In case you were wondering, WIIFM stands for ‘what's in it for me' and that's the subject of the column this month.

To some readers the theory of what we're about to discuss will be obvious to you, but I challenge you to examine your eBay listings to make sure you're implementing what you already know you should be doing! For others of you, this'll be a new lesson.

I happened to be driving along the other day behind another car that had an ad in its rear window. The ad read something like this:

Guitar Lessons
Become:
Intermediate in 5 months
Advanced in 11 months
GUARANTEED!
Call 123-456-7890

The ad stuck had something that the vast majority of ads don't have: the ‘what's in it for me' factor. In other words a compelling benefit.

I'll explain further: Again, with this example of guitar lessons, most ads offering guitar lessons read something like this:

Guitar Lessons
NGI qualified instructor
Call 123-456-7890

The ‘qualified instructor' line elicits a ‘so what' response by the reader because it's not a benefit. People don't buy a product or service based on it's features; they buy the BENEFIT that the product or service will bring them.

To illustrate: would you rather buy ‘a stunning, black cocktail dress' or a ‘stunning black cocktail dress that will make you feel like a princess, turning everyone's heads the next time you walk into a Broadway theater.'

Would you rather buy ‘the latest 3 chip digital camcorder' or ‘the camcorder that automatically edits your shaky footage so well that your friends might actually accuse you of having gone to film school with Steven Spielberg.'

We choose a coffee maker based on how good a cup of coffee it brews. We buy an outfit based on how it looks to others. We buy a fiction book because it relaxes us or transports us to another place. No one buys a coffee maker just because it has six buttons instead of two, or an outfit just because it is their size, or a book just to perform the function of reading.

We always buy products because of the benefit they'll bring us, so you MUST emphasize the benefits of everything you sell on eBay.

Most people do not even consider this basic element of human psychology when they create a listing.

Tell customers what the end result will be, and the benefit(s) they'll obtain.

The key to doing this effectively is to try and get inside the mind of the potential buyer. If you were them, what end result would you want from buying this item?

Even with the most mundane products or services, it is never just a case of buying an item for the sake of it, there's always some kind of ‘pain' behind the purchase, an issue that needs to be resolved. Lock that point in your brain, it's vitally important to selling successfully on eBay.

Even someone looking for something as simple as a spare part for a printer is looking for an end result, a bigger benefit – for example, that their printer will work again! So reassure them that that will be the case when they install the part. Emphasize the benefit, in this case a very important solution.

Of course, features of an item or service are still important to note in any listing, but they are always less important than benefits. Many times you can translate features into benefits by using the helpful linking phrase ‘this means that…', or ‘which means to you that'.

Try it.

You will see the difference in a greater number of bids, higher final prices, and an increasing number of loyal customers, because you managed to get inside their head and remind them of the BENEFITS, the ‘what's in it for me'. They'll feel like you really understand them!

So always remember ‘WIIFM'. If you honestly evaluate every new listing and it elicits the response ‘so what?' then you need to go back and give more attention to the benefits.

Features tell, benefits sell.

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