I’m taking you out for a virtual steak dinner. Why? Because, it’s time to celebrate your genius self and you rocking the entrepreneurial world.

That first sentence above probably left your mouth watering just a tad, am I right?

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So, let me explain my intentions. Whenever you go out for a nice steak dinner, are you thinking more about the ingredients that go into making it? Or, the sizzling hot plate that’ll arrive at your table, curing your case of the hangries and satisfying your hankering for a delicious meal you didn’t have to slave over? I’m sure it’s the latter.

Now, let’s translate that scenario to your own business—your product or service’s features and benefits. Your potential clients are way less interested in the ingredients that went into making your “steak,” so to speak. Instead, they’re more interested in how your product or service will satisfy them and solve their biggest headaches. It’s all about them, them, them. Not me, me, me, as Toby Keith likes to sing (not a big country music fan? Here’s the song I’m referencing for your entertainment).

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But, in order to get to the point where you’re speaking more to the interests of your prospective buyers, you must lay out a list of features and specifications. That’s what’ll allow you the chance to translate them into benefits that sell, making your buyers feel like they’ll be getting a better version of themselves in return.

With all that being said, it’s not easy to develop features and benefits that sizzle. With my help today, however, it will be. I’m going to share with you how to create features and benefits that do everything but fizzle.

You might be wondering, after these steps I’m about to share:

How exactly do I translate my features and benefits into actual sales copy?

Copy that gets my readers to bite onto what it is I’m dishing out?

Wonder no more. I’ve got just the solution you’ve been hungry for, taking the load of writing off your desk almost completely and giving you nothing but more time on your hands to focus on growing your own business. Sound like something you’re interested in? I thought so. Stick around until the end of this post to learn more.

But, before we dig in…

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It’s easy for entrepreneurs to mix up features and benefits, thinking they’re one and the same. But, it’s critical to understand the difference for success purposes. To help you out in that arena, let’s quickly distinguish a feature versus a benefit in clear and simple terms.

Feature: it’s a fact about your product or service.

Let’s use Diet Coke as an example. One of it’s features is that it’s low in calories.

Benefit: it’s an explanation of what that feature does for your buyer.  

These can be phrased as a positive—ex. Improves productivity. Or, as a problem that’s avoided—ex. Decreases stress. If we’re using the same Diet Coke example, a benefit to its “low in calories” feature is you’ll be skinnier than Cheryl in accounting who drinks regular Coke.

And, here’s an important thing to note: it might be 10 times easier for you to just focus on the features—the logistics—of your product or service. But, it’s going to set you back when prospects compare you to your competitors. Benefits sell, features support. When you focus more on the customer than your own offering, you’ll be winning.

Easy enough? Okay, let’s get to the good stuff.

How to Cook Up Powerful Features and Benefits That Sell

1. Avoid awkward silence in your sales numbers—profile your ideal customer.

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Before all else, you really need to get down to the nitty-gritty of your ideal customer. What do I mean by this? Well, I’m sure you’ve heard it a time or two again, but you need to create a buyer persona of some sort. It doesn’t need to be fancy by any means. It just needs to get to the heart of who exactly your target prospect is, and what they’re looking for.

Ultimately, you should be able to describe your customer so good to the point they’d catch your eye in a crowded Starbucks shop in a matter of seconds. Doing so will help you put yourself in your customer’s shoes throughout your efforts in marketing, sales, you name it.

Consider their specific needs and interests to tailor a product or service directly to them. To help you with that, here are a few sample questions to ask yourself:

• What do they look and sound like?
• What’s important to them?
• What’s missing from their life?
• What are their buying concerns and motivations?

If you’re already in business, you can interview a sample of your customers via an online survey. And, if you’re not? Just look at your competitors. Scan their blog posts, social media accounts, anything and everything to get a feel for who’s responding. After all, your brand can’t be the hero if you don’t know what problems or feelings your audience is experiencing. Get to know your buyers.

When you internalize your ideal customer and relate to them as an actual human being—not a stuffy brand—you’ll seriously avoid any awkward silence in your sales numbers.

2. Love it or send it back to the kitchen—write out all your features & whittle down by priority.

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Now, it’s time to make a list of all the features of your product or service. Brainstorm possible ideas if you have yet to break into the market and figure out the necessary selling points. All while avoiding feature creep—adding in too many features that go beyond the basic function of your product or service, resulting in over-complication.

All that being said, prioritize your list, narrowing your focus to a select few to put on the roadmap. Think of them as the absolute basic features your product or service must have to sell to your market. And then add in some features that either enhance customer satisfaction or excitement. This is all based off of the Kano Model, helping you prioritize customer satisfaction and delight.

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Take Apple’s Watch Series 2 as an example. The brand solely categorizes features based off of each individual ideal customer. Focused on your business? There are four key features within the watch made just for you—apps and notifications, customizable watch interfaces, app dock, and ask more of Siri.

No matter what you do, when you narrow down your list to focus only on the features that reel in your prospects, you’ll get something sweet in return: greater conversions.

3. Get down into the details—identify what exactly each feature does.  

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Plain and simple—write out a description for what each feature actually does; it’s role within your product or service. Doing so will help you dive deeper into understanding the potential benefits each brings to the menu.

Using the same Apple Watch Series 2 example, here are some of the brand’s feature descriptions for its product.

