⏱ reading time: 15 minutes
The goal of a marketing strategy is to understand and cope with the competition. Some companies are always ahead of others. Industry affiliation does not matter - the gap in the profitability of companies within one industry is higher than the differences between industries.
The differences between companies are especially important during times of crisis, when the created competitive advantage is an excellent foundation for profitable growth.
Competitive advantages of the company
- Advantage Any success factor that increases a consumer's willingness to pay or reduces a company's costs.
- Competitive advantage- a success factor that is significant for the consumer, in which the company surpasses all competitors
Building a competitive advantage means achieving a greater gap between costs and customer willingness to pay for a product than your competitors.
Step 1. Determine success factors
The answer to the question “how to create a company’s competitive advantage” is not so important. If you are confident that you will achieve competitive advantage through 24/7 delivery, then you will find a solution to realize this competitive advantage. It is much more difficult to determine what exactly they will become.
To do this, first of all, we write down all the advantages, or success factors, that are important for buyers. For example, like this.
Step 2. Segment the target audience
A separate shuttle for business class passengers is an advantage. But achieving this competitive advantage is completely irrelevant to those flying in the economy segment. Determining competitive advantages always occurs for a specific segment of the target audience - with its specific needs and desires.
The decision to sell to “everyone” leads to questions about where to look for these “everyone” and what to offer them. It turns out that “everyone” must be searched “everywhere” and offered “everyone”. This strategy will kill the budget of any company.
Let's take the example of achieving competitive advantages for a company selling flowers. Among the target audience, we will highlight the segments of those who buy flowers impulsively, prepare a pre-planned gift or, say, decorate their homes.
Having determined for whom we are going to create a competitive advantage, we will evaluate whether it is worth it - we will give an assessment of the market capacity and the intensity of competition in each segment.
Read more about segmentation criteria in our article: “”
Step 3. Determine key success factors
The buyer is demanding. Many factors are important to him - from the consultant’s smile and website design to low prices. But just because a buyer wants something doesn’t mean he’s willing to pay for it.
The value of a competitive advantage is the buyer's willingness to pay for it. The more money they are willing to pay for the development of a competitive advantage, the higher its significance.
Our task is to form a very short list of key success factors from the long list of various consumer “wants” that can determine the company’s competitive advantages.
In our example, the key success factors are the same for all three target audience segments. In real life, each segment usually has 1-2 of its own factors.
Step 4. Assess the importance of key success factors for target audience segments
What is important to one segment of the target audience may be a weak competitive advantage for consumers from another segment.
If you have an idea to buy flowers to give them this evening, then for an impulsive decision the main thing is appearance (fullness of bud opening) and speed of purchase. This is more important than the ability to choose from a large assortment, the lifespan of the bouquet - it is necessary that the flowers be present and look good this evening.
The opposite situation is buying flowers to decorate your home. Delivery is not a problem, but the question of how long the flowers will last comes to the fore.
Therefore, the importance of key success factors is determined for each segment of the target audience separately.
*) we clarify - CFUs are taken as an example, close to life, but do not reflect the real case.
For our company, identifying the right competitive advantages that allow our clients to attract more consumers, get more money from them and interact with them longer is one of the main blocks of the developed marketing strategy. Therefore, we strive to achieve an ideal situation - when every cell of all tables in this article is expressed in money. You can create a working marketing strategy only by understanding the cost of CFU from the buyer’s point of view, market volume, costs, etc.
All this information can be obtained. But sometimes there is no time or resources for this. Then we recommend using a comparison on a 5 or 10 point scale. In this case, remember that any factual data is better than guesswork. Hypotheses must be put forward based on the company’s big data, monitoring customer reviews, monitoring the sales process of competitors, and not taken from the head “because it seems so to me.” Expert forecasts too often fail.
Step 5. Compare the achieved competitive advantages
At this point, we have figured out what is important to your consumers. This is good. It’s bad that competitors are also aware.
To understand the starting conditions, it is necessary to assess the current degree of development of the company's competitive advantages. Strictly speaking, you only have a competitive advantage when your offering outperforms all of your direct competitors on some key success factor.
The assessment of competitive advantages is made exclusively from the point of view of consumers. The opinion of the company's employees, and especially the management, does not say anything. The director may be proud of the website developed according to his idea, on which millions were spent, but this in no way indicates the convenience of the site for clients.
