While you’d think that being a better business writer would simply require you to have no grammatical errors, it actually takes a bit more work to write content that inspires people to buy from your website.
A major error a lot of business owners make is talking about their product’s features, not benefits. What’s the difference?
When you expound on the features of your product, you essentially are presenting your audience with a list of qualities about your products:
This water bottle features nanotechnology.
Our camping apparel is made of top-of-the-line fabric.
That’s neat and all…but who really cares?
Features are what you think is great about your product. But your customer cares about something else: the benefits, or ways it helps them solve a problem:
The nanotechnology in this water bottle means your beverages stay cold for days.
Made of top-of-the-line fabric, our camping apparel will withstand all weather conditions, guaranteed for 5 years.
Suddenly, you have your reader’s attention.
Here’s how you can start writing about your product’s benefits to appeal to your customer base.
1. Make a List of Your Customers’ Pain Points
Your customers will be looking to you for help.
Before you can address your product’s benefits, you have to know the problems you’re trying to solve for people. There’s that old adage that people don’t want to buy a drill; they want to buy a hole in the wall. The drill is just the means to get there.
With the water bottle example above, people are looking for a way to keep their beverages cool for longer. With the camping apparel example, people want durable camping clothing that won’t get holes from the campfire or not hold up against strong winds.
Understanding what problems your customers are trying to solve helps you solve them.
2. Address How Your Product Solves Those Pain Points
Now that you understand what your customers are really buying, you can look at how your product addresses the issue. Your water bottle is proven to keep beverages cold for days. Your camping apparel has been tested against all weather conditions. Your product has been proven to solve the exact problems your audience has.
3. Write Your Benefits Creatively
Just like any kind of content you’d write for your website, your product benefits need to be concise and appealing. Don’t write a paragraph of benefits; if you have multiple ones, simply create bullets to get your point across:
Our water bottles:
- Keep beverages cold for 72 hours
- Are from recycled material, so you can feel good about them
- Come in 12 customizable color options
You may test out the exact verbiage you use so that you find what hits the mark best. You might, for example, run an A/B test via email, using different language to see which gets a higher clickthrough rate. The winner should be the language you use on your website and anywhere else you describe your products.
Remember how important it is to give readers of your web copy the feeling that there’s something in it for them. Make it clear that your products are designed to solve their problems or make their lives easier. You do this by keeping them in mind as you write. Address the “what’s in it for me” question, and you’ll nudge them toward buying from you.
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