling VAT registered status looks extremely easy, but we cannot find any way within Books toTrigger action after workflow
I would like to trigger a deluge function after the approval workflow is complete. Is this possible? The objective is to take the approved document and move it over to Zoho Contracts to send out to our customer for review and signature. The reason weUnable To Enable Google Calendar Sync
Hi Folks, I am unable to enable google calendar sync. I get Internal Error, Problem Occurred Internally. Screenshot attached. How do I solve this?Export to Zoho CRM Not Triggering Workflow Rules
Hello, I have set up an automated export from DataPrep to Leads in CRM but none of my Workflow Rules are triggering once the leads are created. The Timeline history is completely empty in every lead. How can I fix this issue? Do I need to set up a Schedule【Zoho Projects】サンドボックス機能（テスト環境）リリースのお知らせ
本投稿は、本社のZoho コミュニティに投稿された以下の記事を参照し作成したものです。 Sandbox - Your Secure Testing Space in Zoho Projects ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 本投稿では、Zoho Projects のサンドボックス機能リリースについてご紹介します。 サンドボックス（テスト環境）とは？ Zoho Projects の「サンドボックス」は、新たな設定を作成、検証、そして既存の処理を妨げることなく本番環境に適用することができるテスト環境です。Sending from domain alias
In the Control Panel/Domains, I have set up some domains as aliases for my main domain. Only my main domain has mail hosting. The other domains are verified as aliases for the main domain, and emails sent to <user>@<alias domain> arrive successfully atDifficult to Purchase More users
It's surprisingly difficult and un-intuitive to purchase more user licenses in Zoho One under the new UI. It's not actually possible to do it anywhere from the admin interface. You have to leave the admin/directory section, then click your profile icon,How to link web sales payments through Stripe to invoices?
I have just set up an online shop website which accepts payments through Stripe. The payment appears in Zoho Books through the Stripe feed as 'Sales without invoices'. In order to keep Zoho Inventory in step, I manually (for now) create a Sales InvoiceAnnouncing New Features in Trident for macOS (v.1.22.0)
Hello everyone! Trident for macOS (v.1.22.0) is here with thoughtful updates to improve your daily workflow. Here's a quick look at what's new. Switch email response type easily. You can now switch between Reply, Reply All, and Forward directly in theLayout Rules / Quick create
Hello, is there a way to create a layout rule for quick create option? Regards, KatarzynaZoho Notebook Will Not Open After App Install
I am a new user of Notebook. I was able to successfully import my data from Evernote and the product is working well on a Windows 11 computer and Pixel device. I have also installed Notebook on a Samsung S6 lite tablet however the software freezes onLeads, contacts, deals table view is not sorting
i am unable to sort the table view of leads, contacts and dealsZoho CRM Multi-select values not translated
Hello! I have some issue with translate custom multi-select fields in zoho CRM in other language. I download export file, but it has all my custom fields and picklist values exept multi-select fields picklist values. Please, help me to undestand, isUnable to Download Invoices via API – Code 57 Authorization Error
I’m integrating the Zoho Billing API with the scopes ZohoInvoice.invoices.CREATE,ZohoInvoice.invoices.READ. I’ve completed the OAuth2 flow successfully, including generating the auth code, access token, and refresh token. All tokens are valid and fresh.Weekly Tips : Stay in loop with Conversation View
You receive a series of emails back and forth with a client regarding a project update. Instead of searching through your inbox for each separate email, you would want to see the entire email conversation in one place to understand the context quicklyIntroducing Zoho PDF Editor: Your free online PDF editing tool
Edit your PDFs effortlessly with Zoho PDF Editor, Zoho's new free online PDF editing tool. Add text, insert images, include shapes, embed hyperlinks, and even transform your PDFs into fillable forms to collect data and e-signatures. You can edit PDFsRSC Connectivity Linkedin Recruiter RPS
It seems there's a bit of a push from Linkedin Talent Solutions to keep integrations moving. My Account Manager confirmed that Zoho Recruit is a Certified Linkedin Linkedin Partner but does not have RSC as of yet., (we knew that :-) She encouraged meWater-Scrum-Fall approach for finance institutions with Zoho Projects Plus
Finance is a highly regulated sector with strict rules and compliance requirements. Handling sensitive client data and complex transactions like multi-currency deals requires elaborate workflows and precise management. Implementing project managementGet instant summaries of your notes with the help of Zia
Hello all, We've added a simple yet powerful feature to Zoho CRM that we're excited for you to try: Zia Notes Summary. It's designed to make the daily lives of a CRM user a bit easier by giving you quick summaries of your CRM notes. Whether it's a glanceZoho one web page are not available
Why I am not able to enter to zoho one web page?Zoho People > Onboarding > Candidate do not view all the data field on the Employee Onboarding
Hello In my onboarding portal I do not see all the fields that i want the candidate to fill in In my Employee Onboarding Form These details i can see In the work information, i have enable the Company View but in the Employee Portal i do not see I haveHas anyone implemented a ""switch"" to redirect emails in production for testing?
Hi everyone, In our production Zoho CRM we have a fairly complex setup with multiple Blueprints and Deluge functions that send emails automatically — to managers and internal staff — triggered by workflows. We’re looking for a way to *test changes safely*,Restrict Access/Shared Access
Sometimes access to documents that go out from Zoho Sign need to be restricted or shared. For example: 1) HR department send out employment contracts. Any Zoho Sign admin can view them. Access should be restricted to those that HR would allow to viewTip#44: Integrate with Xero to manage your financial operations
Managing your project finances becomes more efficient with Xero integration in Zoho Sprints. With this integration, you can sync your Zoho Sprints data with Xero. Once you sync them to Xero, you can easily create invoices in Xero. This feature significantlyZoho People Onboarding Unable to Convert to User
Hello All I need help in this onboarding of candidate Currently at this stage the candidate is just being offered and we are filling in his details however not all information are fill up. The candidate is still using his/her personal email When i tryIntegration with SharePoint Online
Is there an integration where we can add a Zoho Sign link to the context menu of a document in the SharePoint document library. Then, we could directly initiate a workflow of sending a document for signature from a document library in SharePoint onlWhite screen when connecting Zoho Cliq and Zoho People for birthday notifications
Hi everyone, I'm new to Zoho and I'm trying to set up the employee birthday notifications, following this guide: Automating Employee Birthday Notifications in Zoho Cliq But when I try to connect Zoho Cliq with Zoho People, I just get a white screen andWord file is messed up when i upload it to zoho sign
Hi. I am trying to upload a word file to zoho sign and when i do that it ruins the file, It adds spaces and images are on top of each other. What can i do? Thanks.Annotate widget?
Is there something in creator or any zoho app that allows me to have an image markup field item in the form? I need to be able to complete a form that also allows the user to mark up a preloaded image. Other compay's call this an image markup field orDashboards / Home Page - Logged In User
Lots of the dashboards that we use reference the Logged In User. We also set up Home Pages for specific roles, where the Logged In User is referenced within the custom view. As an admin, that means that these views are often blank when customizing andI'm pissed as fuck
What the hell Zoho! Always the same goddam problem. It takes time because the simplest things just don't fucking work. Today it just took me 3 hours to complete and send a 1page privacy letter to a client. And you know what 99% of the document was alreadyConfigure Notifications for API Limit
Hello developers, APIs are essential for businesses today as they enable seamless integration between different software systems, automate workflows, and ensure real-time data sync. To ensure that admins are notified well in advance before APIs reachNext Page