As someone who has been working with some usability and design folks on a project that addresses the subject of “feature creep,” maybe I’m just overly peevish about the subject of benefits vs. features.  Maybe. 

Nah…

So what’s feature creep? Though it sounds like something you might go dressed as on Halloween, actually, it’s even a little scarier. In a nutshell, feature creep, or creeping featurism, refers to when a product, after a series of new releases, upgrades, or incarnations, becomes saturated with features, many of which are never used, are redundant, or are even useless.

Many marketing folks still think that feature-touting is what sells a product, and ignore the part about showing the product’s overall usefulness or impact on its user’s well-being…its benefits.  So, often at the marketing group’s behest, new features are added with the belief that they’ll actually help sell the product.  Hence, creeping featurism.

And while some people will initially care more about whether a product has hot pink buttons than whether it actually works well, sooner or later, everyone wises up. (Yes, data shows that people do actually return and stop buying products when they become frustrated with the feature overload.) 

What keeps us buying a product is whether we perceive the product as having a positive impact on our lives…whether it will make us feel better, look better…do something better.  Despite what well-meaning design stakeholders may think, the evidence is in that ultimately, we consumers couldn’t care less whether a washing machine has 45 different settings, and we aren’t going to buy a car based on the fact that its passenger seat has six different softness choices.

So, what does all of this have to do with copywriting that sells a product? 

Well, knowing that the main reason a consumer will buy a product is that he believes it will improve his life in some small way, or in some big way, you know that the surest way to sell a product is to demonstrate that same life-improving quality. And knowing that, you also know that benefit-oriented copy is the surest way to your prospects’ hearts. (And it should go without saying that your product should actually deliver what’s promised.)

So, now that you know all this, how do you know whether you’re talking features or benefits? 

Pretend you’re selling vitamins to someone who knows nothing about vitamins.  If you say, “Complete with vitamin C, vitamin E and carotenoids,” you’re talking features. Your audience doesn’t know how she will benefit from these nutrients.  But if you mention that these substances are thought to be powerful antioxidants that can protect cells and keep the skin from showing signs of aging, then you’re talking benefits. 

If you say that each vitamin has a pretty yellow coating, who cares?  If you say that each tablet has a smooth coating that makes it easy to swallow, there’s a benefit. 

Whether you’re selling cars, washing machines, or vitamins, you’ll sell more…and continue to sell…if you can show your potential customers how buying them will make life better for them.  Don’t be a feature creep—show ‘em those benefits!

Technorati tags: [creeping featurism], [benefits vs. features], [benefit-oriented marketing]