Step 6. Determine sources of competitive advantage
Any competitive advantage is the result of a company’s activities. Each action incurs costs and at the same time affects the buyer's willingness to purchase the product. Differences in the results of these actions form competitive advantages.
Therefore, we compile a list of all the company’s activities by desegregating its activities into separate processes. In projects, we begin the analysis with the activities that are necessary to produce the basic product or service, and only then add related activities.
Step 7. Linking key success factors and company activities
Competitive advantage is formed at the intersection of various activities. For example, an increase in the assortment in the flower trade requires an increase in working capital, the availability of storage space for products, a sufficient area of sales points, additional qualifications of sellers and service personnel, etc.
We determine which business processes are associated with the development of each of the found competitive advantages and the size of their contribution.
Step 8. Assess the company’s costs for creating competitive advantages
At this step, we look at how much it costs to achieve a competitive advantage. Any company activity has its costs.
In our example, we estimate the level of costs on a 10-point scale, but in real life, a company must more or less accurately know its costs. Pay attention to the calculation methodology - usually accountants tend to record most of the costs in production, thereby reducing indirect costs.
Having understood the size of costs, we determine their drivers. Why are the costs what they are? Maybe we pay a lot for shipping because the business size is small and we don't have enough freight? There are many cost drivers. They depend on the size of the firm, its geographical location, institutional factors, access to resources, etc.
Cost driver analysis helps estimate the costs competitors will have to create a similar competitive advantage. It is difficult to obtain data directly, but by understanding the drivers that influence the amount of costs, we can predict the volume of competitors' expenses.
Step 9. Looking for resources to create a competitive advantage
Maintaining the achieved competitive advantage at a constant level is only possible if sufficient resources are available. In addition, analysis of the resources that the company has helps to choose an area for quickly developing a competitive advantage.
Step 10. Choosing a direction for developing a competitive advantage
We look at the two resulting final pictures and think. There are only three possibilities for achieving competitive advantage:
- increase willingness to buy a product without significantly increasing costs
- dramatically reduce costs with virtually no impact on willingness to buy
- increase willingness to buy and reduce costs at the same time.
The third direction looks the most attractive. But finding such a solution is extremely difficult. Typically, companies simply waste valuable resources trying to create a competitive advantage across the board.
Basic rules for determining competitive advantage.
- We are looking for options that create the largest gap between the buyer’s desire to pay and our costs.
- We don’t try to select all the attractive options at once. Having decided to occupy one peak, we will no longer climb another. It is most profitable to choose a peak that is not crowded with competitors.
- We remember our competitors and what motivates each of them. If you decide to change some business process, how will your closest competitor react to this?
- Success factors. The more you find, the better. Typically, managers tend to focus on a few product features. This reduces the perception of the benefits that the consumer receives and brings your marketing strategy closer to that of your competitors. To find competitive advantages that are less competitive, think about the benefits a company creates for all its stakeholders: customers, employees, suppliers, dealers, and so on.
- Key success factors. The more significant the factor, the more restructuring of the company’s activities it requires. If you are not one of the industry leaders, it is better not to immediately try to compete on the main factors, or groups of factors (“best in quality”)
- Market. The question should not be “can we create a competitive advantage for this segment of the target audience”, but “can we create a competitive advantage for this segment of the target audience and remain profitable.” Having current costs in hand, we assume how much the company will pay to turn a key success factor into a full-fledged competitive advantage
- Current competitive position. It's difficult to build a competitive advantage in which you're hopelessly behind. Especially if it is a capital-intensive or time-consuming process.
- Costs. Competitive advantage can be achieved by focusing on costs that are most different from competitors, are large enough to influence the overall cost structure and are associated with discrete activities.
Fear often gets in the way of building a competitive advantage. The desire to become the best will certainly entail an increase in prices or, conversely, a decrease in the desire to buy our product. Reducing costs reduces the client’s desire to use our service (a ticket to a low-cost airline is cheap, but you can’t take luggage with you, there’s no food, airports are far away). Improving product characteristics leads to increased costs. This is absolutely normal. All that matters is the widening gap between the buyer's willingness to pay and the company's costs.
Step 11. We create competitive advantages by changing the company’s actions
As I wrote above, the creation of competitive advantages is the result of the company’s actions. To make the offer superior to all competitors, it is necessary to reconfigure some of the activities.
