Remember the old saying “sell benefits, not features” ?
No?
Basically when you write sales copy for landing pages you will notice a drastic increase in conversions if you state the benefits and not the features.
For instance with the weight loss niche:
Features:
* You will lose weight.
* You wont be fat anymore.
* People wont call you fatass!
Benefits:
* Look Better!
* Get More Confidence!
* Live a longer, happier life!
I have never seen where this method has not worked for landing page conversions and the only time it hasnt is when the person did not understand the concept.
Benefits and features and be VERY similar and in some verticals almost identical.
So lately I have been saying more Features versus Results.
So if you are trying to implement this stragegy in some of your conversion copy and having trouble then instead replace the word benefits with results.
April 28, 2009 at 1:59 pm
hmm thats true if you are telling about benefits, thats better because most people are telling about features and they look like you are lying.
April 28, 2009 at 2:00 pm
As I begin to pursue affiliate marketing ventures again, I will certainly tuck this under the cap. I never was any good at making landing pages so maybe this will steer me in the right direction.
April 28, 2009 at 2:10 pm
People don’t care how how to get there. They just want to be told the “amazing truth”, which in this case is “you’ll look better”
April 28, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Thanks for reminding us, Jeremy !!
This is a basic principle. Often we all get distracted by numbers and details (visits, ctr, cpm, bandwidth, counting money… ) and forget foundations.
Regards from Serbia !!
April 28, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Yup.
What it amounts to is getting people’s emotions involved. People become interested with their minds (features)…
but act (buy) when they hear the how the features will make them feel better.
April 28, 2009 at 2:41 pm
its true as you said it. For a successful campaign you need the right wording and this is where English (if your target is the English readers) will matter. Also, I have noticed with some campaigns it depends on the target age group. Young people would be enticed by “confidence, look good” etc, where older people might be more about “living longer”…again, at the end its all about the results.
April 28, 2009 at 3:11 pm
True. I think the thought behind it is not to make it look like an advertising. When you list features, people know you advertise.
Benefits make it look less like an advertising, therefor clicks differently in the head of the customers (even mine)
April 28, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Shoe,
Thanks for taking the time to educate us on the ins and outs of selling to people. I would love to be able to pre-sell as succesfuly as you!
April 28, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Very true I must say. Stating the benefits to the person is much more valuable rather then stating the features. Further, it will increase conversions, from leads to sales drastically. This is due to a psychological trigger “what’s in it for me” type of thing.
April 28, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Yea, this is something I make sure to tell my readers a lot as well.
Benefits sell, features give information.
April 28, 2009 at 4:12 pm
In this niche, it’s really easier to gain more because of the landing pages. I haven’t seen these disappear neither. I bet the conversions are sky high. People love hope which is good because a person don’t give up, but it’s better if the features are real life results.
April 28, 2009 at 7:08 pm
We sell DJ equipment and find that benefits do out perform the features. And we have thousands of items so as much as we like features, benefits tell the person what it can do for them, as features sounds more like what an item boasts about itself. Anyway, just our 2 cents…
April 28, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Gotta admit this one of the more confusing themes in marketing. However there is a major difference the best way to explain it is simply. A benefit is your personal experience with the product where as features are what makes the product.
April 28, 2009 at 9:17 pm
I definitely agree with you in this. Sell the benefits and not the features. Show some proofs of the benefits.
April 28, 2009 at 8:18 pm
I find this still a bit difficult. Wouldn’t “you will lose weight” be a result? I have to sit with this distinction more and think it out. I remember as a kid, I loved to read the ayds ads in the dentist office and it seemed so real (it was a weight loss chocolate candy). I doubt that it worked and I was thin anyway but it was very compelling as sales copy. I think they stopped using that word due to the hiv disease association.
April 29, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I remember this chocolate… Once AIDS showed up, it just vanished!
April 28, 2009 at 9:48 pm
i think benefits would work more / better than the features. why? cause people always looks for some proofs, how the product work for themselves and if the product really works so well.
April 28, 2009 at 10:10 pm
“and the only time it hasnt is when the person did not understand the concept.”
Sort of your responsibility to make sure they do, no?
April 28, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Landing pages conversion is little tricky as always but the way which you have suggested will surely work and more conversions will happen. Instead of giving attention on Traffic & SEO efforts i am sure one needs to work on foundation before get thing going.
Thanks for sharing such a great Thought.
April 29, 2009 at 12:03 am
“Sell the hole not the drill” and I agree with the customer not understanding the concept. He should never have targetted in the ad copy in the first place though.
April 29, 2009 at 2:13 am
Short, sweet and very helpful. Cheers.
April 29, 2009 at 3:02 am
Wow Shoe, it’s been over 3 months I haven’t been on this site. I love the new look
Thanks for yet another fruitful post.
