He’s not really our cat, but he kept showing up one day. We feed and play with him, and then he just… kinda leaves.

And then he shows back up again, poops in our yard and then comes to cuddle as if he didn’t do anything.

He sleeps and lounges around a lot.

And even though he’s not really black and white (like our actual cat), we ended up calling him Oreo (like the cookie).

So I thought, as a fun experiment, why don’t I use him as a lesson on selling with benefits and features?

And why not do it by trying to (hypothetically) sell him at the HIGHEST PRICE POSSIBLE.

Oh yeah, we’re going persuasive.

But to do that we need to be strategic. We need to create a campaign that knows the difference between benefits and features and when to introduce each one.

So let’s start with the differences and go from there.

So what are features and benefits? And what are the differences?

Features:

Any aspect of the product that describes what it does or what it has. Focuses on the what.

Benefits:

Any reason your client enjoys the product. Focuses on the why.

Is one more important than the other?

No.

While a lot of people would disagree and say benefits are what actually sell your product, the features are necessary details that your client needs to know before deciding to close the sale.

Let’s take an online french language course for example. Benefits for that would be something like:

• Be able to talk and speak french in just over 30 days.
• Talk with a native french speaker IN REAL TIME in weekly calls and learn the most common mistakes beginners make.
• If you get stuck, you’ll have instant access to our teachers who can help you learn with progressive exercises.

Which sounds like a pretty solid deal right?

But let’s say you’re hooked and looking to purchase this course.

Now that you know why you’re buying the course, you still need to know what’s included.

Here comes the features:

• Included is a subscription to our android app that gives you progressive exercises depending on your level.
• Comes with over 100+ videos of recorded footage for reading and writing.
• 90 day guarantee. If you’re not satisfied, just show us your work and you’ll get your money back.
• Get a link to our Whatsapp Group where you can ask questions and where a teacher is always present.
• Once a week, you’ll be emailed a link to a zoom call with a group of a maximum of 10 people.

You see the difference now?

Features help you know what you’re getting. It’s the justification that says:

“Okay, you gave me all the reasons why I should buy your product. But give me the details on it that show me it will do what you promise it will do.”

Which makes you ask then:

When should you use benefits/features in your landing page?

It depends at what stage your lead is in the sales process.

If they’re early in and just finding out about your product, go benefits all the way.

But if they’re closer to the sale or just about to purchase, tell them what they’ll be getting, how they’d be getting it, etc.

Which finally brings us back to this sucker.

What I can do to hypothetically sell this cat

Let’s say you do a quick google search:

And the Google algorithm gods show my ad:

Ugly cuddly cat for sale

You miraculously click it and read about Oreo:

• He’s very fluffy
• He sleeps at least 14 hours a day
• He’s about 3 years old
• And….

*Yawn*

These are features! We can do better than that. Let’s try again by turning these into benefits.

Reasons why you’d love THIS specific cat:

• He’s super fluffy. He’s one of the only cats you’ll ever meet that loves belly rubs.
• He’s very low maintenance. Most cats are, but this one takes the cake. He’ll at most meow when he’s hungry. He loves lounging around during the rest of the day.
• Cats live for like, 12 years. This one is only 3, so you’ll have a trusty cat for a pretty long time!

I might include a few more but for what we have, that’s instantly more persuasive.

Maybe persuasive enough to make you click on the “buy this cat” button.

Then you’re taken to another landing page.

Here’s where I might show things like price and a few other details.

And I might create a bit more effort into answering some of the nitty-gritty “that’s cute and all but…” kind of questions.

So you might ask:

• Is he vaccinated?
• Does he bite a lot?
• Is he an indoor or outdoor cat?
• What kind of food does he eat?
• Has he been neutered?
• Would we need to meet up or will you bring it to me?

And etcetera, etcetera.

These last ones are features and the client needs to know them to get them to the full sale.

If they’re ignored, those worries pop up in the client’s head and never get addressed.

Or worse, they buy the cat but everything is kind of left up in the air. (Probably cause you didn’t plan far enough ahead in how you’d implement said sale)

Benefits and features both have their place in landing pages. But when to use each one depends on where your lead is psychologically and when you should start presenting each one.

Else you’ll never be able to sell this fluffball…