Direct mail: how to turn features into benefits

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, May, 1989 by Elaine Tyson

Direct mail: How to turn features into benefits

All circulation marketers understand the importance of benefits to the success of a subscription direct mail package. Yet, developing subscriber benefits can be a slow, painful ordeal unless everyone involved in the creation of the package understands the difference between a feature and a benefit.

When I ask a new client to describe the most important benefits offered by his or her magazine, I often get a glassy-eyed recitation of the magazine's contents and appearance. It's a start, folks, but those items are features, not benefits. Features copy is "we" copy. Benefits copy is "you" copy. Good direct mail is always "you" oriented.

A feature is a fact about the magazine. For instance, Widgets Product News has four regular departments and three feature articles in every issue. It's a monthly tabloid with at least 30 black-and-white photos of new products-just perfect for widget manufacturers.

Once you know this much about the features of WPN, the fun starts. You put on your alchemist's hat and turn those facts into golden advantages for prospective subscribers. It's important to remember that no one subscribes to or requests a free sub simply because a magazine has feature articles and regular departments. All magazines offer these. You must tell prospects specifically what the magazine's editorial will do for them--how it will help them do their jobs better, have greater peace of mind, save them worry.

Benefits move prospects to the mailbox. Your success as a circulation marketer depends, in large measure, on your ability to turn your magazine's features into benefits that your prospective subscribers need and want. Whether you write the copy or approve the work of others, it's helpful to understand how this process works.

Define the prospect

The first step in determining the benefits you'll use in your copy is to define the prospect who will receive your offer. (That's why creative people ask for research on subscribers as well as on what mailing lists work best for your magazine.) Every magazine is designed to appeal to someone, and you need to know a lot about that someone if you're going to select and develop benefits that appeal to the market. You can't have too much information about prospects.

State the facts

Once you know who will receive the magazine's promotion, it's time to list all the magazine's features. Read some issues and write down every fact about the magazine. When you finish, you should have a list that includes the following: . Names of regular departments . Number of feature articles per issue . Special, annual features or issues . Physical size of the magazine . Amount and kind of art photography . Unique features . Overall appearance of the magazine . Frequency . Subscription price

This is also a good time to take note of any negatives. Many magazines have a potential problem or two to deal with in the copy. But it's actually possible to turn negatives into positive benefits. For instance, a high subscription price might be a benefit to a subscriber if it denotes superior quality.

Now that you have a list of the magazine's features and physical characteristics, you need to turn those facts into advantages for prospective subscribers. How do you do that? Remember, it's best to appeal to a prospect's self interests.

As an example, let's develop some benefits for a magazine called Today's Cook. This is a consumer magazine edited to appeal to modern women who have shown an interest in cooking. The easiest way to prepare a benefits statement is to list all the facts about Today's Cook on the left-hand side of the page, and state the benefits that follow from these facts on the right. Take a minute to look at the Today's Cook sidebar on page 126 to see what such an exercise produces.

After you've read over such a list once, study what you have on the paper. You will probably decide you've listed a couple of very minor benefits, or, perhaps, a benefit that seems too good to be true. This is the time to eliminate the truly meaningless, to rework where possible to strengthen weak benefits, and to bring yourself back to reality by discarding excessive claims about your magazine's ability to enhance a subscriber's life. Benefits must always be believable.

Determining success or failure

Eventually, you will have reworked everything so that each benefit is as strong and credible as you can make it. You then have to decide which of these benefits will have the broadest appeal to your magazine's market. Generally, the most important benefit you can offer--your magazine's unique benefit that sets it apart from its competitors--will float to the top during this exercise. This is the benefit you'll use to lead prospects into your letter and as headlines on brochures. Perhaps you'll also decide to use a benefit on your outer envelope. The skill with which you perform this task can make the difference between success and failure of your direct mail package.