• Apps and notifications: A dual-core processor and powerful GPU enable fast app performance and smooth animations. With watchOS 3, your favorite apps launch instantly with up-to-date information.
• Customizable watch interfaces: Tap to instantly launch an app. And easily move between faces by swiping from edge to edge.
• App dock: Press the side button to access the Dock, and quickly navigate through the apps you like to use most.
• Ask more of Siri: Siri is more helpful and versatile than ever—just raise your wrist, say “Hey Siri,” and start talking.

Ultimately, focus less on the physical product or service at hand and more on what you can offer your customers.

4. Ask yourself: “So what?”—connect features to your customer’s biggest desires.

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Remember that ideal customer profile I referenced back at step #1? Think about them. Connect your key features to the pain points you’re hoping to solve or alleviate.

Already in business? Take a look at the feedback you’re getting in return to help you easily answer your customer’s question of: “So what? What’s in it for me?”

Here’s exactly how Apple continues through this process with sharing the benefits of its Apple Watch Series 2 features:

• Apps and notifications: helps keep you informed, organized, and connected throughout your day.
• Customizable watch interfaces: see what you need at a glance and always have the watch face that’s right for the moment.
• App dock: the latest information— like news, weather, and stock quotes—is there when you need it.
• Ask more of Siri: Call a Lyft to come pick you up. Start a workout with Zova. Check for new messages and mail. Or find out if you’ve closed your rings.

Seeing how everything weaves together now? Features still have a purpose—to help support your benefits. Tell your audience exactly how your feature will benefit them.

5. Tug at their heartstrings—use emotion-packed words when describing benefits.

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Once you’ve worked your way through the following steps, it’s time to pull at your customer’s heartstrings. Resonate with them buy using strong, emotion-packed words, while highlighting their desired outcome when using your product or service.

Some examples of phrases you can pull from include:

• Saves money
• Saves time
• Accomplishes goals (increases revenue, helps you lose weight, etc.)
• Overcomes fears (starting a business, meeting new people, etc.)
• Solves problems
• Makes a task easier

Always remember: they give you the power you need to earn some serious conversions. And, there’s no harm in building off of your ideal customer’s feelings. It’s what’ll help to widen their eyes to your product or service as their solution, getting them to show you their wallet.

6. Assess for success—gauge the impact of your features & benefits.  

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Ready to showcase your list of features and benefits to release your product or service out into the world? Game on! Don’t wait another second to get feedback from your prospects to ensure your list is viable. The last thing you want to do is serve up features and benefits that only lead to clutter on a page versus clicking your call to action button.

Assess your list for success and ensure you’re not creating fake benefits either. Also, don’t forget to create product metrics to verify your features and your offering’s winning potential. If the feature doesn’t meet a hard goal, you know it was a flop—at least according to what you expected—and you can adjust accordingly.   

Feeling lost in how to weave your features and benefits into copy that actually converts?

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It’s definitely no piece of cake. I was in your shoes too, until I found the key to solving my biggest headaches. Meet your new copywriting companion: ScriptDoll.

It’s a sales copy engine dedicated to assisting you with composing persuasive sales content in minutes. Once you create your product portfolio and answer a handful of painless questions, ScriptDoll drops those answers into thoughtfully crafted content scripts that sell—sales letters, email sequences, you name it.

Here’s why ScriptDoll is so beneficial to entrepreneurs like you:

• Frees up your time to put focus towards more productive tasks—simply complete your product portfolio, answer a handful of painless questions regarding your target audience, product details, features and benefits, and more, and ScriptDoll turns your answers into attractive content in a matter of minutes.
• Keeps your content fresh with an ever-growing, extensive library of templates—new templates are added on a monthly basis, from sales letters to video sales scripts, email sequences, and much more. You’ll avoid putting your audience into a zombie state-of-mind, no matter your content needs, steering clear of sharing the same thing over and over again.  
• Saves you some serious moola by keeping your copywriting in-house—there’s no need to drop loads of money on outsourcing your writing tasks to copywriters. And, you can also avoid investing hours of your time trying to improve your skills in a copywriting course. That’s because ScriptDoll crafts its effective templates thanks to its connections with champion copywriters around the world!  
• Decreases your workload to almost nothing with ready-made product profiles—are you a puppy trainer, dentist, plastic surgeon or graphic designer? If so, you’re in luck because your product profile has already been completed for you. That means your features and benefits, too! There are many more waiting to be used within the software engine, making it that much easier to push out content that converts.  

Now you know all about what ScriptDoll can do for you, ridding yourself of the headaches keeping you up until the wee hours of the morning. So, what’s keeping you from jumping on board? Grab hold of these benefits today.

Get Your Product’s Sizzling Copy in Minutes—Join ScriptDoll Now!

You’re armed with the steps you should take on how to create features and benefits that make your product or service sizzle. Not to mention, you’re finally looped in on a tool that can help you quickly and effectively craft your sales content in a matter of minutes, helping to weave in your offering’s characteristics that’ll inspire your audience to take action.

Entrepreneurs like you are raving about ScriptDoll—relieving them from the struggles of writer’s block while mixing in their features and benefits to create savory content with little to no effort. We hope you’ll join them and look forward to you getting the results you’ve been searching for. They’re ready and waiting for you.

Do you have a compelling benefit for one of your product or service’s features? We love examples, so feel free to drop us a line in the comments section below.