The statement “Sell the benefit, not the feature” may be found within the first five pages of most Marketing 101 books.
However this advice is misleading, customers don’t purchase because of the benefits. They buy because the benefit of the benefit.
- The features are the facts.
- The benefits communicate the value of the feature.
- But the benefit of the benefit is the emotional well-being the product or service provides.
When it comes to writing taglines and advertising copy, the benefit of the benefit is what the customer wants to hear.
(Yes, once they’re interested – to make sure they can believe and trust you – they’ll want to check out the benefits and compare features with other products)
But the benefit of the benefit is what makes your product or service worth investing in. How will it enhance your customer’s life?
Marketing 101? Yes. But we forget.
How often have you heard (or *gasp* said), “What we need here is an educational ad campaign, so customers get the value of our products.”
Translation: We worked really hard on this product. I want to make sure customers understand all the features the way I do. Turn the instruction manual into a sexy ad.
However, instead of trying to make your customer smarter about your product, make yourself smarter about what your customer needs. What is the benefit of the benefit they’re looking for?
I don’t care if it’s your camera’s R2D2-chip is proprietary or that your c3PO processor is bigger than the competitions, I just want a camera that helps me capture how amazing that skyline is and helps me make this a lasting memory.
Your Company’s Tire Design
| Feature | Your product is a tire with a new blend of rubber and a new traction pattern – these are the features. |
| Benefit | Better safety Less chance of a blow-out and the best traction on wet roads. |
| Benefit of the Benefit | The emotional value. I know my my family is safe we’re taking our roadtrip family vacation to Florida. |
Your Better Blender
| Feature | (1) 10 speed settings, (2) metal gears, and a (3) water sealed housing |
| Benefit | (1) more consistent blending (2) longer lasting machine that can handle crushing ice as well as pureeing baby food (3) easy to clean |
| Benefit of the Benefit | The neighbor husbands are jealous of their wives telling you you’ve just “made the best blended margarita they’ve ever had.” |
Laura Clampitt Douglas in her Entrepreneur.com article entitled, “Marketing Features Vs. Benefits,” recommends asking, “what’s in it for me?” to understand the benefit of the benefit as WIFM from the customer perspective. Two examples she provides…
Example 1
| Feature | batteries included |
| Benefit | ready to use out of the box |
| wifm? | won’t have to see the crushed look on his face when he can’t play with his new toy on his birthday |
Example 2
| Feature | Open 24 hours |
| Benefit | You can buy when you want |
| wifm? | When my pregnant wife craves pickles and ice cream at 4 a.m., I won’t have to disappoint her |
John Moore, blogger and author of the book Tribal Knowledge: Business Wisdom Brewed From The Grounds Of Starbucks Corporate Culture, documents about how Starbucks Coffee communicates the benefit of the benefit.
He uses the example of how, at Starbucks, we promoted our Christmastime promotional beverages. For example, The Gingerbread Latte featured a holiday-inspired flavor combination. The benefit is a limited time, seasonal, special ginger-cinnamon flavor combination. But the in-store materials didn’t describe the taste benefit, rather the benefit of the benefit… which was that drinking it transported you to – as John put it – “a simpler, more innocent time of holiday glee as only a child can revel in.”
Starbucks customers flock to the stores around Christmastime for an egg nog latte. Not because they especially need, love, or crave the taste of egg nog, but because it tastes like being a little kid drinking egg nog growing up.
How good of a job does your company or clients do in communicating the benefit of the benefit?
As John recommends in his book… Review your marketing materials and messages related to your specific products and/or services. Are they communicating product features, product benefits, or the entire personal experience – the benefit of the benefit?
It is too bad the term, “Don’t sell them the steak, sell them the sizzle” has become associated with slick, huckster advertising… because customers really do want to know where they can get the sizzle. (Fo shizzle).
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Paul,
Kinda like “sell the sizzle – not the steak”.
It’s so easy to overlook the benefit’s benefit, as copywriters we need to pay more attention to figuring out what it really is in everything we write.
Thanks!
Merrill Clark
Direct Response Copywriter
http://www.crestviewmarketing.com
This should be required reading for anyone writing marketing copy. Such a smart and strangely simple approach!
When it comes to writing copy for ads i think you have to try out many different approaches before you find one that works.
Paul,
Perhaps you know, but there’s an actual term for what you’ve described here. It’s called means end theory, and a means end chain has to move from features -> benefits -> valued end state for a person to buy.
