As someone who has been working with some usability and design folks on a project that addresses the subject of “feature creep,” maybe I’m just overly peevish about the subject of benefits vs. features.  Maybe. 

Nah…

So what’s feature creep? Though it sounds like something you might go dressed as on Halloween, actually, it’s even a little scarier. In a nutshell, feature creep, or creeping featurism, refers to when a product, after a series of new releases, upgrades, or incarnations, becomes saturated with features, many of which are never used, are redundant, or are even useless.

Many marketing folks still think that feature-touting is what sells a product, and ignore the part about showing the product’s overall usefulness or impact on its user’s well-being…its benefits.  So, often at the marketing group’s behest, new features are added with the belief that they’ll actually help sell the product.  Hence, creeping featurism.

And while some people will initially care more about whether a product has hot pink buttons than whether it actually works well, sooner or later, everyone wises up. (Yes, data shows that people do actually return and stop buying products when they become frustrated with the feature overload.) 

What keeps us buying a product is whether we perceive the product as having a positive impact on our lives…whether it will make us feel better, look better…do something better.  Despite what well-meaning design stakeholders may think, the evidence is in that ultimately, we consumers couldn’t care less whether a washing machine has 45 different settings, and we aren’t going to buy a car based on the fact that its passenger seat has six different softness choices.

So, what does all of this have to do with copywriting that sells a product? 

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Many companies don’t hesitate to spend money on state-of-the-art phone systems, high rent in a prime building, and the latest gadgets for their offices.  But when it comes to one of the most important pieces for attracting  customers and increasing revenue - their copywriting - they think it’s ok to cut corners.

Good copywriting is what sells your products.  It’s what brings new clients to you.  It’s what makes people want to call you and ask you for more details.  It’s what brings you the MONEY. 

If the writing on your website or other marketing materials is weak, limp, and ineffective, then any other investment in “marketing” will fall short, causing you to leak precious dollars.  

People won’t buy from you because your website has great sound effects, or because your postcard contains a bunch of hip, monosyllabic words, or because your door hanger can be re-folded into a cool paper airplane.  They’ll buy because of the words you use.  And they’ll buy only if they’re convinced that your product will solve a problem for them and make their lives better, happier, or easier.  Good copywriting is what does this. 

Whether you’re trying to reach millions of people with a high-end product, or trying to attract customers for your lawn-mowing business, good copy means the difference between mediocre results (or NO results) and amazingly successful results. 

If you’re wondering why your marketing materials aren’t getting the results you think they should, take another look at the copywriting. 

Technorati tags: copywriting, marketing, web content