It is important to distinguish between benefits from features when developing and marketing products or services. Features refer to the characteristics of your product or service. Some ovens have features like self-cleaning, smooth stovetops, and warming bins. Let’s discuss how to let your customers know the helpful features of a product.

Benefits are the reasons customers purchase the product or service. Some ovens have benefits such as safety, ease of use, affordability, and, in the case of stainless steel ovens, prestige.

Read: Why 90% of startups fail and how to become profitable

Services are just like products. They have distinct features and benefits. However, these differences might not be obvious to potential customers. One contractor might use master painters, while another may employ laborers to paint. Both can tell you that they paint, but one is a master painter and the other produces better-looking paint jobs (a distinct advantage).

Each product and service has a purpose. An oven’s purpose is to bake raw foods. However, not all ovens offer the same benefits and features.

Uniqueness can make a product or service stand out from the rest. The capabilities of a product and service can be communicated through features. Customers will only value features if they are valued. Customers should see the benefits of your products and services as valuable. You can increase sales and profits by highlighting the benefits of your products and services in your marketing and sales efforts.

Customers buy products and services to solve a problem. Your customers will ask the question “What’s in It for Me?” Consciously and unconsciously, they will be asking this question all the time. If your product or service offerings are to be successful, they must provide solutions and satisfy their needs.

Benefits are more important than features for your customers. It is crucial that you fully understand the benefits of your products and services, highlight these benefits in your sales efforts and keep your products and/or services current when additional benefits are required by your customers.

Take a look at how auto manufacturers market their vehicles. Minivan manufacturers don’t stress the vehicle’s layout or carrying capacity when trying to sell them minivans. They display images of happy families loading their children, toys, and sports equipment into their minivans. They highlight the benefits of the vehicle’s features more than the features.

Read: Which final deliverables should project managers be responsible for?

Examples of benefits that go beyond features.

• Hosting solutions for medium-sized businesses can be offered by a vendor of Web site shopping carts. They will emphasize the ease and time savings that come with not having to maintain a website. It is selling convenience, not software.
• If a carpet company could show how its carpets can be used to decorate interiors, it might be more successful. Pictures of rooms that are beautiful could be more helpful features of a product than a pile of carpet samples and a list of all the fabric features. It is selling beauty, not carpets.
• An advertising company may focus its marketing efforts on its end product, which could be improved performance or increased profits. Not its consulting methods. It is selling profitability and not consulting.
• The manufacturer of computer printers may emphasize simplicity and less time than reliability or quality. It is selling ease-of-use, not printers, but quality.
• Salmon fisheries might highlight the health benefits of salmon. It is selling health, and not fish.

Read: How to write a standout Executive Summary

What are the most important features?

Because they give your customers clues about the benefits of your product or service, features are always important. While benefits are more important than features, there will be times when features are crucial.

• A unique feature can give you a competitive edge if all products in a product category offer the same basic benefits. The bass booster was the best-selling product in a category where all boom boxes could play tapes and CDs. However, it provided a significant benefit for the consumer. Another example is that online diagnostic tools were developed by leadership consultants who all referred to similar results in performance improvement.
• Consumers can easily compare products or services to find the best deals. This is possible thanks to the Internet. Although most cell phones offer the same benefits for communication, consumers may choose to not buy a particular model if it lacks a feature that is available on a rival’s phone. Consumers may decide to buy the phone with Bluetooth connectivity if it has this feature and not the one without. It is not important that Bluetooth connectivity is available, but it is easy to compare feature sets.

Conclusion

Locating the customer’s pain points and how your product helps to fix the will translate the helpful features of a product.