For example, achieving a “low cost” competitive advantage. There is no point in trying to compete with a discounter by simply lowering prices. A successful discounter has become so due to the fact that most of the company's activities are subordinated to creating this competitive advantage. If a Walmart employee wants to get a new pen, he returns the old one, which is covered in writing. There are no small details in creating a competitive advantage.
Again we look at the connection between the chosen competitive advantage and the company’s activities. Where is this competitive advantage created? And we invest specifically in the development of selected business processes.
Ask yourself the following questions
- Are our actions different from those of our competitors?
- Are we doing the same things but in a different way?
- How can we change our actions to gain competitive advantage?
As a result, determine the minimum and sufficient set of activities that the company must perform in order to form a competitive advantage. Usually they try to copy only obvious things, forgetting that much is hidden under water. It is the complex of activities that creates a competitive advantage that cannot be copied.
Actions aimed at developing a competitive advantage must be connected by a single logic. M. Porter's classic example is the set of actions of SouthWest Airlines that created its competitive advantage. As a result, the airline was the only low-cost airline on the market for 25 years. It is impossible to achieve a similar competitive advantage overnight.
In essence, this is a marketing strategy. This set of actions is almost impossible to copy and surpass.
The qualities of your product, the advantages of its design and the features of the packaging in which it will be sold. All this is of particular importance for goods intended for sale on the world market, and now on our domestic market.
In cases of identical prices for certain types of goods, advantages are given to producers whose costs for producing goods are lower than socially necessary. On the contrary, producers whose costs for producing goods are higher than those socially necessary experience losses to the point where they are forced to reduce or stop producing such goods. This shows the active influence of money, thanks to the use of which it is stimulated to reduce the costs of producing goods.
Inventory is based on a complete count of all goods. The advantage of this method is the accuracy of the results obtained, however, the information obtained through inventory is very limited for use in statistical research, since this method is most often used for audit purposes. It is also very labor-intensive and economically unprofitable, since during the inventory the enterprise being inspected has to be completely closed.
Packaging finds additional uses after the product is purchased by the consumer. It is used to store goods during use. In addition, packaging can be used as a tool for using the product, which is often a very important factor influencing the buyer when choosing a product. For example, if the package contains a liquid product, preference when purchasing may be given to the product whose packaging makes it easier and more convenient to pour out this liquid. Packages may contain handles, product release devices, and other accessories. Also, the packaging can be used additionally without connection with the product it contains. The most obvious example of this is branded packages.
It is very important to clearly describe the main qualitative characteristics of your product, the advantages of its design, and even - no matter how exotic it may sound to our business executives - the features of the packaging in which the product will be sold. All this is of great importance for a product intended for sale on the world market. But packaging will begin to play an increasingly important role in our domestic market if foreign goods begin to arrive there en masse. This section also describes the organization of service if you produce technically complex products. Having made a choice of production products and formed the main directions of the company’s activities, it is necessary to set certain goals that would reflect the level of production development to which the enterprise should strive.
In practice, you start with the Product/Benefits in the enterprise code and discuss how each team member contributes. Are the team members happy, and how satisfied are you as a leader? This, of course, is a great opportunity for both criticism and encouragement.
Does the product have advantages over competitive products?
Do competitive products have advantages over this product?
It is very important to clearly describe the main qualitative characteristics of your product, the advantages of its design and even - no matter how exotic it may sound to our business executives - the features of the packaging in which it will be sold. All this is of great importance for the successful sale of goods. In the same section you should also describe the organization of service for your product, if it is a technical product.
However, the highest level of guaranteeing product quality on the foreign market is considered to be certification by a third party, which has nothing to do with the production or marketing of this product. The advantage of independent certification is its isolation from interested parties, as well as the ability to maintain uniformity of requirements for products and the quality control system.
Address sheets usually cover the following markets: industrial (manufacturing companies by industry, construction, trading, contracting organizations) commercial (banks, financial companies, insurance companies, restaurants, hotels, retail, service firms) institutional (hospitals, hospitals, schools, government agencies, clubs), etc. Sometimes mass mailings based on geography are used. Usually up to five mailings are made. The main content of the letter, its idea and fundamental provisions remain the same, but the design changes. Other advantages and benefits of the product certified by users (usually well-known companies or brands) are emphasized.
