Features versus Benefits, A Case Study

Last week I talked about how many companies list features about their products but nothing about how it benefits their customers. While this seems like one of the basic rules that everyone should follow, I wondered why I keep seeing this rule broken time and time again. I thought it may help to look quickly at a couple of examples.

I could have picked any product to look at but tablets are all the rage so I thought we should look at the  Motorola Xoom versus the Apple iPad, to see if one promotes benefits more than features. When I went to the web pages for both products (which was my only resource for this comparison), I was actually surprised to see that there were no links on either overview page called Benefits. This is not looking good in terms of promoting benefits over features. I was a bit surprised about Apple on this front.

The Motorola Xoom didn't even have a features page but only had Tech Specs. I clicked on the Overview link hoping it would go into some benefits but I was hit right away with the dimensions of the product, the processor speed and the operating system. Feature, feature and feature.

I went back to the Experience page, which was the first one I visited, and it just had more text about the same features (OS, camera resolution, display resolution). The only screen on this page that hinted at a feature was the one about multitasking which was labelled Flexibility. The Compare tab within the Experience page also listed benefits when they compared the Xoom to the iPad but that's a bit late and buried, don't you think?

I was a bit suprised that Apple didn't have a benefits page eitehr but the iPad features page talks about how it is thinner and lighter, 2x faster, has fast graphics for gamers and longer battery life so I can keep going. While the page is talking features, the text clearly illustrates how each of these features will help me rather than going into the technical specs which were on a different page for anyone that really wanted them. The iPad overview page did an even better job of summarizing these features as benefits so not having a benefits page is forgiven as the other pages do a good job of illustrating these.

My quick review of how 2 tech giants approach features versus benefits confirms that selling benefits is key, especially to a consumer market, but not everyone does it. Unless I missed another section of the Motorola site, they have a lot of work to do in this area. Motorola needs to promote the benefits of their tablets and make it obvious. Apple did do a significantly better job in the content to talk about how the features help me or why I care and were specific too, including 2x faster, 9x better graphics performance, or enough juice for one flight across the ocean.

Now, is there any question as to why the iPad is outselling Xoom by a huge margin? Before you slam me in the comments, I'll admit there are many reasons but showing how your product helps people rather than listing a bunch of specs is definitely one of the factors and Apple is one of the best at it.

Comments

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I'm impressed by the XOOM, and by Honeycomb. Neither feels like a compromise, and with the heft of the Android Market behind them, the gap between Android and iOS has narrowed drastically. The XOOM may only be the first Honeycomb slate, but it’s a strong start to what’s going to be a fiercely competitive race.

[Urbano]

c1f8Every hands on review ive seen of this thick heavy taeblt is showing it displaying Video of its functionality .Ummmmm something tells me it's not ready and probably unstable. If I wanted a taeblt the iPad gets my cash. Its thiner, lighter and more importantly stable. I also hear the ipad's development community is massive compared to the any of the competition .Sorry Motorola, it just doesn't cut it for me.fb

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