Ask HN: Marketing benefits not features, is it really the right way?

[twidlit]

I am rewriting the copy of our startup's front page and going by the now de facto advice of marketing the benefit not features, I found myself reading the following on our homepage >

1. Makes you happier! (new commenting features)

2. Saves you time! (fast, easy, cross-posting)

3. Show more meaning! (annotate photos, read+show EXIF, big pictures).

My gut keeps sounding its alarm over me touting benefits vs features. Do visitors really convert better if the headlines are benefits vs features?

NOTE: i know i can A/B test this but i am curious to what HN folks think...

[revorad]

The benefits need to be very specific, otherwise they are meaningless. If your product gives me happiness, time and meaning, you could be selling a book on meditation or a digital watch.

Make it more specific, without jumping into a list of features. An excellent example: http://basecamphq.com.

[earlyresort → revorad]

Interesting.

When I look at the homepage for Basecamp, I see a somewhat-vague benefit ('projects manage themselves'), followed by a whole lot of argument by consensus ('millions use', 'over five million people worldwide'), some appeals to authority (the customer blurbs, the logos), a bit on pricing, reassurance that the product is simple, and then some things that look very much like features rather than benefits - for example, "Keep all your project files in one place." That's followed by some vague benefits that could apply to a lot of products - "Basecamp’s focus on simplicity, clarity, and ease of use make it truly unique."

There's no denying that Basecamp's a huge success and a great product, but when looking at Basecamp's main landing page, I see way more appeals to emotion than features or benefits.

Hmmm. Very interesting.

[arkitaip]

Imagine you have a paying customer who really loves your product and who is riding the elevator with a friend. What would your customer tell his friend during this brief ride to convince him to try out your product? Write down the stuff and use it as a foundation for your copy writing.

Pretend you are a consumer who is doing a comparison between you and your competitors. Write down the qualities that all the products share and qualities that your competitors boost about in a comparison table. Use this as an the groundwork for writing your landing page copy.

Take a look at what your competitors are saying. Chances are that they have already done a lot of the research work for you, this especially true if they have deeper pockets than you.

Use Google adwords to figure out which words or phrases interest people the most.

Start a/b testing right now. Google's Website Optimizer is free, Visual Website Optimizer is a praised alternative.

Demonstrate it, showcase it. If you suspect that your customers might have trouble understanding your product, clearly demonstrate its basic usage in a video that you display on the landing page. If possible, showcase how other customers are using your product.

[anujkk]

You should rather be communicating what "value" is being provided with help of XYZ feature. E.g., "Add meaningful and interesting information on top of your pics" with our Annotation feature.

Value = sum of benefits/sum of costs.

[Peroni]

NOTE: i know i can A/B test this but i am curious to what HN folks think

What are you waiting for? This is a perfect opportunity to A/B test.

I understand the marketing perspective but I don't see why you can't strike a fine balance of both.

[twidlit → Peroni]

Thanks, I will. This query is a parallel process. :)