MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Seven Reasons to Strengthen Your Customer Benefits Focus

When marketers focus on products instead of benefits, they may get blindsided by new rivals or miss new product opportunities. Are you truly putting benefits first?

Harvard Business School professor Theodore Leavitt emphasized the customer impact of benefits when he famously argued that people don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill; they want a quarter-inch hole.1 Although his idea is straightforward, many companies still fail to appreciate how embracing a benefits-driven approach can help them unlock new opportunities — for innovation, customer satisfaction, and sustainable growth.

Benefits are the desirable outcomes that customers receive from your brand. This definition holds true regardless of whether customers are in B2B or B2C spaces and whether the organization is a company, nonprofit, or sole proprietor offering a product, a service, or an experience. Benefits help customers reach their goals and reduce their pains.

About the Author

Allen Weiss is emeritus professor at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. Deborah J. MacInnis is emerita professor at the Marshall School of Business. They are the authors of The Brand Benefits Playbook: Why Customers Aren’t Buying What You’re Selling — and What to Do About It (BenBella Books, 2024).

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