Essential Guide to Increasing your Response Rates – Part 4: Benefits not features
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Open any book on marketing and you will find the advice “sell benefits not features”.
It is said so often that it hardly seems worth saying again. And yet, according to Tony Attwood, over 90% of direct mail still doesn’t focus on benefits, even when the senders believe it does.
You only have to look at a computer advert to see what I mean. Computer companies still tell us about the amount of RAM, the speed of the CD and the size of the hard drive. I can’t recall anyone saying that this computer will run Microsoft Word twice as fast as that one. Or even that this software won’t crash as often as the earlier edition.
And they are not the only people who stick with features. Non-fiction publishers gleefully list the chapter headings of the book and tell us about the author while refraining from telling us the benefit we might get from reading the book.
What is a benefit?
True benefits exist near the core of human values. If a film makes me feel happy, that is a benefit. If a certain outfit makes me look more appealing to women then that for me is a benefit (although I rather doubt it is much of a benefit for the women). A horse race betting system could deliver the benefit of making me richer, or it could give me the benefit of feeling good at the race track as I swan around getting the admiring looks of other punters.
In short most benefits relate to fairly basic human experiences – such as feeling good, having more money, appearing attractive, appearing to be in control, having more free time, avoiding tedious and repetitive tasks, being recognised as something of a winner by one’s colleagues, and so on.
Take, for example, the average company director. What does he/she want? Mostly the answers (in order of importance) are
- Higher profits
- Less hassle
- More enjoyment
So the only question to ask yourself is, when selling to business can you offer one of these benefits?
Let’s imagine you are selling a PAYE system. If you can suggest that it will save the company money, and reduce difficulties in terms of staying in touch with the latest PAYE legislation, then you are reaching the highest levels of benefit that will appeal to managers and directors. If on the other hand you talk about your award-winning system with its powerful analysis engine, you are talking features.
Imagine, as an alternative, you are selling to schools. Teachers and school managers have their own list of wants which usually include
- Higher exam grades
- Fewer behavioural problems
- More enjoyment
- The approval of colleagues
Not identical to the business person but you can see the link. Of course it is different with consumers where the benefits required can be varied. But still if you want three options
- More money
- More fun
- Higher public esteem
are a good starting point.
A couple of things I have purchased.
If you have a product that does not seem to offer any of these prime benefits you really have to think, “why should anyone buy it?” To help, think of some of the things you have bought recently – and ask yourself why you bought them.
I have recently purchased a new chair for me to sit on at my desk at work, following an injury to my back in the gym. The reason I like it is that it enables me to sit without pain, and that is a fair benefit to sell. It might even be possible to say that it helps raise profits (because I can work better when I am not in pain), and this indeed is the approach that high price car companies have used, stressing that the chairman arrives much more able to negotiate at the meeting, if he/she travels in the exquisite luxury of a Bentley or a Rolls.
I’ve also purchased an ipod, with the idea of passing the time more interestingly on train journeys. Clearly ipod makers don’t see old-timers like me sitting in railway compartments listening to re-issues of 1930s BBC radio serials as their prime audience, so instead they tell me about the size of the hard drive, and how many CDs I can put on them. Such adverts clearly work – but the point is that they could well work better if some benefit was added to the mix (such as looking cool, impressing the opposite sex, passing the time
of day and so on).
Free analysis of your mailshot
This article is written by Tony Attwood, Chairman of Hamilton House Mailings plc. If you would like to discuss the writing or design of your mailing campaign, or indeed a single mailshot, with Tony, without cost or obligation, just call 01536 399 000, or email Creative@hamilton-house.com You can also send Tony a copy of your latest advert and he will call you back with his thoughts on how your response rate could be raised – again without cost or obligation.
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