Features vs. Benefits vs. End Results
If you’ve been in the copywriting realm for very long at all, you’ve heard the phrase “features vs. benefits.” It’s a fundamental copywriting principle and driving force behind much of what we, as copywriters, create. But there’s also another aspect to this equation.
What happens after customers buy your product or service? Once they’ve used what you have to offer, what will be different in their lives? What will the end results, of their buying decision, be? Getting your customers to look at the end results of their actions can be an extremely powerful persuasion tool that you’ll want to incorporate into your copy.
Let’s look at features, benefits and end results and see how all three work individually and collectively to create a targeted push to the point of purchase.
Features - The Basic Outline of Your Product or Service
Features, in copywriting, are a starting point. They provide a basic outline for what your customer needs to know. Features describe (most often) the attributes of a product or service. If we’re using the example of a cordless, telephone-answering system, some features might be:
5.8GHz FHSS
Talking caller ID
Expandable to 4 handsets
Selectable ring tones
Speakerphones
For a person who knows nothing about cordless phones with answering machines, this list might not mean much. It’s a basic blueprint of the telephone and nothing more.
Benefits - Make the Product or Service More Personal
Benefits enliven the features. Benefits make the features, and the product or service, more personal. They explain how the features will improve the customer’s life in some way. Using the features list above, see what the benefits might be. (The list below was taken from Panasonic