Let’s face it.
Everywhere we look, everywhere we go, anytime we’re online, we’re bombarded with ads for products.
You know what?
You actually remember only a few of them.
Think of the last product ad you saw.
Think of the latest product that you’re using.
Think of the other products that you’re currently subscribed to.
What got you to sign up?
Was it the product’s features? Was it the list of “benefits” that were listed down? Or was it something else?
Features, Benefits and Value
To take things a little bit deeper, let’s talk about the main differences of each one.
By understanding, it will help you come up with the best way to convey your economic value to potential customers and even potential investors.
I will be very brief as I’m not really creating a dictionary here and I’m sure you’re time is already scarce.
Features:
A feature is basically a single attribute. Something that your product can do.
For example: Our product helps you store medical records digitally.
Benefits:
Benefits are practically tied up to features. Basically, how does “x feature” help your customers.
For example: You can store medical records digitally, which means you can access records anytime with just a single tap.
Value:
The value pulls those benefits together and aligns it to the customer’s big picture AKA their goal.
For example: Storing medical records digitally will help reduce paper usage, declutter the clinic and future proof their medical practice allowing them to open more clinics while still being efficient.
What’s Your Value Proposition?
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When presented with a new product, we get shoved a list of features all the time.
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Is that really the way to sell our startup’s products though?
Do I really want to keep talking about every feature?
I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to do that.
All you need to know is to understand your startup product’s value to your target customers.
You need to understand the economic benefits of your product for your customer. That’s all there is to it.
If your “value” is not clearly articulated, your conversion will not go as quickly as it should. Look at it this way. If every marketing campaign you do is framed that way, better results will come, for sure! 🦄
If you are running your startup campaigns in a hit or miss way, stop. Refocus, reframe and force all your campaigns to convey the same thing.
Not really sure about your actual value? Here’s a simple exercise!
Go out and talk to customers. Do things that don’t scale. Answer the following.
- What problem does your product solve?
- What benefits will they get to solve their pain points?
- Why people would use/buy yours versus the competition.
- If you have customers already, identify the economic values for your existing customers
That’s really all there is to it.
Now that you know the answer for those, you can properly create your value proposition.
Am I basically saying that you don’t need anything else? No need to mention features or benefits?? OF COURSE NOT!
They all work together.
I’m just saying that you need to start and identify your main value proposition first in order to convey your benefits and features better, which means better conversions, be it for a purchase or customer acquisition for your startup.
Oh, obviously, you still need to build a product users will love. Conveying your value will never be enough if your product sucks ass.
How You Can Make Use Of This
Your marketing material will benefit a ton with a focused (and tested) value proposition.
At the end of the day, it’s meant to be read/heard by your customers so when it comes to creating your value proposition, it needs to be concise and clear.
Besides going out and taking to people, a simple exercise I do is to run PPC ads on landing pages. With everything I do, I have to test them online as a big chunk of what I do is related to digital marketing.
In the niche that I am now (healthcare) – doctors are so desensitized now because they keep hearing about features and benefits.
I talked about value in one. The other, I talked about a list of features.
Guess who won?
I then took another try, this time, I focused on a single feature along with a specific benefit tied to that feature.
It worked a lot better!
So, when it comes to marketing material, should you use one or the other? No! Make it holistically work.
Go out and apply this knowledge with your marketing material. Teach it to your sales team. Analyze your acquisition channels and see how you can implement “benefits and features” throughout the buyer’s journey to educate them of your overall value proposition.
—
TL;DR
Let me put it this way.
Nobody cares about your product features and benefits except you… that is, until you present it the right way.
Figure out your value to a customer then create a value proposition.
Create a really clear and concise value proposition and you’ll be in business. Both customers and investors will love you for it.
Thank me once your conversion shoots up. Just snap me.