A combination of dark and light vertical stripes (stroke) of varying widths with numbers printed underneath them. Currently, bar coding in the retail trade of consumer and industrial products covers most of the product range in the USA, Japan and many Western European countries. Sh.-k. are also used in a number of branches of mechanical engineering (for managing assembly operations, etc.), printing, transport, etc. Various bar coding systems have been developed and used, the most widespread of which are the Universal Product Code (UTC or UPC), the European Product Code code (ETK or EAN), compatible with each other, code 2/5 with alternation, etc. The International Association of EAN Codes currently unites more than 30 countries, including Russia. The ETK code has the following structure: the first two characters are the code of the country of origin of the product, the next five are the code of the manufacturer, the next five characters are the product code, the last character is the control digit. For the technical implementation of bar coding, the following equipment is required: a device for printing barcode markings, a barcode reader, for example, a light pen connected to a stationary cash register or portable terminal, a computer, and data transmission equipment. Application of Sh.-k. inevitably associated with the use of computers. This is due to the fact that the codes represent in machine-readable form not the information itself about the coding objects, but their symbols. This information about each coding object is contained in the computer memory, from where it is automatically retrieved in accordance with the read codes. Application of Sh.-k. provides a number of advantages, including speeding up the input of information into a computer by 4-5 times, a significant reduction in the likelihood of input errors, and ease of working with the computer, which does not require special skills. The effect of using Sh.-k. also consists in significantly reducing the cost of accounting work in the warehouse, protecting against deliberate distortions of accounting data when receiving and releasing products from the warehouse, increasing the throughput of areas for issuing and receiving products by at least 50%.
A company that has truly understood how consumers react to various product characteristics, prices, advertising arguments, etc., writes F. Kotler, will have a huge advantage over competitors. This is why both firms and academics spend so much effort researching the relationships between marketing drivers and marketing responses.
A special section is devoted to the peculiarities of consumer behavior in relation to new products. The author introduces readers to individual differences in people's readiness to accept innovation (Kotler uses the word perception in this situation, interpreting it as an individual's decision to become a regular user of a product), dividing all consumers into innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. In addition, the success of a new product largely depends on such characteristics of the product itself as comparative advantage, compatibility, complexity, divisibility of the acquaintance process and communicative visibility. It seems that such an assessment of a new product can clarify a lot in the behavior of potential buyers.
The problem, which is the core of marketing activities, the solution of which ultimately determines the success or failure of a company in the market, forms the content of the chapter Market segmentation, selection of target segments and product positioning. Figuratively speaking, these are the three pillars on which marketing strategy and tactics rest. F. Kotler considers the principles of segmentation separately for two types of markets - the consumer market and the enterprise market. Noting the trend of recent years - the transition from methods of mass and product-differentiated marketing to targeted marketing, the author convincingly demonstrates the advantages of the latter, since it helps sellers to more fully identify available marketing opportunities. For each target market, he can develop a product that that market needs. To ensure effective coverage of each such market, it can vary prices, distribution channels, and advertising efforts. Instead of scattering his marketing efforts (shotgun), he can focus them on the customers most interested in purchasing the product (rifle) (p. 253).
Of these four ways of satisfying needs, exchange has the greatest benefits. With it, people do not have to infringe on the rights of others, they do not have to depend on someone else's charity. Nor do they have to produce any essential item on their own, regardless of whether they know how to do it or not. They can focus on creating things they are good at making, and then swap them out for needed items made by others. As a result, the total production of goods in society increases.
The first characteristic of a new product is comparative advantage, i.e. the degree of its apparent superiority over existing products. The higher the perceived benefits of using personal computers, say in calculating income taxes or keeping financial records, the more likely these computers will be accepted.
Specialized stores. A specialized store offers a narrow assortment of goods of significant richness. Examples of specialty retail businesses include clothing stores, sporting goods stores, furniture stores, flower shops, and book stores. Specialty stores can be further subdivided according to the narrowness of the assortment offered. A clothing store is a stand-alone full-line store, a men's clothing store is a limited-line store, and a store selling men's tailored shirts is a specialty store. According to some experts, the fastest growing number of stores in the future will be highly specialized stores that take advantage of market segmentation, selection of target segments and product specialization. There are already stores that sell only sports shoes, only clothes for tall men (mostly jeans) or only calculators.
