Features are the characteristics of a product or service, benefits are the value and problem-solving outcomes those features provide to the customer.

Primary Implication

You can’t produce product or service benefits without features.  You also can’t produce profits with features people won’t pay to have.

You know you are building more features than your customer sees the benefit in when you have deteriorating gross profit.

Protect your profits by not building into any product a feature people won’t pay you a profit to get.

Overview

The concept of benefits and features are often confusing for many in business.  What gets lost is that unique benefits are derived from the unique features of your products and services that exist to solve a specific customer problem.

Knowing what problem you solve for your customers lays the foundation for identifying the benefit your customer derive from buying from you.  Too often, the people in a business get enamored with the physical features of the product they make and sell, leading them to lose sight of the benefits those features are intended to provide in solving a customer problem.

A simple trick to differentiate a feature from a benefit is to state something about your product and then ask, “So that ‘X’ can happen.”  The “X” represents the benefit. I.e., what the feature is supposed to do. For example, people buy a ¼” drill bit so that they can make a ¼” hole to put a ¼” screw into so they can attach something requiring a ¼” screw. They don’t buy the drill bit just to own a ¼” drill bit.

Don’t let your operations people distract you with their excitement for the great features they have built into your products and services.  Nor do you want your marketing and salespeople to brag about how they have turned your product features into benefits. Focus everyone in your business on helping your customers buy what they need from you by clearly communicating from the customer perspective, not your companies, what problem a purchase from you solves.