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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. Callipho ad virtutem nihil adiunxit nisi voluptatem, Diodorus vacuitatem doloris. Quorum altera prosunt, nocent altera. Teneo, inquit, finem illi videri nihil dolere. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Semper enim ex eo, quod maximas partes continet latissimeque funditur, tota res appellatur. Satis est ad hoc responsum. Nam si propter voluptatem, quae est ista laus, quae possit e macello peti? Graecum enim hunc versum nostis omnes-: Suavis laborum est praeteritorum memoria. Facile est hoc cernere in primis puerorum aetatulis. Sed tamen est aliquid, quod nobis non liceat, liceat illis. Illud quaero, quid ei, qui in voluptate summum bonum ponat, consentaneum sit dicere. Si autem id non concedatur, non continuo vita beata tollitur. Nihil acciderat ei, quod nollet, nisi quod anulum, quo delectabatur, in mari abiecerat. In schola desinis. Hoc loco tenere se Triarius non potuit. Tecum optime, deinde etiam cum mediocri amico. Nam aliquando posse recte fieri dicunt nulla expectata nec quaesita voluptate. Non autem hoc: igitur ne illud quidem. Ergo, si semel tristior effectus est, hilara vita amissa est? Hic ego: Pomponius quidem, inquam, noster iocari videtur, et fortasse suo iure. Hunc vos beatum; Hoc ille tuus non vult omnibusque ex rebus voluptatem quasi mercedem exigit. Nihil acciderat ei, quod nollet, nisi quod anulum, quo delectabatur, in mari abiecerat. Certe non potest. Illud quaero, quid ei, qui in voluptate summum bonum ponat, consentaneum sit dicere. An tu me de L.
- 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. Faceres tu quidem, Torquate, haec omnia; Eam si varietatem diceres, intellegerem, ut etiam non dicente te intellego; Universa enim illorum ratione cum tota vestra confligendum puto. Duo Reges: constructio interrete.
Qua ex cognitione facilior facta est investigatio rerum occultissimarum. Igitur neque stultorum quisquam beatus neque sapientium non beatus. Tollitur beneficium, tollitur gratia, quae sunt vincla concordiae. Et quod est munus, quod opus sapientiae? Primum in nostrane potestate est, quid meminerimus? Habes, inquam, Cato, formam eorum, de quibus loquor, philosophorum. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Isto modo ne improbos quidem, si essent boni viri.
Quacumque enim ingredimur, in aliqua historia vestigium ponimus. Tum Triarius: Posthac quidem, inquit, audacius. Nulla profecto est, quin suam vim retineat a primo ad extremum. Quo modo autem optimum, si bonum praeterea nullum est? Frater et T. Estne, quaeso, inquam, sitienti in bibendo voluptas? Ut placet, inquit, etsi enim illud erat aptius, aequum cuique concedere.
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.
My Notes
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1528 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.
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