The success of corporate chains is based on their ability to achieve price advantages over independent retailers by increasing sales volume and reducing markups. Networks ensure their profitability in several ways. First, their size allows them to purchase large quantities of goods, receiving maximum quantity discounts, while saving on transportation costs. Secondly, they are able to create effective organizational structures by hiring good managers and developing special techniques in the areas of sales forecasting, inventory management, pricing and incentives. Third, chains are able to combine the functions of wholesale and retail trade, while independent retailers must collaborate with multiple wholesalers. Fourthly, chains save on sales promotion costs by purchasing advertising that is beneficial for their stores and allocating the cost of it to large quantities of goods. And fifthly, chains give their stores some freedom so that they can take into account local consumer preferences and successfully compete in local markets.
This method is believed to have a number of advantages. First, being calculated as a percentage of sales means that the amount of incentive money will likely vary depending on what the firm can afford. This satisfies financial managers who believe that costs should be closely linked to the firm's sales performance at different points in the business cycle. Secondly, this method forces management to consider the relationship between promotion costs, the selling price of the product and the amount of profit per product unit. Third, it helps maintain competitive stability to the extent that competing firms spend approximately the same percentage of their sales on promotion.
However, apart from these advantages, the percentage of sales method does little to justify its existence. It is based on the roundabout reasoning that sales are the cause of promotion, not the effect. It leads to the fact that the size of the budget is determined by available funds, and not by available capabilities. It prevents experiments with other types of incentives and offensive, aggressive spending techniques. The dependence of the incentive budget on changes in sales indicators over the years interferes with long-term planning. This method does not provide a logical basis for choosing a specific percentage, unless based on past experience or the current actions of competitors. Finally, it discourages setting incentive budgets based on what each individual product and each individual sales territory deserves. COMPETITIVE PARITY METHOD. Some firms set their incentive budgets to match their competitors' costs. An illustration of this approach is the question asked by one of the executives to a representative of an industry publication. Do you have any figures used by manufacturing companies?
Direct American investment in Western Europe and to some extent in Japan went primarily into the manufacturing industry and, in particular, into petrochemicals. Subsequently, significant funds were directed to the banking sector, insurance companies and audit firms. Without a doubt, the preference for manufacturing was due to the monopolistic position resulting from the technological superiority of American enterprises over their European competitors. The relative advantage of the manufacturing industry was due mainly to the action of factors of production, in particular the use of new technologies and production management. In the product market, the American advantage lay in product differentiation. Finally, the integration of the European durable goods market allowed American companies to extract maximum profits due to the scale of domestic production. Special circumstances have increased the investment of American capital abroad. American antitrust laws and balance of payments measures encouraged investment abroad, while developments in European foreign exchange markets made it easier to finance these investments. The overvaluation of the dollar threatened US exports and reduced the relative size of American participation in European firms. American businesses acquired a growing number of these firms or established subsidiaries in other countries. The goal of this strategy was to strengthen the US position in foreign markets63.
Knowledge in the world of distribution is power. To ensure its leadership over the distribution channel, Wal-Mart does not rely on scale alone. The company strives to have better information by maintaining its own satellite communications system, through which it collects and stores data on daily sales for all stores in the network. Next, the information is converted into requests for the purchase of goods, which are transmitted every day with lightning speed via an electronic network to 4 thousand suppliers of goods. The advantages of Wal-Mart's information system allow it to update inventory on average twice a week, compared to once every two weeks for a typical general merchandise store. And such an information system
What are the advantages of assigning individual brand names to products? The main advantage is that the company does not associate its reputation with the fact that the market perceives or does not perceive a particular product. If the product fails, it will not cause any damage to the company's name.
There are certain advantages to the strategy of assigning a single brand name to all products. The costs of introducing a product to the market are reduced, since there is no need for large expenditures on advertising, which will ensure recognition of the brand name and create preference for it. Moreover, sales will be successful if the manufacturer’s name is already well perceived by the market. Thus, the Campbell company introduces new soups to the market under its single brand name without any difficulty and with instant brand recognition. As can be seen from Box 17, General Foods also uses the same brand name Jello for the new products offered to the market.
