Features are the facts about your product/service. Benefits are why that feature matters for your customers. No matter how amazing a feature may be, people buy the benefits the feature provides. Let’s say you live in Cape Town. You go into an umbrella shop and the very friendly owner shows you a particular umbrella that’s pricier than the others and tells you about its amazing features: a 14mm carbon fibreglass shaft, double carbon fibreglass ribs supporters, high-density Pongee fabric and a bearing weight of 100kg. You think to yourself, “So what?”

Now imagine that the umbrella seller rather tells you about the benefits those features provide: this particular umbrella has unbreakable spokes, will stand up to the fastest winds you’ll ever find yourself in, and the fabric can withstand very heavy rain – so not only will it keep the rain off you, but it also won’t blow inside-out and break in Cape Town’s fierce winds. You look outside at the howling wind and lashing rain... sale made!

Think about the features of your product/service and figure out every benefit (big and small). Remember that a benefit may be obvious to you but it may not be obvious to customer.