Recently, I was talking with a friend that was in the middle of a website redesign. He wanted to get my take on the new site and the first thing I was struck with about the site was “What’s the motivation for me to buy this?”
Throughout almost all the copy of this site, my friend had focused on the features but not the benefits of the product. While the features seemed good, I don’t see them spurring a website visitor to buy the product.
What’s the motivation for me to buy this?
When you’re creating a website to sell a product or service, you need to put yourself in your ideal customer’s shoes and ask yourself “What do I want to read or see that would make me become a customer?”
By this exercise, you should learn what benefits a customer is looking for from your product and how to convey the benefits.
Sure, it’s made from polycarbonate resin, but why do I care as a customer? Oh, it’s designed to take enough abuse that you can drive a truck over it and it will still work? Perfect, because the last tool I used to solve my issue broke the second time I used it!
Understand what your customers are looking for and what pain they have. A feature of a product doesn’t fix a pain, but a benefit can.
When trying to figure out the benefit of a feature, the trick is to ask “Why would someone care?” Your answer is the benefit.
Ask, “Why would someone care?” Your answer is the benefit.
The best way to convey a benefit is to help your customer visualize that benefit personally. “You’ll add 5 yards to your golf drive.”
Talking about benefits and not features translates into the service world too.
You’re a Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert? Why should I care? Oh, you’re able to create robust network solutions that are easy to update and manage across hosted servers and private cloud systems? OK, now I get how you can help me solve the issue I’m having.
Make sure you’re continually putting yourself in your customer’s shoes. By doing this, you should gain more context about the pain they have and what they’re looking for to be a salve for that pain.
If you’re having trouble figuring out what the benefits are of your product/service, or you’re struggling to come up with the right way to express those benefits in a meaningful way to your customers, let us know! We’re happy to talk with you about what your goal is and what issues you’re experiencing.