What Is the Difference Between Primary Benefits and Secondary Benefits?

You may know the difference between features and benefits, but what is a primary benefit and a secondary benefit? When we work with customers, we like to break their product or service benefits down into two categories. This helps us to better understand their clients wants and needs. It also helps us identify the focal point of their copy.

What Is a Primary Benefit?

A primary benefit is a benefit that solves a problem for your ideal client. Let’s say your client wants to eat healthy, home cooked meals, but doesn’t have time to spend an hour at the stove. Your product, a slow cooker, solves that problem. The primary benefit is your client can chuck all the ingredients into the slow cooker before work and when they get home, their meal is ready to eat.

Your product may have more than one primary benefit for your ideal client. Let’s say your ideal client is a working mum. They’re not going to buy a slow cooker if it only creates 1 or 2 servings. So, the fact that your slow cooker feeds 4 is another primary benefit. Primary benefits are things that will make or break a sale.

What Is a Secondary Benefit?

A secondary benefit addresses pain or pleasure point for your ideal client. In our example of the slow cooker, a secondary benefit is that the slow cooker is easy to clean or energy efficient. These are benefits that your ideal client really likes, but if you led with these, you wouldn’t convert. Your secondary benefits sweeten the deal rather than make the sale.

How Do I Identify My Primary Benefits and Secondary Benefits?

First, you need to be clear on your ideal customer. Your primary and secondary benefits are based on how your product or service appeals to your ideal customer, not how they appeal to you. Because different types of people will see different value in the same product or service.

Start by listing all of the ways your product or service would benefit your ideal client type. Write down as many as you could think. For the slow cooker it could be:

• One less thing to worry about (what to cook for dinner)
• Easier meal planning
• Healthy meals for the whole family
• More time to spend with the family or relaxing
• Food is ready when you get home
• Lower electricity bill compared to cooking every night
• Less dishes because it cooks in one pot
• Simple to use for people who can’t cook
• Easy to clean – not spending hours scrubbing

Next, separate the list into primary and secondary benefits. What are the main selling points of this product to your customer? And what simply sweetens the deal?

Not all of these benefits will make it into your copy, some of them may just be mentioned in passing for the keywords. But by listing everything out, you can choose the most compelling benefits for your sales copy.

How Do I Use Primary Benefits and Secondary Benefits In My Copy?

Think of your primary benefits as a hook. They show your ideal customer how the product or service will change their life for the better. That promise has them wanting to read more, so they click on the ad and go to your landing page. Now they’re at your landing page, you need to sell them even more on the primary benefit. Tell them more about how their family can eat healthy meals every night of the week with even less effort than they’re putting in right now!

Now you’ve got their interest, it is time to sweeten the deal with some secondary benefits. Reassure them that they don’t need to worry about their energy bill, the slow cooker is energy efficient and uses the same amount of energy as cooking for an hour. Did they also know they slow cooker cooks full meals in one machine, meaning less dishes AND it’s easy to clean. For the record, do not write copy like this, we’re just trying to illustrate how primary benefits hook the client and secondary benefits reel them in.