The tough part, is that people have varied end states. One person may want the blender to make the best margaritas that get the neighbors jealous, whereas I may want to make a smoothie because I’m concerned about living a healthy lifestyle.
Meaning marketers must figure out which of those end states are most prevalent within the market. Sure you could go by intuition, or you could introduce a process like laddering interviews to hedge against the risk that your gut is wrong.
If anyone’s starting out with this, I recommend the case study book, “Critical Thinking In Consumer Behavior: Cases and Experiential Exercises”
by Judy Graham. She was my professor way back in my university days, and her book is packed with the fundamentals you’re talking about here.
Great points, Paul. If I may suggest… the concept of using the “benefit of the benefit” shouldn’t be the responsibility of the copywriter, but should ideally be part of the overall marketing/branding plan. And, the strategy should ideally be based on market research that uncovers the overarching emotional benefits to the targeted customer. My two cents…
Paul,
You have focused what many of us know and forget to do. The benefit of the benefit should be ingrained in everything we do in marketing.
Thank you for this post.
Jesse, nice points. I would add as well that while benefit of the benefit is widely usable, there are cases where customers would ask you – hey, are you selling beans or rockets?
My only point to this is – be careful to not become too “symbolic”. If the customer has to wonder more than 2 seconds what you mean, it might not be effective.
Let me state from an academic perspective who teaches this stuff (for whatever that’s worth) that what is being called here the benefit of the benefit might be confusing the issue of what is a benefit and what is a “tag line” or copy for advertising. For example,
Feature: Open 24 hours
Benefit: You can buy when you want (this is actually the benefit of “convenience”)
wifm (this is actually ad copy)? “When my pregnant wife craves pickles and ice cream at 4 a.m., I won’t have to disappoint her”
The problem is that benefits aren’t supposed to be ad copy or tag lines, but rather a clarification of what consumers want. Then you take this and give it to ad people to turn it into ad copy, etc.
At least, this is the way we teach students in universities..i.e., to distinguish between features, benefits, and then using those benefits to turn into positioning statements and advertising copy that brings these benefits to life.
Paul, Good Evening
What a great article, Thank You
I love the WIFM piece too, but just thinking wholly in terms of the Benefit of the Benefit, helps to further shape all things marketing that we do. It puts you on the receiving end
Right on, I like this theory, so it’s sort of like the emotional link to a benefit? The benefit of a benefit…nice!
Paul – A great approach tapping into the emotional connection to build a strong differentiated brand.
In light of the current economic environment and consumer trends, would you or others agree that you have to alter your message (the benefit of the benefit) to stay relevant? For example, there is a lot of play from brands on “value”. Even Starbucks is getting into the fray. Do you reposition your core brand or product offering or do you come out with flanker or fighter brands to do this?
Starbucks is discounting it’s core breakfast offering – is that saying “we empathize with the current economic struggle and it’s impact on your latte consumption” or are they telling their customers they’ve overpaid all along? What is the benefit of the benefit here? What would you tell them?
Its a step ahead of the thoughts.
It can limit the horizon of the selling or i could tell plan market specific.
I liked the illustrations in the artical.
Merrill, Diedre, Nick – thank you for your comments!
Jesse – I totally agree with you that the benefit of the benefit (valued end state) differs based on the target audience. Great point.
Professor Graham’s book sounds great, I’ll have to check it out!
Thanks for the conversation!
Elaine… I agree that this isn’t just about ads and copywriting and/or the copywriter.
(In fact, starting my sentence with: “When it comes to writing taglines and advertising copy…” may have misled people… this isn’t about writing copy… but finding the true need/want of your customer).
I also agree that determining the benefit of the benefit shouldn’t be based on a hunch, but on understanding your customers.
Thanks for your 2<
Allen…
(a) Teaching is worth a lot, thank you!
(b) You’re absolutely right, the WIFM is not necessarily meant to be the ad copy, but what your target customer is looking for.
My apologies for tossing in the “ad copy” statement. This approach is meant to be a way to broadly understand your target customer – not a shortcut to crafting your next radio spot.
Thanks for taking the time to leave your comment!
Dan, Dusan, Eric and Justin…
Thank you also for taking time to visit, read, and make comments.
Karin…
You pose a hot topic for me regarding Starbucks and their shift in messaging. (i.e. shifting their core message from a premium brand to a value-based approach).
I have so many opinions about this comment, I’m going to make it the topic of my post on Friday, April 17th.
TUNE IN!
Good points, but it has to be a good product.