Which of the following options are more effective? 'ModelThinkers is a growing collection of the big ideas from the big disciplines ... Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quid est, quod ab ea absolvi et perfici debeat? Scisse enim te quis coarguere possit? Illud mihi a te nimium festinanter dictum videtur, sapientis omnis esse semper beatos; Sin kakan malitiam dixisses, ad aliud nos unum certum vitium consuetudo Latina traduceret. Quam illa ardentis amores excitaret sui! Cur tandem? Si alia sentit, inquam, alia loquitur, numquam intellegam quid sentiat; Aut haec tibi, Torquate, sunt vituperanda aut patrocinium voluptatis repudiandum. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. In schola desinis. Rapior illuc, revocat autem Antiochus, nec est praeterea, quem audiamus. Primum in nostrane potestate est, quid meminerimus? Expectoque quid ad id, quod quaerebam, respondeas. Saepe ab Aristotele, a Theophrasto mirabiliter est laudata per se ipsa rerum scientia; Fortasse id optimum, sed ubi illud: Plus semper voluptatis? Ab his oratores, ab his imperatores ac rerum publicarum principes extiterunt. Qua ex cognitione facilior facta est investigatio rerum occultissimarum. Nam quibus rebus efficiuntur voluptates, eae non sunt in potestate sapientis.
- Understand how you currently describe your offer
Do you currently list features or benefits in your mark ...
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Non est enim vitium in oratione solum, sed etiam in moribus. Quod vestri non item. Haec mihi videtur delicatior, ut ita dicam, molliorque ratio, quam virtutis vis gravitasque postulat. Satis est tibi in te, satis in legibus, satis in mediocribus amicitiis praesidii.
Quae in controversiam veniunt, de iis, si placet, disseramus. Inquit, an parum disserui non verbis Stoicos a Peripateticis, sed universa re et tota sententia dissidere? Aliter enim nosmet ipsos nosse non possumus. Nosti, credo, illud: Nemo pius est, qui pietatem-; Quia dolori non voluptas contraria est, sed doloris privatio.
Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Quae cum praeponunt, ut sit aliqua rerum selectio, naturam videntur sequi; Quando enim Socrates, qui parens philosophiae iure dici potest, quicquam tale fecit? Et ais, si una littera commota sit, fore tota ut labet disciplina. Ita relinquet duas, de quibus etiam atque etiam consideret. Zenonis est, inquam, hoc Stoici. An est aliquid per se ipsum flagitiosum, etiamsi nulla comitetur infamia?
There are many variables to take into consideration when choosing between features and benefits to market your product: product type, market saturation, competition, the focus on customer relationship or on solving a customer’s problem, and so on. While leading with benefits is normally the correct play, there are exceptions, particularly for a highly informed consumer or highly competitive and consistent market.
Another limitation of this approach is the inherent risk of targeting benefits. A feature can potentially be interpreted by different audience segments with different needs — so several groups might find relevance and appeal in a feature.
By contrast, a benefit tends to be a targeted message that can exclude as many people as it targets. This relates to the key takeaway of market research and understanding your audience.
Slack - killing meetings.
Slack is now being challenged by Teams and other competitors but for a time was one of the fastest-growing platform solutions in the world. Rather than focusing on features, their marketing messages highlighted specific data on how companies who adopted their solution reduced emails and meetings — two huge pain points in the corporate world.
iPod - 1,000s of songs.
When iPods launched they famously avoided ads which emphasised their (at the time) impressive storage capacity. Instead, they focused on the opportunity to have ‘thousands of songs in your pocket’.
Unboxing videos
By contrast to the examples above, the growing popularity of unboxing videos on Youtube reflects an appetite for feature-focused discussions for some products.
Features vs benefits is a fundamental mental model in the field of marketing and communication. It can be used more broadly to influence and explain value in any context.
Use the following examples of connected and complementary models to weave features vs benefits into your broader latticework of mental models. Alternatively, discover your own connections by exploring the category list above.
Connected models:
- Cost-benefit analysis: in establishing the actual value for a customer or target group.
- Opportunity cost: in establishing the next best value.
- Value proposition: providing clear benefits to customers.
- Personas: to fully understand your customers.
Complementary models:
- Inversion: consider how to deliver pain or make a problem worse to test out the real value of a benefit.
- The golden circle: identify the ‘why’ behind the features to solve underlying value-driven problems.
- Red queen effect: competing on features alone is considered to be a ‘race to the bottom’, as it focuses on value and features. Benefits can provide a broader, sometimes emotional connection with new market opportunities.
- Lock-in effect: how to reduce attrition by delivering on benefits.
- Diversification: testing whether a specific product feature can fulfil multiple benefits from diverse audience segments.
- The BCG growth-share matrix: when considering marketing and market share.
- The 4Ps of marketing: when developing a marketing strategy.
- A/B testing: to test hypotheses about possible benefits and marketing language.
The Features vs Benefits mental model has been a cornerstone of marketing conversations for decades. There are many useful articles in this space, we particularly enjoyed this one from Vappingo which outlines over 100 examples of features vs benefits.
-
1454 days ago arun , CoFounder ModelThinkers & keynote speakerThis is an undervalued model outside of sales. I use it in business pitches, conversations and presentations. Even in parenting frankly.
Oops, That’s Members’ Only!
Fortunately, it only costs US$5/month to Join ModelThinkers and access everything so that you can rapidly discover, learn, and apply the world’s most powerful ideas.
ModelThinkers membership at a glance:
“Yeah, we hate pop ups too. But we wanted to let you know that, with ModelThinkers, we’re making it easier for you to adapt, innovate and create value. We hope you’ll join us and the growing community of ModelThinkers today.”