Features are great. And while it is important to point out what makes your product unique, it is even more crucial to entice potential customers with the benefits of using your product. People are busy, and to be successful in any pursuit requires efficiency. Which explains why the average web surfer will decide in five seconds whether or not your website meets their needs.

There are a number of basic design elements that need to be met for a website to be effective, like utilizing a clear and targeted presentation of information, ease of use, consistent navigation and appealing graphic design, but an often overlooked approach is to simply “sell them on the benefits.”

Spammers know this all to well. How often have you seen these subject lines? Double Your Income – Work From Home – Satisfy Your Partner. As annoying as these emails are, they all stress benefits and people respond to them.

An effective example of a benefit may be, “save ten minutes on every transaction using our online software.” Time is money, and you don’t have to be a shrewd businessperson to realize that a ten minute per transaction savings equates to real dollars on the bottom line. An even better approach is to turn features into benefits. “The AMD Duron processor’s seventh generation architecture gives it a longer life span than other processors found in the value segment.” In this example, the feature is the highly developed architecture of the processor and the benefit is that is will last longer because of it.

By stressing benefits you will instantly grab the attention of a potential customer and begin the path of personalizing your product or service with their needs and situation.