A writing exercise to help tell a feature from a benefit

Benefits, schmenefits…

How many times have you heard that people buy benefits and not features?

Unfortunately, if the only writing you do is for yourself or your own business, you might have trouble separating features from benefits even if you know doing so will make your copy much stronger.

Basically, a feature is a product spec and a benefit is what improves the end user’s life – what’s in it for them.

I’ll show you what I mean.

Here on my desk I have a Blueline Daytimer.

It’s pink (feature) and not only does its color make me feel happy when scheduling my time (benefit) but it’s a Pink Ribbon Product (feature), so when I bought it, I was helping to support breast cancer research (benefit).

There is a calendar for each month (feature) so I remember birthdays and keep track of important dates at a glance (benefit) and a weekly planner (feature) with lots of space for me to jot down every day’s to-do items. The pages are big (feature) so I don’t have to sacrifice my big loopy handwriting (benefit).

Do you see the difference?

Now to make this an exercise, it’s your turn!

What’s sitting on your desk to the right of your keyboard? Think about what its benefits and features are. I’d love if you’d do this by leaving a comment so we can all exercise our brains together!