There’s thousands of people that will sell you expensive courses that will teach you everything they know on how to write compelling content. There’s nothing wrong with doing it that way, but I have a free tip that anyone can do that can turn your sales page, emails and web copy into money making machines.
Benefits vs features is not a new concept – it’s repeated in almost any course, book or blog post that you’re ever going to read. It’s not always as easy as it sounds, especially when you’re first starting to write copy.
Features VS Benefits
A feature is just the description of your product or service. McDonald’s features a 24 hour drive in. You might be offering a 10 page PDF listing your favourite resources. You send your clients weekly reports. You bill to the second.
A benefit is an explanation of how the feature is actually going to be beneficial to your reader or customer. Why should I care if I have a weekly report from my VA? What is having a 24 hour drive in available to me important? What is a 10 page PDF of resources going to do for me?
It’s important that you present both features and benefits, but you’ve got to spend more time explaining the benefits. Sometimes reading a feature is going to be enough to seal the deal. Think of the last time you had to buy a piece of computer equipment. Knowing the specs (the features) is crucial. I don’t need anyone to tell me the benefit of having a ton of ram.
When it comes to online sales, you need to create a light bulb moment for you reader by selling the benefits. The easiest way to get started is to follow this sentence structure:
(feature) so that (benefit)
Every time you write our a feature, you need to ask yourself WHY so that you can come up with the benefit.
It’s like magic
When you’re writing your sales page copy, using the worksheet I’ve provided is going to almost work like magic. Infomercials are great at this. You don’t need a new kitchen appliance and you certainly don’t need more makeup or a new hairstyling tool. But the way they present the products makes you feel like you have to have it. That is the work of benefits in action.
I found this example online and it talks about “fake benefits”. Really, this is just someone who didn’t do the If-Than-Benefit right. Let’s look at the before and after.
BEFORE: Get Off The Hormone Roller Coaster!
Why it doesn’t work: For one, who’s ever said this to themselves? It’s certainly not a feature. It certainly doesn’t give me any compelling reason to have this product.
AFTER: Stop the hot flashes, mood swings and loss of libido by balancing your hormones so that you feel more like your old self every single day and have a more intimate relationship with your partner.
Why it works: You’ve struck a chord with your reader. If you have unbalanced hormones you know just how awful hot flashes, loss of libido, and mood swings can be. You’re telling them that they can feel like they used to every single day (not hit and miss) and they’re going to have a better relationship with their spouse.
The bottom line is that every bit of copy that you write has to elicit a response from your reader. If you can’t get them to click, subscribe, or buy, you’re in big trouble.
I’ve made this super easy for you with a worksheet that will help you figure out the benefits of every product or service you’re going to offer. Many people find that once they get going, they’re pulling more benefits out their hats .. ones they didn’t even think of before. (..and hey, that’s a bonus tip for you. When you’re stuck in a creative rut, just start writing. I don’t care what it is. When you’re thinking less and just trying to write as much as you can for 60 seconds, you open up the creative juice that your mind likes to shut down once in awhile.)
