Features & Benefits: Add More 'Dimension' to Your Copy

September has felt long for some reason. Was that just me? Well, it's over now. And that means a new edition of Copy Code Notes!

Most marketers I consult with understand the difference between a feature and a benefit. Say it with me:

"A feature is a fact about a product/service."
"A benefit is a description of how a feature improves the prospect's life."

That sums everything up pretty well, I'd say. Interestingly enough, though... and I'm not sure why... it seems like a lot of sales reps and entrepreneurs confuse features with benefits.

Sales reps are always eager to tell prospects all the "benefits" of their solution. They'll say things like "It's water resistant," "It comes with free 24/7 support," or "It works in less than 15 minutes!" They'll tell you facts about the solution — i.e. features. Not benefits.

As a result of this mix-up, many well-intentioned business owners and reps think they're showering prospects with benefits. In reality, though, they're just word-vomiting features at the prospect.

I'm sure someone said this long before me — I couldn't find the source or the exact quote — but it went something like this:

Don't get me wrong. In certain situations, it's acceptable to sell features instead of benefits. We'll talk about those situations in just a second. But before we dive into the nuances of this misunderstood topic, I just want to restate the fundamental difference one more time:

• Feature: A fact about a product/service.
• Benefit: How a feature improves your prospect's life.

Example:

• "Our candles smell like lavender." — a feature. A fact about our candles.
• "Smelling lavender helps you relax easier when you're stressed." — a benefit. How the feature improves your life.

People buy our lavender-scented candles so they can relax under stress.

Benefit Dimensions

There are three ways to describe a benefit:

• Functionally
• Dimensionally
• Emotionally

1. Functional Benefits

When listing benefits, most marketers stop at Functional Benefits. If you aren't familiar with the concept of "dimensionalizing a benefit," Functional Benefits may seem like the only kind of benefits.

When you describe a Functional Benefit, you're describing what a feature does.

For example, let's say you're selling a lead generation service that uses a new targeting technology to find leads, called "A.i.Deal Prospect Targeting."

• Feature: A.i.Deal Prospect Targeting
• Functional Benefit: A machine smarter than you will identify promising leads who are easy to close and highly likely to be thrilled to discover your service.

What is the function of the feature, "A.i.Deal Prospect Targeting"? Its function is finding ideal leads for your solution who will turn into lifelong customers. It does this with AI and Machine Learning. Pretty straightforward, right?

But there are two deeper levels of this benefit.

2. Dimensional Benefits

The concept of "Dimensionalizing Benefits" was invented by either Tom Phillips or Clayton Makepeace (depending on who you ask). In direct response copy, "Dimensionalize" is a verb. It means "to add dimension, to provide depth, or to make more real."

An important goal of our Copy Code is to make the idea of owning our solution feel as real to our reader as possible. We want our prospect to experience his desired outcome in his mind as he reads our copy. To achieve this, we'll want to 'dimensionalize' our benefits.

What will owning our solution look like? What will it taste like? What will our prospect's friends and colleagues think of her once she's solved her problem? What will people think of her if she doesn't solve her problem?

When you describe a Dimensional Benefit, you're describing how the Functional Benefit plays out in the prospect's life. So, continuing the example from earlier:

• Feature: A.i.Deal Prospect Targeting
• Functional Benefit: A machine smarter than you will identify promising leads who are easy to close.
• Dimensionalized Benefit: You can spend less time on sales calls because your leads will practically close themselves. You can focus on scaling your onboarding processes and expanding your market share. Your website will be filled with 5-star reviews and video testimonials of customers raving about your services.

The Functional Benefit builds upon the Feature, whereas the Dimensionalized Benefit builds upon the Functional Benefit. It "adds a dimension" to it. Let's go one more layer deeper...

3. Emotional Benefits

In this description of a benefit, we're looking to connect with prospects on an emotional level. When you describe an Emotional Benefit, you're describing the emotional impact of the Dimensionalized Benefit. How will the prospect feel after experiencing the Dimensional Benefit?

Let's build on our example:

• Feature: A.i.Deal Prospect Targeting
• Functional Benefit: A machine smarter than you will identify promising leads who are easy to close.
• Dimensionalized Benefit: You spend less time on sales calls, focus on scaling, and fill your site with 5-star reviews.
• Emotional Benefit: You will feel productive, clever, and accomplished knowing you only have to speak to excited leads who genuinely need and welcome your services.

Now if you were looking for lead generation services, which sounds better? Using "A.i.Deal Prospect Targeting"? Or... enjoying sales calls, scaling faster, having a website filled with rave reviews, being able to work smarter, feeling productive, etc.?

Different benefits will appeal to different prospects. By dimensionalizing benefits, we're able to speak to different readers' needs and desires at deeper levels. This comes in especially handy after you've found some winning copy. Whatever benefit worked, use it again — only this time, test different dimensions of the same benefit to intensify its appeal.

Here's a good exercise to find all the ways your solution will improve your prospect's life: list out 5–7 features of your solution. Describe the benefits of each feature functionally, dimensionally, and emotionally. Now each feature will have 3 different benefits that speak to your prospect at 3 different levels. This will give you a wealth of different ways to appeal to your target.

If that sounds like a chore, you can always use A.I. I developed a prompt that gets ChatGPT to do exactly this — but I highly recommend you do it yourself at least once first. It will help you tap into the creative side of your marketing mind. (Want the prompt? Grab it free at the end of this edition.)

The "So What?" Exercise

Another useful tool for dimensionalizing benefits is the "So What?" test. When you identify a feature of your solution, ask yourself, "So what?"

For example, let's say you're selling flowers online and you offer same-day delivery.

Keep going to find all the valuable benefits the feature provides.

Before we finish up today, I want to cover one common mistake I see marketers make when they use features and benefits in their copy.

Don't Sleep on Features

Features provide logical proof for your claims. They build credibility into your messaging. They justify the benefits.

There's this idea in marketing that benefits are "better" than features. Sure, most of the time, you sell the benefits, not the features. But don't sleep on features. Features may not be as important as benefits in most cases, but they're important, nonetheless.

If your target prospects have a high Awareness Level (4–5)... and your target market is in a high Sophistication Stage (3–5)... your Copy Code may actually perform better if you sell features instead of benefits.

Think about this. At higher Awareness Levels, your reader is very familiar with your solution and your competitor's solution. At higher Sophistication Stages, the market has likely been sold every benefit by all your competitors. So by explaining certain benefits, you may run the risk of boring your readers — telling them things they already know.

A good real-life example is the personal computer market. Thanks to Apple, people are well aware of the benefits of owning a personal computer. In this market today, prospects often make their purchasing decision based on features.

Look at Best Buy's laptop product pages. Their visitors likely have a good understanding of what they want, so Best Buy doesn't add any fluff. They literally have an entire section called "Features." Even the names of the laptops are just "Brand Name, Feature, Feature, Feature":

"Apple — Geek Squad Certified Refurbished MacBook Pro 13.3" Laptop — Apple M2 chip — 8GB Memory — 256GB SSD (Latest Model) — Silver"

Best Buy focuses almost exclusively on features because they can reasonably assume the shopper already understands the benefits. They do mention benefits, but they sell the features. This is a good move because it simplifies the shopping process — the shopper can compare and contrast options based on the features they care about.

On the other hand, Apple's landing page for the same product speaks to prospects at lower Awareness Levels. So Apple sells the benefits of each feature:

• "Create stunning graphics with a lightning-fast 10-core GPU."
• "Rip through workflows with a more powerful 8-core CPU."