General Assembly Product Management - Features vs. Benefits

Write a blog entry about the concept of Features vs. Benefits and how your favorite product fits specific needs that you have.

During the first General Assembly Product Management class, I learned about the concepts of features versus benefits. When talking to users / customers, Product Managers often hear about desired features instead of pain points. By asking the question "why do you need that feature?," a Product Manager can identify actual user needs. From there, features can be developed within the product in a way to best solve the needs, which may or may not be similar to the feature originally proposed by the customer.

Each feature should directly lessen if not mitigate one (or more) of the user's pain points, bringing benefits to the user.

To illustrate the two concepts:

Let's take one of my favorite products, Square Cash, as an example.

As someone who frequently splits bills, I need a simple product that allows me to pay and get paid.

Square built send and receive features that address such needs. A user simply links a Debit account, enters the amount to pay or be paid, and 1) sends the amount to recipient email or 2) requests via email the amount to be paid.

The benefit of the products are fairly self explanatory:

1) If I owe money, I can quickly and easily pay on the spot so that I don't forget to do so later. Since Square Cash simplifies to process to only requiring an email address and Debit card, there is no excuse to not sign up for the service vs other P2P applications that require multiple sign up inputs.

2) If I am owed money, I want my money back and because there is now no excuse for the payer to sign up for the service since almost everyone has an email and a Debit card, I get paid back more often and in a faster manner.

The simplicity of the app along with solving the common pain point of paying and getting paid in a cashless manner provides a compelling value proposition. It is no surprise that Square Cash adoption continues to grow at an impressive rate. I highly recommend signing up and trying out the product!