Beyond Features, Beyond Outcome

If you want to build a software product like everyone else, make a landing page, show features, show the benefits, maybe highlight the outcome.

But if you want to go beyond, you can go in these two directions:

The first direction, a landing page mirroring the struggle: take your existing product idea, and think of the raw feelings of dissatisfaction that a visitor will carry around as they search for a solution to their struggle. Now, have your landing page mirror back to them those feelings through your copy. Have them exclaim “I feel understood!” Make the page flow, that is to say, have each section answer the question that is created by the preceding section. Make it scannable, making sure that each first few words of each heading or paragraph connect with the visitor’s internal vocabulary. A long scannable page is okay, because it means you have multiple shots at connecting with the visitor’s situation through your choice of words. Have a page worthy to be scrolled, evaluated, and shared.

The second direction: an unusual packaging of your product. Instead of creating tiers based on the amount of features, consider different kinds of offerings. Consider a 7-day tier for those who just want to use your product for a single short-lived project. Consider, as a top tier, a hybrid software + service offering, with limited availability. Hard to scale, but solving the “I don’t want to become an expert at this process” hesitation, a do-it-for-you package of sorts, priced to offer a guarantee on a result. Make a tier help someone delegate the responsability, automating the process to let them “focus on other things”. Make a tier that’s more for someone learning the specialty, so they can become an deeper expert. Make a tier that’s focused on efficiency on a single pointy task. Be adamant about helping your buyer make progress, and be ready to step out of the usual bounds of packaging your product in usage tiers.

If you go beyond the usual, you might create raving fans that will tell others. It might be worth a try, because not only do your customers want progress on their struggle, they might want progress on another front. They might want to be connected with inspiring, risk-taking, innovative outfits like yours.

And these copywriting and packaging skills you’ll have learned in the process, they’re also great (even more so) for selling service offerings.