If you don't know how the product will benefit the user, then what is the point of the product to begin with?
If you don't know how the product will benefit the user, it means either the product is worthless and you shouldn't be selling it, or it means that you don't know everything the product could be used for.
It's the difference between, "This music player efficiently handles large music collections", and, "Only 10 songs are kept in memory at once, and indexing is done so that searches over the entire collection can be performed in constant time."
My point is you need to identify your audience and know which to use. Even for your seemingly obvious example, it's possible there might be a user that actually does care about only 10 songs being in memory at once (and the impact that would cause to his particular needs), and may be suspicious if you try to say "oh yeah it efficiently handles large music collections."
The result is that sometimes people have evolved bullshit detectors and when you try to sell things in terms that aren't precise enough they may assume you are a waste of time.
You make some good points, but I think they are a good argument for having a "technical description" (or something like that) page for those who might be interested. I still think that the description everyone sees should focus on the benefits to the user, because that's what the average user cares about.
...or it means that you don't know everything the product could be used for.
Even for such an open-ended product, I would still say, "We developed this to solve X, but it offers other possibilities as well (link to feedback from users who have found other uses). Thanks to its extensibility, new functionality is being added all the time (link to top plugins)."
All I'm really saying is that I agree with the author that it's worthwhile to re-frame the product description in terms that will immediately tell the average user that your product is worth their time or money.
I confess I summed up my reaction a bit bluntly. Really the issue is that it's not a black and white thing. The article makes it seem like "oh yeah I should focus on benefits" when reality is a lot more complicated.
If you don't know how the product will benefit the user, it means either the product is worthless and you shouldn't be selling it, or it means that you don't know everything the product could be used for.
It's the difference between, "This music player efficiently handles large music collections", and, "Only 10 songs are kept in memory at once, and indexing is done so that searches over the entire collection can be performed in constant time."
My point is you need to identify your audience and know which to use. Even for your seemingly obvious example, it's possible there might be a user that actually does care about only 10 songs being in memory at once (and the impact that would cause to his particular needs), and may be suspicious if you try to say "oh yeah it efficiently handles large music collections."
The result is that sometimes people have evolved bullshit detectors and when you try to sell things in terms that aren't precise enough they may assume you are a waste of time.