Using Empathy to Build a Brand Your Customer Crave
February 18, 2025
What Is a Unique Selling Proposition and How to Use It
February 18, 2025Features to Benefits: How to Write Copy That Actually Converts
"We buy with emotion and justify with logic."
One of the biggest factors in whether your business will succeed or fail is your ability to communicate the value of your business to customers.
This is the foundation of any high-converting website. Beautiful design without clear benefits-driven copy is just decoration. The SPARK Method we use at New Media Design starts every web project with this exact exercise.
It’s really easy to fall into the trap of focusing on features, instead of understanding the benefits to your customer. While (of course) features have their time and place in the buyers user journey, benefits speak to the customers world and their buying behaviour. Watch Simon Sinek’s Start with Why.
Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman's research found that 95 percent of purchasing decisions happen subconsciously, driven by emotion rather than logic. Source: Harvard Business School Working Knowledge.
This module will help you to transform your product or service from a list of features into something that will speak to your customers on the level that drives behaviour— and ideally create customers that keep coming back
Why This Matters:
These days, with all the marketing noise out there, just listing features usually isn't enough. It's about communicating the value you deliver. What impact does it has on your customer's lives? You want to start thinking about how to:
- Shift the Focus: and move beyond features to highlight the benefits that address customer needs and desires.
- Differentiate Your Brand using your unique selling proposition.
Features vs. Benefits: Bridging the Gap
When I say ‘features’ I’m talking about the technical details and functionality of your product or service. So for example if you’re selling file-sharing software, you might say
See how translating those features into benefits and focusing on your customers positive experience changes things?
Think about how Apple promoted the ipod when it was released.
This same principle applies to your value proposition. A weak value proposition lists features. A strong one promises a benefit. The iPod did not sell storage. It sold the feeling of a thousand songs in your pocket.
1000 songs in your pocket. They didn’t say “our music device has 1Gb of storage and is 10cm high and 6cm wide.”
When we focus on Benefits, we speak directly to the customer's world.
Focusing on addressing their pain points and aspirations that we explored earlier. I find it useful to always come back to this acronym WIIFM - what’s in it for me? Imagine your customer is asking that question. Don’t make them do the work of figuring out how your features translate into benefits.
Let's play with another example of how features translate into benefits.
The second statement paints a picture of the positive impact the camera can have. It speaks to the emotional desires of the customer, not just the technical specs.
Features are the building blocks, but benefits are the bridge that connects your product to the customer's world. They can translate that technical jargon into a language that your customers understand and care about. There’s a common saying
“We buy with emotion and justify with logic”
This is why Dove differentiates itself by offering beauty products that go beyond aesthetics or skincare. Their value proposition lies in promoting real beauty, self-esteem, and inner confidence.
This is what strong brand design and brand strategy does. The visual identity supports the emotional benefit. Dove's packaging, advertising and tone of voice all reinforce the same promise of real beauty and self-esteem.
Benefits Fuel Action:
By highlighting benefits, you can motivate customers to take action. They'll see how your product solves their problem or fulfils their needs. This ideally creates a desire to experience the benefits first hand.
So have a go a listing all the awesome features of your product or service, and then seeing if you can translate each of these into a benefit.
Five Features to Benefits Examples
| Feature | Benefit |
|---|---|
| 10-megapixel camera | Capture detailed photos that preserve memories for a lifetime |
| Cloud file sharing | Collaborate with your team from anywhere, on any device |
| WordPress website with SEO built in | Get found on Google by customers actively searching for what you do |
| NLP-certified strategist | Marketing that taps into how customers actually make decisions |
| 500+ client portfolio | Work with someone who has solved your exact problem before |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a feature and a benefit?
A feature is what your product or service has or does. A benefit is what the customer gets from it. Features are facts. Benefits are outcomes. For example, a feature is a 10-megapixel camera. The benefit is detailed photos that capture memories.
How do I turn features into benefits?
Ask one question after each feature: so what? Keep asking until you reach an emotional outcome. A built-in spell checker (feature), so you do not send embarrassing typos (benefit), so you look professional to clients (deeper benefit), so you win more business (deepest benefit).
Should I list features at all on my website?
Yes, but never alone. Lead with the benefit. Support it with the feature. The benefit creates desire. The feature provides logical justification for the purchase.
Where should benefits appear on my website?
In your hero section first. In your service descriptions. In your headings. In your meta descriptions. In your social media bios. Anywhere your audience reads about what you offer, the benefit should appear before the feature.
How does this connect to my value proposition?
Your value proposition is built from benefits, not features. A clear value proposition promises a specific outcome to a specific audience. See our guide to writing a strong value proposition for the full framework.
Do benefits matter for B2B as much as B2C?
Yes. B2B buyers are still humans who buy with emotion and justify with logic. The emotional drivers are different (career risk, looking good to the boss, fear of getting it wrong) but the principle is identical.
Stuck translating your features into benefits?
If you have read this and your website still leads with what you do rather than what your customer gets, you have a copy problem. Or a strategy problem. Often both.
New Media Design rewrites websites for Christchurch businesses every week. We use the SPARK Method to turn feature-heavy copy into benefits that convert. Book a free strategy call and Kit will show you the gaps on your current site.
Work With Kit Hindin
New Media Design delivers web design, logo design, branding, and SEO for Christchurch and Canterbury businesses. Every project is led directly by Kit Hindin, with 25+ years of experience, Strategic Foresight and NLP Practitioner credentials, and five-star Google reviews from every single client.
If you want a website that ranks in Google and converts visitors into clients, get in touch.
or call Kit directly on 021 880045
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