SETTING ZONAL PRICES. The zonal pricing method is a cross between the FOB origination pricing method and the single price method with shipping costs included. The company identifies two or more zones. All customers located within the boundaries of a particular zone pay the same total price, which becomes higher as the zone moves away. Peerless can set up an eastern zone and charge all its customers a $10 freight charge, a midwestern zone with a $15 freight rate, and a western zone with a $25 freight rate. This ensures that customers within each individual price zone receive no price advantages over each other. Clients in Atlanta and Boston will pay Peerless the same total price. However, claims cannot be ruled out that in this case the customer from Atlanta assumes part of the transportation costs Marketing Management (2001) -- [
Today we will talk about copywriting again. High quality and tasty. And about the one with which you don’t want to leave, from the usual one.
I will tell you how, within the given landing page structures You can and should stand out without reinventing the wheel. And I will show this using the example of one single block.
Hot five bad headlines
Fifth place: “Why 129 companies are already working with us”(the least scary option, at least there are specifics here)
Fourth place: "Why choose us"
Third place: "Why us"(and really, why you?)
Second place: "Our advantages"(whose, whose? Yours or is it still mine?)
First (and my favorite) place: "About Us"
Oh, this beautiful and vague “About Us” that says nothing. It just pulls you in, irresistibly, unconsciously... quickly scroll through it. Is not it?
And it's not that these headlines are bad. They weren't always bad. At one time they even worked effectively.
But not now. When you come across such a headline over and over again, on every second page, it not only tires or irritates, but, what is much worse, it does not evoke any emotions at all.
Because we've already seen it all. Because under the typical heading the benefits will be “general”. Undistinguished and faded.
Fig.1 How NOT to do it. The “Advantages” block is unsuccessful both from the point of view of design and from the point of view of copyright.
Use it wisely! Despite the fact that the benefits block is important, it usually goes in the second third of the landing page, i.e. almost at the very end. The visitor scans the page, gradually losing attention. Correctly designed block will allow him to “get involved” in reading again and see how your company compares favorably with others. It will “finish off” the “warm” ones with arguments, or force the “cooler” audience to carefully read the proposal again.
So what's the secret?
There are two components to successful block design:
- Competent and succinct disclosure of advantages
So the title:
- Contains specifics(preferably in numbers)
- Talks about the bottom line benefits visitor (directly) or about the benefits of the product (indirectly)
* Important! The use of possessive pronouns such as (us, our, ours, we) should be rare and/or justified
Absolutely unacceptable: general (stable) expressions and monosyllabic, vague phrases.
Don't be afraid to work with text. The rule of short landing titles is not so inviolable. The main thing is to present the idea correctly.
Use affirmative sentences:
- More than 6,000 clients on constant service;
- We connected 18 cell towers in 2014;
- There are already 183 franchise offices in 21 cities of Russia;
Or headings in question form:
- Why do only 13% of companies use all 6 active sales tools?
- Why are 117 companies that contacted us for repairs no longer worried about...?
- Why do the doors of the Romashka company last more than 15 years?
- Why do 90% of wooden log houses have problems in the first year, and only 10% last more than 50 years?
- How will your company's sales double in 4 weeks?
Fig. 3 Example of a catchy headline in question form
Advantages
Everything is more or less clear with the packaging, let’s move on to the advantages.
Essentially the problems are the same:
- Non-specific wording.
- Unresearched, “dry” phrases that do not distinguish you from two dozen similar companies. No “delicious trick”? Play up existing positions through wording.
TOP 5 advantages that will nullify all your efforts:
— control at every stage of the project(incomprehensible and boring)
— high quality goods(who determines this?)
— professional staff(also an advantage for me)
— optimal offer(Where is the confirmation? Who are we comparing with?)
— ideal price/quality ratio(no specifics)
— verified suppliers(doubtful, again because there are no specifics)
Why doesn't this work? Yes because it is - not advantages, but characteristics. Characteristics of a product or company, which, without confirmation, are only properties that the client assumes the company has by default. If only because all your competitors have them. Yes Yes. Absolutely everyone.
How to turn features into benefits?
— Use specifics in numbers
- Let's confirm your words
— And again, at each point, talk about the client’s ultimate benefit
Examples:
- not “experienced employees”, but “Masters trained at the equipment manufacturing plant”;
- not “fair prices”, but “we are accountable for every self-tapping screw”;
- not “convenient delivery”, but “300 pick-up points throughout Moscow”;
- not a “quick installation”, but “We’ll install it in 2 hours and remove everything “down to a speck of dust”;
- not “directly from the manufacturer”, but “Prices are 15% lower than market prices due to our own production”;
Conclusion
A correctly designed benefits block = an attention-grabbing headline + “useful” characteristics of a product or company for your client, confirmed by statistics.
