Marketing Series Article Differentiating Product Benefits Make them aware of the benefits they don’t always see! by Dick Barnes, Principal, The Freeland Group In our last column we spoke of ways to use product differentiation to aid in marketing the products we manufacture or distribute. We focused on the more visual aspects of a product; including form, features, style, and design. Of course, not all of these aspects are only visual. Features, especially when they directly connect to benefits, may need to be explained through the sales process. In a similar vein we can now look at the product aspects of reliability, repairability, durability, performance, and conformance. These are product aspects that may not immediately jump out at the customer. Often times these aspects are brought to light by a sales person or in the sales literature. A physical product benefit such as color is easy to spot. We can see that a machine tool is bright orange, therefore easy to find on the shop floor and perhaps safer in use. It’s another thing to see that the same product is “reliable.” To some degree we “see” reliability and that’s why design and style can be so important. Most anything can be designed to “look” stronger, or more reliable, or more powerful. This is a common goal of both product and packaging design teams. To a great extent, however, we gauge these product attributes by personal experience, reputation, or promotion. When we don’t have experience to go by and we withhold judgment on reputation; promotions like advertising, press releases, and sales literature become our main source of information for making a buying decision. Let’s begin with the aspect we call reliability. What effects on our marketing effort might reliability have and how do we promote it as a benefit? First there is the pricing parallel; an assumption that more reliable means higher price. This assumption is sometimes true, but might be offset by the long-term reduced costs of ownership and operation. A product that will not fail for a certain period may save us from repairing or replacing the product during that time. There can be a value to that reliability that is greater than the higher cost of purchase. How we communicate this to consumers will determine how well they understand the true cost difference between the higher-priced, more reliable, item and the lower-priced competitor. As everything on the market has some sort of lower-priced alternative (which might include doing nothing) do we always communicate the difference in long-term costs based on reliability? Often we fail to do this; not taking advantage of this aspect of the product that will help differentiate it. Very similar to reliability in how it can be presented as a benefit, is the aspect of repairability. Like reliability, it helps determine long-term costs of ownership. If a product you are marketing can be shown to have low maintenance costs, little down-time, and easy to replace standardized parts, you should be bragging up its repairability. You may already do so, but can you demonstrate to a prospect how reliability and repairability work hand-in-hand to hold down costs? Do you make a strong argument for this in your advertising and other communications? Another dimension of repairability is customer service. Can your customer service people explain, over the phone or by email, how to replace a part? Do your service people get to the owner’s place of business quickly and take care of problems? It’s good to keep in mind that a product with high repairability will only be so if someone is there to do the work. This product aspect might well be an extension of your firm’s service capabilities. You can differentiate your firm and your product simply by having the fastest repair turnaround times. Durability is that function of a product that determines how long the product will last under normal operating conditions. It is similar to reliability when measured as a benefit, with some differences. The major difference is that customers are unlikely to be willing to pay for durability when the product will soon be obsolete. We would normally emphasize durability when the product is of significant cost, is difficult to install or replace, requires significant shipping or delivery costs, and will not be soon outdated by technology. An easy to grasp example of the value of durability; five-year light bulbs for hard to reach fixtures. It would be smart to emphasize the durability factor simply because of the expense and trouble of replacement. They might cost four times as much as a cheap bulb, but the cheap bulbs may need replacing every month. In a similar fashion, we might market engine gaskets, brake linings, or any product where the costs of replacement outweigh the cost of the product. Performance is an aspect of product that greatly concerns the manufacturer when making decisions on design and production. A high performance product might make more income per item than an average or low performance product. But will that higher revenue offset the costs of making it higher performance? There will always be a point of diminishing return that the producer does not want to breach. But is high performance always desirable? A distributor needs to understand how performance quality, or the perception of that quality, effects not only price and profit, but the image of the firm and other products carried. It’s important to note that high performance, as a quality, may not coincide with some of the other aspects we have discussed. A high performance race car engine, as an example, may not be intended to last even a fraction as long as a low performance diesel tractor engine. The buyers of these two items have totally different needs and are looking for an opposing mix of product attributes. Conformance is simply that aspect of a product that is measured by the degree each item off the assembly line is identical to every other item off the same line. If you are stocking batteries, for example, is each and every battery going to have the same initial charge or react the same to time and stress? Of course not; there will be some degree of variance. The variance between those batteries is the measure of conformance quality. Oft times conformance quality is taken for granted. Just as often it is important to the consumer, and we don’t make a big deal about communicating it. This aspect, when understood and communicated as a benefit, may help make buying decisions. Here’s a simple exercise that could be done at your next sales meeting. Have both Marketing and Sales people in for this exercise as they could learn a lot from each other. List all the aspects of a product; form, features, style, design, reliability, repairability, durability, performance, and conformance. Also list your major products or product lines. Then brainstorm; letting the group place products into different aspect categories by importance and then list aspects under products the same way. Then ask questions. What aspects of each product are desired the most by customers? What aspects do customers identify with each product? Do your communications, especially in sales and advertising, reinforce these expectations? Could those communications do a better job? Could you increase desire for certain products by communicating other aspects and benefits you have ignored? Could you differentiate your products from competitors’ products by communicating certain aspects? There are a lot of directions such a brainstorming session might take. The bottom line, however, should be a better understanding of what your products are and what your customers are interested in knowing about them. And that knowledge should have some serious value. (next article in series) |
