Promoting benefits vs features
The conventional marketing wisdom is to emphasize product benefits rather than features.
Is this universally true? Are there products or customers for whom features are more important than benefits? Think for example of technical products such as tools or platforms for software developers.
I prefer to learn about features because benefits are too vague, and often feel unrealistic or patronizing. I wonder how representative I am.
Features let me figure the benefits important to me, which those who promote the product may not even think of. If I know the product domain well, features let me easily figure the benefits I can get out of it.
Or I may plan to use a product in ways the vendor didn't intend or anticipate.
Do you have any experience with emphasizing features?
I have always seen it more as promote the problems that you solve. People ultimately are looking for solutions to their problems, not benefits or features that they have to think about whether or not will solve their problems. If you can succinctly explain what problem(s) you solve that will ultimately win out over feature lists.
Promoting benefits is how the conversation can start, helping them understand
why they have got to listen to you the next few minutes,
why they should subscribe to your newsletter,
& why they should give your product a try.
Once they are clear on this and interested, pitch the features explaining how you do it.
The comparison of you to a potential customer isn't a valid one and should not be considered. You have too much intimate knowledge of the situation, and you're in a different place in the buyer journey for any product or service you may require to help your business.
You must assume your potential client has no idea you exist and does not understand your value prop. It's your job to explain those things to a potential buyer. You can technically do that by describing features, but that would fall outside of standard copywriting process that recommends you present a concept, not a feature list. Remind your potential buyer of their pain points and then point out how your product solves those pain points. You can introduce specific features in that flow but when they connect with your product they will usually find your feature list on their own.
Thanks, I know I may not be representative. That's why I wondered whether anyone here experimented with emphasizing features and had any experience or insight to share.