Features and Benefits Slide [How to make it sell]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- 5 days ago
- 6 min read
A client of ours, James, a product manager at a fast-growing startup, hit us with a question while we were working on his presentation:
"How do we make our features and benefits slide actually sell something without making it sound like a boring list?"
Our Creative Director, didn’t waste time with fluff and shot back,
“Make the benefits undeniable and show why they matter to the person reading them.”
Now, if you’ve ever worked on a features and benefits slide, you know it’s like trying to convince someone to buy a car without showing them how it fits into their life. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the technical specs and forget that this slide isn’t for information, it’s for selling.
Every year, we design a ton of these slides for clients across industries, and we’ve learned something crucial: most people do it wrong. They fall into the trap of listing features like a shopping list and wonder why their audience isn’t sold. So, in this blog, we’ll break down how to turn your features and benefits slide into something that actually convinces people.
Why the Features and Benefits Slide Matters
Let’s be blunt: your features and benefits slide is crucial. It’s not a checklist of what your product does, it's the moment you show the audience why they should care.
Most people make the mistake of listing features like a bullet-pointed resume, thinking it’s enough. It’s not. The truth is, no one buys a product for its features. They buy it because it solves a problem or improves their life in some way.
The challenge here is simple: connect the dots between the features and the benefits. If your audience doesn’t understand how your features make their lives easier, better, or more profitable, you’ve lost them.
How to Make Your Features and Benefits Slide Sell
1. Lead with the Benefit, Not the Feature
Here’s the biggest mistake we see: companies lead with their features. And no one cares about features. Not really. They care about what those features will do for them. Think about it. No one buys a car because it has 200 horsepower. They buy it because it can get them from point A to point B in record time, and because it makes them feel like a badass on the road.
It’s the same with your product. You don’t need to start with “Our app has a cloud-based platform.”
You need to start with, “Our app gives you the flexibility to work from anywhere, anytime.” The benefit first. Always.
When you lead with the benefit, you immediately capture attention. You're telling the audience what’s in it for them right out of the gate. Then, you can drop in the feature that makes that benefit possible. Here’s an example:
Feature: Our product comes with 24/7 customer support.
Benefit: You’ll never be left hanging when you need help, no matter the time of day.
See how the benefit immediately answers the question, “What’s in it for me?”
2. Be Specific, Don’t Generalize
Vague claims don’t sell. General statements like “Our product is easy to use” or “Our service is fast” won’t move the needle. Those are nice to have, but they don’t give anyone a reason to believe they’ll get actual value.
Be specific. How much faster is your product? How much easier is it to use? If your product cuts response times in half, say that. If your app helps your users save an hour a day, put it on the slide.
For example:
Vague Feature: Our tool improves productivity.
Specific Benefit: Our tool reduces manual data entry by 70%, freeing up your team for more important tasks.
The key here is to make it tangible. If it’s measurable, great. If not, you need to show why it still matters.
3. Speak in Terms of Their Problems, Not Yours
Here’s something that gets overlooked way too often: the person reading your slide doesn’t care about your product’s features unless it helps solve a problem they’re dealing with. And if they don’t see the connection, they’re going to check out pretty quickly.
Think about your audience’s pain points and speak directly to them. For example, don’t talk about how your product is “cutting-edge technology.” Talk about how it helps solve a problem they’re likely facing, like losing time or missing deadlines.
Let’s take this example:
Generic: Our platform has the latest AI technology.
Problem-Solution Focused: Our platform uses AI to automate the time-consuming tasks that slow your team down, so they can focus on what really matters.
Do you see the difference? One talks about your product. The other talks about their pain and how you’re the solution.
4. Keep It Simple, Don’t Overwhelm
One thing that will make your features and benefits slide fail faster than anything is overwhelming your audience with too much information. Remember, this is one slide in a broader presentation. You’re not writing a textbook.
Focus on the top 2-3 features that are most likely to resonate with your audience. Each one should clearly tie into a benefit they can easily understand. If you list 10 features and benefits, you’ve already lost them. Think quality over quantity.
Here’s an example of a good slide layout:
Benefit 1: Save 3 hours a day with our time-saving automation.
Feature: Automated workflows that eliminate manual tasks.
Benefit 2: Access key data from anywhere with mobile access.
Feature: Cloud-based platform with mobile app.
Benefit 3: Increase team productivity with instant collaboration.
Feature: Real-time editing and shared dashboards.
You don’t need a list of 10 benefits. You need the 2-3 that will have the most impact on the person you’re pitching to.
5. Focus on Emotional Appeal
Here’s the thing that a lot of presentations forget: people make decisions based on emotion, not logic. The most persuasive benefits hit the emotional core of your audience.
Think about it. Would you buy something that’s going to save you 30 minutes a day, or would you buy something that’s going to give you more freedom, less stress, and make your life easier? The second one, right?
That’s the power of emotional appeal. To craft your features and benefits slide to actually sell, frame your benefits in a way that taps into emotions like time-saving, stress reduction, or even status and prestige. These are the things people care about.
Here’s a cold example:
Logical Benefit: Our platform reduces errors.
Emotional Benefit: Our platform gives you peace of mind, knowing that your team is working with flawless data every time.
Do you see how one speaks to the practical outcome and the other speaks to the emotional payoff? That’s the difference between a “meh” slide and a compelling one.
6. Use Visuals to Support, Not Distract
You can’t just throw text on a slide and expect people to get it. Visuals are incredibly important when it comes to a features and benefits slide. A simple icon or image can drive home the message far more effectively than words alone. But be careful, this isn’t the time to get flashy with design. You want your visuals to enhance the message, not distract from it.
Think icons, clean layouts, and diagrams that reinforce the benefits. Avoid the temptation to stuff in every possible visual element just for the sake of it. Less is more here.
For example:
Feature: Our product is easy to integrate.
Visual: A simple diagram showing how easy the integration process is, with just a few steps.
If you use visuals this way, it not only makes the slide more engaging but also helps clarify and emphasize the message you’re trying to convey.
7. Don’t Overpromise, Be Realistic
There’s a temptation, especially when you’re eager to sell, to stretch the truth or make promises that your product can’t fully back up. That’s a mistake. A huge one.
If you claim that your product will “double productivity overnight,” you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. Audiences are savvy, they’ll see through the overhyped claims and tune out.
Be honest. Talk about the real, measurable benefits your product can provide and set realistic expectations. Being authentic and transparent will get you further than overselling and underdelivering.
Why Hire Us to Build your Presentation?
If you're reading this, you're probably working on a presentation right now. You could do it all yourself. But the reality is - that’s not going to give you the high-impact presentation you need. It’s a lot of guesswork, a lot of trial and error. And at the end of the day, you’ll be left with a presentation that’s “good enough,” not one that gets results. On the other hand, we’ve spent years crafting thousands of presentations, mastering both storytelling and design. Let us handle this for you, so you can focus on what you do best.