Properly conveying the benefits to the visitor is already half the work.
As you may have guessed, the tips listed above are relevant not only to a specific block. Apply these rules to other landing page elements as well. Think carefully about what you ultimately want to say to your audience. And, of course, do not forget about the features of your niche.
Conversion landing pages and memorable headlines to you!
What is an advantage if you look at this word from the point of view of online commerce? Something that will keep people coming back to you. Benefits should be clear, understandable and located in the right place on the site. In this article we will not delve into the jungle of the concepts of USP and positioning. But we’ll figure out what to do and what not to do, and show real-life examples.
How to State Benefits
Usually the benefits are talked about in the abstract:“We have the fastest delivery/lowest prices/we have been on the market for 1.5 months.”
Less often formulated to the point and closer to the client:
“We will deliver within 2 hours within the Moscow Ring Road / Experienced consultants from Holland will help you select products for your yacht / If the product does not suit you, you can return it within 7 days from the date of purchase.”
If the benefit is formulated correctly, the buyer receives an answer to one of these questions:
- why you need to make a purchase here;
- what is unique about this particular online store;
- what problem or need of the buyer does the online store solve/satisfy?
- what objection or doubt is removed;
- how this online store differs from its competitors;
- what additional bonuses can I get?
- The opportunity to rent and test the product you like before purchasing.
- We promptly deliver plumbing supplies throughout Moscow, the region and the entire territory of the Russian Federation. Items purchased before 10:00 are shipped immediately; in the capital, they can be received on the same day. Free delivery within the Moscow Ring Road for orders over 50,000 rubles.
- In one order you can combine both goods from different categories, as well as goods that are sold wholesale and individually.
- A knowledge base available to yacht owners with cases on repair, maintenance, service of yachts and boats, re-equipment, and DIY yacht construction
Be careful with the price
Do you claim that you have the lowest prices (from xxx rub.)? Be prepared to have to constantly prove this, and sooner or later the buyer will find somewhere cheaper. In addition, this only works for regions with good transport accessibility. For others (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg) the service is more interesting. We will tell you why this is so in one of the following materials. For now, we suggest you just stick to this principle.
Where to post information about your benefits
The main carriers of advantages for an online store are the main page and product card, and the “About the Company” content section. All that remains is to figure out exactly what elements you need to pay attention to and how to present information so that the visitor sees and understands it.
Home page
Basic banners
A place for your promotions, special offers and new products. Let’s remember the AIDA model: A (attention) – the attention of a site visitor, which you must capture from the very first second. Another rule: an online store should always have at least 1 promotion.
Good: the simple and clear mechanics of the promotion are expressed in a laconic form. Bad: if there are more than 5 main banners and they are all promotional, it becomes boring. The message gets lost among its own kind.
It’s already more interesting: there is a connection to seasonality, the image attracts attention - penguins and an awning with ice cream.
Announcement of a new brand. Link to seasonality, “product face”, laconic text.
Announcement of a new product with its key advantages, additional benefit for the buyer - convenient installment plan and clear benefits.
Benefit teasers
Exclusivity of the assortment, convenient delivery and payment, guarantees, loyalty program, free consultations and assistance in product selection - everything that makes you unique from your competitors.
Here, teasers of benefits are displayed on the main banner.
Floating Banners
Unlike the main banners, this block is more about navigation through catalog sections than about promotions and new products (although why not). We recommend that you include here the key sections of the catalog with prices in the wording “from XXX rubles.”
Advanced Tab
Information about the store, delivery, payment and other important content. In our solutions, the content on this tab is the same for the entire catalog. On this tab, you can answer customer questions and remove objections.
Checklist: how to check whether you were able to convey your benefits
- At first we wanted to put a list of 8 items here:
- The main banners inform about current new products, discounts, and special offers.
- The benefit teaser block lists the key advantages of the online store: delivery, payment, guarantees.
- Key sections of the catalog are placed on floating banners or whatever performs their functions.
- The “About the Company” block on the main page and the corresponding content section talk about the benefits and solutions to customer problems.