Feature or Benefit?

I've been doing some research for an article that I am writing. It is required that I look at a number of software providers in a particular vertical market. I was doing some research on remote printer management software programs. There seem to be an unlimited supply of this particular type of software available.

Well, for my research, I needed to know why I would choose their product over their competitor. I want the business case for the benefit of their product. What I notice more than anything is they are very good at putting a feature list but not very good at putting the important business benefits where I can find them. In fact, the feature list is incredibly long (many pages on many) but the benefits aren't easy to understand. I have to infer from the features what the benefit of their product is. Or, in some cases, what the core positioning of their product is.

Let me give you an example (without naming names so as not to offend).

Insert & Append Bytes

Inserting You can insert bytes (using our built-in byte editor) or a file before the print job data. * Set the printer to a specific mode (useful in pass-through printing) * Send an overlay to the printer, such as a form or watermark * Insert a custom banner page or report header

Appending You can also append bytes (again, with our byte editor) or a file after the print job data. Example uses include: * Return the printer to the "normal" mode * Append a document trailer

Banner Page Support

[Product] asks whether a banner page should be inserted into the data before printing. This selection is used for raw and filter type queues. The drop list offers three choices: suppress banner, always print, and when requested. * Suppress banner: RPM will not insert a banner page * Always print: RPM will always insert a banner page * When requested: RPM will insert a banner page when requested by the client

In this particular example, there are another 30 features like this. If I don't understand the basis of their product, how much time do you think that I am willing to spend on this? If I just happen on the site, how much time will I spend learning what they do and applying it to what I need?

Here is a thought... feature your benefits first and show your features last.

Here is a better thought. Have your home page on your website show a simple positioning statement that can show the benefit of your product in one or two key sentences. For the remote printer management industry, try something like this:

Remote Printer Management can help reduce your printer management costs by up to 43%. Our software can provide you with key improvement in the following three, key areas:

1. Remote printer setup and configuration management
2. Automated meter reporting, error reporting and low toner reporting
3. Cost containment and load balancing reports and recommendations

How about that for something concise?

Now your customers would know what your main purpose is and what is in it for them in a very simple and understandable fashion. Couple that with good design and navigation and your product will be far more marketable.