Business marketers frequently fall into the trap of stressing product features in their communications. This is especially true in technical fields, where product managers tend to get excited about all the wonderful elements they have engineered into their product.
When business marketers need to convert those products features into customer benefits. Marketers must understand what is on the target customers mind, and then translate those wonderful features into benefits that are meaningful, relevant, and valuable to the customer.
One term for this approach is WIIFM, or, What’s In It For Me? This is what customers care about. They care care about themselves, not the product. They care about the product only insofar it helps them. So this is what the marketer has to identify, highlight, and then communicate.
But don’t take this to mean that you should ignore the features. Product details and specifications are needed to justify the purchase. Keep them in there – right along the benefits.
Notice that benefits can be personal, expressed in human terms. They are often about human fears and desires. Some marketers say that the most successful products are positioned to meet one or more of the two strongest human emotions: fear and greed.
Here’s an example of how a product features can be recast as business or personal benefits:
| Feature | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Light weight | Reduce stress; eliminates need for frequent replacement |
| 24hour tech support | Eliminates downtime and data loss |
| Multi-platform file sharing | Saves time; increase reliability |
| Plug and play | No connection headaches; get started immediately |
| Peel-off adhesive backing | Makes work-flow organization easy |
