How to Write Benefits-led Copy

How many times have you heard that the best copy focuses on the benefits of your product or service?

It’s true – your customers (and potential customers) are only interested in what you can do for them. They don’t care about you, your company or even what you sell. They just want to know how you’re going to make their life easier.

Mind you, when it comes to actually writing the copy, focusing on the benefits is tricky.

For starters, how do you know what they are?

When it comes to the features and specification of what you’re offering, you’ve got loads to write about, but the benefits? That’s a whole different ball game.

Before you start writing you need to work out who is your ideal customer.

Who are you writing for?

If you could pick your ideal customer, what would they be like?

Think about their age, occupation, likes and dislikes, what keeps them awake at night and what they want to get out of life.

Once you know everything about them, you’ll be able to write to them with passion to engage them in what you’re saying, to convince them their lives would be so much better with your product or service.

What about the benefits?

Once you know whom you’re writing to, it’s time to work out the benefits.

That means it’s time to do some research.

The first stage is to list all the features and specifications of what you’re offering.

Then, take each of these in turn and decide how they benefit your customers. How will they make their life easier etc.?

The next step is to think about the problems you will help them avoid backing up your benefits.

Finally, write down all the buying objections you can think of (e.g. in relation to cost) and how you would address them using the benefits you’ve already identified.

As you can see, writing copy isn’t quite as straightforward as you would think. If you want people to buy, you must:

• Address them directly
• Appeal to their needs and wants
• Demonstrate how your product/service will benefit them directly
• Address all potential buying objections

That’s quite a tall order for anyone, which is why many businesses bring in a professional copywriter.