AOL recently announced a new version of its online service - what is it now, Version 7.0? - and a fresh wave of those ubiquitous CD-ROMs promptly hit the streets trumpeting the new and improved features that few of us can apparently do without.

The wisdom, efficacy, and environmental correctness of AOL's CD-ROM campaigns have already been debated ad nauseam. Suffice it to say, the campaign works. What also works for AOL, as well as a myriad of other consumer-oriented companies, is to highlight new features ("... now including ...") as the primary reasons for why the reader should finally submit to the inevitable and sign on as a customer.

AOL can do this successfully because 1) their price point is low enough to facilitate a quick buying decision, and 2) a particular feature (ex: Instant Messaging) may be all it takes to convince a given individual prospect, for whom that one feature is all-important, to sign on.

All of this cannot be said for higher-priced products, and most B2B solutions in general. The higher the price, the more considered the purchase decision, and the less likely a prospect is to be swayed by the arrival of one new bell or whistle. If my company is to invest in a $100,000 CRM application, for example, it will not be because the newest version will alert my service reps to customer calls via pager - no matter how attractive I might find that feature - but rather because I need to improve customer service, decrease customer attrition, or gain any other number of other fundamental business benefits.

Why then do so many technology companies, and purveyors of B2B solutions in particular, "launch" new versions of their product with campaigns that focus on the new features and other usually insignificant differences between it and the previous version launched just six months earlier?

It's important to remember that what causes prospects to buy your product may be, and usually is, very different from what causes those individuals to respond to your campaign (i.e., to express interest) in the first place. Features may well have a role to play in the buying decision if, for example, your product has one attribute that your competitor lacks. In a direct marketing campaign, however, features simply get in the way of more important business benefits, and usually only serve to "scare off" those prospects anxious only for information on how to solve a problem.

When launching a new version of your product, avoid the temptation to focus on new features and concentrate instead on the offer and the key business benefits that the reader can learn about therein. Call out features only to the extent they help reinforce those benefits (ex: "learn how to respond instantly to customer complaints with technology that automatically notifies your service reps through a system voice, e-mail and pager alerts..")