Features, benefits, jobs-to-be-done, oh my!
“Buyers are experts in pain,
Vendors are experts in solutions”
If you are refreshing your website right now, you should keep that in mind, particularly if you are a B2B company.
Why?
Your audience needs to quickly understand how your solution will solve their pain. They are not buying features, but a cure - your product should clearly articulate the job it can do.
If your technology is innovative and disruptive, you need to help your buyer better understand your industry and educational contact will be key.
Purchasing decisions are not purely based on logic but are also heavily influenced by emotions, including fear and hesitation. Social proof, credentials, and the right language will help reassure your target audience.
How should you think about your messaging?
Probably like a 3-layer cake
1. Top layer: High-stake outcomes
This is where you directly address the critical problem your buyer is facing. The buyer is likely to be well-versed in their pain, and you must demonstrate that your product or service offers a tangible solution that alleviates that pain.
Why is it important? Buyers make decisions based on how relevant your solution seems to their pressing problem. If your solution doesn't immediately appear to address their pain, they'll move on.
Messaging tip: Use a Jobs-to-be-Done framework to define this layer: When [problem], I want [solution].
Example: "When my team struggles with slow project delivery, I want a tool that enhances collaboration and speeds up workflows."
6sense focuses on the outcome of their solution: Find prospects in market before your competition.
2. Mid layer: Benefits
This is where you highlight benefits—what the buyer gets by using your solution. You should think broadly about both the tangible (technical) and intangible (emotional) outcomes of your product or service.
Why is it important? Your solution will likely have a range of benefits and you need to help your buyers connect the dots by showing how your solution impacts them not just functionally (e.g., saves time) but also emotionally (e.g., reduces stress) or brings compounding value (e.g. becoming one source of truth).
Messaging tip: Break it down into three types of benefits:
Technical benefits: Direct outcomes related to performance.
Emotional benefits: How it improves their satisfaction or avoid pain, provides hope or avoid fear, and offers social acceptance or avoid rejection.
Accrued benefits: Long-term value and improvements that compound over time.
Tableau makes the benefits of its solution very clear: Accelerate decision-making.
3. Bottom layer: Features
This is where you list the features, but you need to present them clearly and succinctly, avoiding overwhelming detail.
Why is it important? Overloading a buyer with too many features can dilute the message. Instead, prioritize features that clearly support the buyer’s desired solution and position the company’s strengths vs its competitors.
Messaging tip: Focus on key aspects that tie back to the pain points and benefits. Keep your copy can be straight to the point and highly factual, support with credible data, show instead of tell whenever possible.
Hex shows and tells what it can do: Queries, notebooks, reports in one collaborative data workspace.
Now how do you want to build your home page and key messaging?