April 29, 2009 at 3:34 am
A short but very effective tip there Shoe. Landing pages need to be very well optimzed, there are so many sites selling, there shouldn’t be a reason not to get convinced.
April 29, 2009 at 3:58 am
I should have read similar post long long time ago. I learnt it in a painful way in one of the jobs I previously had and wondered why I wasn’t selling enough even though I gave more information than my colleagues did. Thanks, mate!!!
April 29, 2009 at 4:19 am
I don’t understand your example. How is “you will lose weight” not a benefit? It specifically mentions “you” and clearly losing weight is a benefit. In fact, all of the features sound like benefits in that example.
So, I must be wrong – I wonder if someone can explain why these are features, not benefits.
April 30, 2009 at 5:53 am
‘You will lose weight’ –> you do not gain anything, its a feature. To better illustrate the whole concept, simple add ‘So what?’ at every feature and if you have an answer to it, then it is a feature.
Benefits –> you tend to gain something in return. e.g. ‘Live Healthier’ or ‘Look good, win some chicks with your new look’
i think that’s the difference.
April 30, 2009 at 1:21 pm
If you pay close attention to the way other industries market their products, you may see a difference between the companies that are struggling with sales and those that are doing quite well. That difference is offering a list of their product’s features, versus simply explaining how those features will change their buyer’s lives for the better.
May 1, 2009 at 9:57 am
Like Apple vs PC?
April 29, 2009 at 5:24 am
very helpful, (:
April 30, 2009 at 7:05 am
Really?
April 29, 2009 at 5:30 am
I have to say I agree with every word you’ve wrote in this post
April 29, 2009 at 5:50 am
As long as you are always selling…
April 29, 2009 at 6:59 am
Whatever it takes to sell, i suppose
April 29, 2009 at 7:27 am
I learn many things about internet marketing from your blog, thank you and good luck
April 29, 2009 at 7:32 am
I think the other important part of sales copy is to use the results to overcome any objections that the prospect might have. When the prospect says ‘Yes, but …’ you need to be able to overcome the ‘but’ to make the sale.
April 30, 2009 at 1:06 pm
We did that.
Check out
http://www.stripandgrowrich.com/program.php
Thanks to all of you for the mostly positive feedback!!
April 29, 2009 at 10:36 am
Awesome tip thanks for sharing. You are right reading this things makes me want to buy the product already.
April 29, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Great post,
Yes you have to think and plan ahead one step further. Features lead to the benefits.
You simply have to be creative and make sure you allude to the features but certainly emphasize the benefits.
good show!
April 29, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Okay man, the bottom line you make sale
right!
April 30, 2009 at 6:21 am
We have a lot in common, but have already discussed most things like that a lot.
April 30, 2009 at 7:06 am
It’s pretty much the same as when you try to justify yourself for something, people tend to think you are lying.
April 30, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Within less than 4 seconds the readers will have a mindset whether to stay reading your landing page or leave it, knowing your reader’s mind.
April 30, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Features describe (most often) the attributes of a product or service.Benefits make the features, and the product or service, more personal.
May 1, 2009 at 12:25 am
I think you are right on! I had the same thing on the brain yesterday…people feature dump up front.
They forget the big question that all their readers are asking: ‘what’s in it for me?”…and they puke all over them trying to sell them with features.
Get them to see what’s in it for them personally and tie into it emotionally and you have a sale.
May 1, 2009 at 8:56 am
Yeah I have heard that saying before, its been a while but yeah anyone can sell a feature but you stand out more if you can sell a better benefit than the other guy. Take Wal-Mart their prices are not that much (if at all) cheaper than another store but they have all of this junk under one roof so the “one stop shopping” is the benefit.
May 3, 2009 at 11:17 pm
That, and they have the cool bouning smiley face! How can you not love that marketing!
May 2, 2009 at 2:48 am
Thanks for pointing out. You could write more about those psychologcial things.
Benefit: Now I know how to write correct sales texts.
May 2, 2009 at 3:51 am
You can show the benefits first, and the features later, or mix them up.
May 2, 2009 at 4:42 am
Your blog is having useful information which can be great resource for beginner like us.
May 2, 2009 at 12:39 pm
The point to be noted here is that all features can be benefits. All you need to do is re-phrase it in such a way that the feature is portrayed as a benefit. Once you get used to doing this then, you will be able to find a lot of ways of expressing every feature of a product as a benefit.
May 4, 2009 at 12:52 am
Need kot’s of research to do marketing that converts and not just leads or prospect.
May 4, 2009 at 1:55 am
WOW!!
Interesting,nice,short and helpful post.great job dear….
May 13, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Interesting…
May 20, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Some time when visitors got less things to read they also move to other blogs or website. Once they move … you will have to run after them …
April 15, 2010 at 3:09 am
I bet the conversions are sky high. People love hope which is good because a person don’t give up, but it’s better if the features are real life results.