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? marketing materials and relates directly to their KX-TG5230M model phone.)

· 5.8GHz digital system: The 5.8GHz frequency lets you go anywhere in your house and still have clear reception without interfering with your home network. The frequency-hopping digital technology keeps calls secure from outside sources.

· Talking caller ID: No need to be within visual distance of your phone. You can hear who's on the line before you pick up the phone. No more running to find the handset or base!

· Expandable: Keep a phone in any room-extra handsets cost less than other phones and don't need a phone jack. This base unit supports a total of four handsets. Add up to three handsets for a complete set.

· Selectable ring tones: Customize the sound of your phone by choosing from three ring tones.

· Dual speakerphones: Talk directly into the base with the base speakerphone, while the handset speakerphone provides convenient hands-free calling wherever you take your handset.

Benefits make the features personal. They explain how the features will be of use in the customer's life.

End Results - A Glimpse Into the Future

We can take this process one step further, however. After customers buy the phone, and after they use it, what end results will they experience? As asked before, how will their lives be improved? What will the effects of their buying decision be? Let's go back to our list and add end results as the last sentence in the benefits list.

· 5.8GHz digital system: The 5.8GHz frequency lets you go anywhere in your house and still have clear reception without disrupting your home network. The frequency-hopping digital technology keeps calls secure from outside sources. You'll have complete freedom to talk with no interference on one of the most advanced systems available.

· Talking caller ID: No need to be within visual distance of your phone. You can hear who's on the line before you pick up the phone. You'll enjoy the ultimate in convenience with this feature. No more running to view the handset or base!

· Expandable: Keep a phone in any room-extra handsets cost less than other phones and don't need a phone jack. This base unit supports a total of four handsets. Add up to three handsets for a complete set. Expandable phone systems are smart investments that save time and money.

· Selectable ring tones: Customize the sound of your phone by choosing from three ring tones. Make your phone an extension of yourself.

· Dual speakerphones: Talk directly into the base with the base speakerphone, while the handset speakerphone provides convenient hands-free calling wherever you take your handset. You'll have the flexibility of speakerphones wherever and whenever you talk.

Do you see what the end results have done? They've given the customer a glimpse into the future. The feature states that the phone offers 5.8GHz technology. The benefit goes on to explain that 5.8GHz technology is important because it offers clear reception and safety. The end result wraps things up by stating the customer will have a life filled with freedom and no interference from their highly advanced system.

Other end results point out how the phone system will make each user's life more convenient, how this smart investment will save time and money, how it will conform to one's personality and how the phone will lend flexibility to the customer's life.

When you create your copywriting plan, be sure to list the features and build your benefits as usual. But, for added power, don't forget to include end results that will help the customers visualize how your product or service will make their lives better.

© 2005 http://www.copywritingcourse.com

Copy not getting results? Learn to write SEO copy that impresses the engines and your visitors at http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Be sure to check out Karon's latest e-report "How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy)" at http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword

---

Key Marketing Strategy - You Need To Stay Visible!

If you want to get consistent results from your marketing,... Read More

Market Planning -- Getting the Word Out

"There are those who get things done and those who... Read More

Custom Lanyards - The Perfect Solution for Promotion, Branding, and Marketing

Lanyards are fast becoming the new "must have" promotional item.Events... Read More

Contrarian Marketing at Benettons

Perhaps, with apologies to Dale Carnegie, we should call this... Read More

Mail Can Make You Money

Are you still waiting for business to turn around before... Read More

Is Your Company A Member Of The Community?

One particularly hot south Texas day, I was making a... Read More

Marketing ? Like a Game of Chess

Have you started thinking about your Valentines Day Promotion yet?It... Read More

The Power of Thank You

Sometimes we loose site of the small things in life... Read More

John Kerry, Amazing Direct-Marketer!

If you want to uncover a little secret about how... Read More

Will Googles Gmail spell trouble for Email Marketing.

We wait with baited breath for the anticipated launch of... Read More

Getting Paid to Promote Yourself

We all know we can pay a magazine or a... Read More

The Name Game

Pop quiz! If you have to say goodbye to your... Read More

Direct Mail Offers: Eight Steps to Making them Effective

Every direct mail package you drop in the mail should... Read More

How to Manage Your Marketing Mix

Here's the deal: advertisement is not marketing. It's like saying... Read More

8 Secrets to Marketing Success

The profits of a business are totally dependent on marketing.... Read More

Marketing: Are You Focused?

In early 1992, President George H.W. Bush was riding high.... Read More

25 Ways To Get More Business

Special Requirements for Reprint: we ask only that... Read More

The Easiest Marketing Plan Youll Ever Find

When it comes to marketing there's simply too many choices.... Read More

Promotions That Build Profit

Promotions are everything you do to let your customers know... Read More

Marketing Tips 101 - Where Can I Get Clients From?

The following tips have come from a wide variety of... Read More

Your Ideal Client

A lot of small businesses make the mistake of thinking... Read More

Target Your Share of the 50-Plus Market

It's quite apparent that Americans are living... Read More

Directional (Not Direct) Marketing

Those who believe the web is not a direct response... Read More

Creative Emulation

In business we have a number of ways or tools... Read More

Quick Postcard Design Tips

TIP #1: Avoid the "Too Much Information" Syndrome... Read More

Be a Smarter Marketer - Learn the L-A-W for Trade Shows

People attend trade shows because they are in a specific... Read More

Stretch Your Marketing Reach

One of the most cost effective marketing strategies you can... Read More

Target Your Market

Your market is not everybody, as so many small businesses... Read More

A Pass / Fail Test for Any New Market

If you are considering entering a new target market, with... Read More

Fundraising Letters Are Easier To Write With AIDA

Learn a lesson from professional direct mail copywriters. They follow... Read More

Heres A Robust, Turnkey, Interactive. Best of Breed, Mission-Critical Solution to Kill Buzzwords

Fellow Publicity Insiders, what does... Read More

Defining Moment

Do you know your audiences? I mean really know... Read More

Is It Time To Kill Your Marketing Program?

Ouch . . . sounds pretty drastic I know, but... Read More