What is WIIFM?

WIIFM: Focusing on the benefits

‘The price of a coffee in Caracas has risen by ten per cent since the beginning of the year.’ This information probably leaves you cold. It does not affect your everyday life, it does not change any decisions you make, and it has no discernible value for you.

However, if you lived in Venezuela, were doing business there, or were observing price developments in unstable economies, the same information would suddenly become interesting. It would help you determine whether the local cost of living is changing or whether an economic development is emerging that is relevant to you. The message remains objectively identical, but its value changes depending on your context.

This simple example illustrates the principle behind WIIFM. WIIFM stands for What’s In It For Me and describes a communication concept that focuses on the perceived benefit of a message. It is about the question of what advantage, what significance or what orientation a piece of information has for the recipient.

The term originates from marketing and change communication. It was originally used to better engage customers and make changes in organisations more understandable. Today, WIIFM is used in almost all areas where attention, acceptance or motivation play a role: in product communication, leadership, recruiting, project work and internal communication.

At its core, WIIFM describes a fundamental principle of perception. People only pay attention to information if they understand why it is relevant to their own situation. Benefit creates attention. Relevance arises from context. Without both, a message remains ineffective, even if it is objectively correct or important.

The levels of benefit

An effective WIIFM is not limited to a general advantage. People respond to different forms of benefit. The clearer these levels are defined, the more understandable and convincing a message becomes. In practice, five central types of benefit can be distinguished.

1. Personal benefit

This refers to concrete advantages that are directly noticeable. These include time savings, less effort, simpler processes or better results. Personal benefits have an immediate effect because they promise immediate relief or improvement.

2. Contextual benefit

Some advantages only unfold in the interaction between people, teams or departments. These include clearer responsibilities, transparent information flow, and more efficient collaboration. This type of benefit strengthens teamwork and improves processes.

3. Symbolic benefits

Symbols influence self-image and external perception. A new tool, a new role, or a new form of collaboration can convey recognition, clarify status, or highlight one’s own competence. Symbolic benefits often have a subtle but lasting effect.

4. Emotional security

People pay attention to signals that reduce uncertainty. Change is more likely to be accepted if it provides orientation, reduces risks or increases reliability in everyday life. Emotional security is an underestimated component of any benefit communication.

5. Expectation-based benefits

These benefits arise when people can understand what results a measure is realistically expected to deliver. Clear expectations reduce misunderstandings and facilitate decisions. A WIIFM that addresses this level creates clarity instead of room for interpretation.

These five levels explain why benefit communication must be differentiated. The more precisely organisations understand what people perceive as benefits in a specific situation, the more targeted and effective their communication can be.

Psychological foundations of WIIFM

WIIFM works not because people are self-serving, but because our brains sort information according to relevance. Attention follows patterns that are deeply ingrained. Those who know these patterns understand why benefit communication works and why messages without recognisable value are hardly noticed.

Attention economy

People can only process a fraction of the stimuli available to them. Our brains therefore filter consistently. Content that is not relevant to our own situation slips through this filter. Content with recognisable benefits, on the other hand, is processed preferentially. WIIFM ensures that a message is noticed in the first place.

Loss aversion

People react more strongly to potential losses than to potential gains. [1] If a benefit is not clearly stated, change often appears to be a risk. A WIIFM that reduces effort, uncertainty or complexity takes the edge off this perception and increases acceptance.

Cognitive relief

The brain prefers simple, comprehensible information. A clear WIIFM shows what it is about, why it is relevant and what can be expected in concrete terms. This reduces the mental effort required. The lower the burden, the more likely a message is to be understood and processed.

Social motivation

People are guided by belonging, status, fairness and autonomy. These needs are described, among other things, by the SCARF model. Messages that address these needs generate trust and openness. A WIIFM can therefore also be social in nature, for example through more influence, more guidance or more security within the team.

Meaning and guidance

The brain responds positively to information that helps to classify situations and make decisions. A clear benefit creates meaning. Meaning creates orientation. Orientation stabilises behaviour. A WIIFM that serves this connection is experienced as helpful and supportive.

These mechanisms show why people prefer messages that offer them a comprehensible advantage. Benefits attract attention, reduce uncertainty, facilitate decisions and strengthen orientation. WIIFM therefore does not function as a rhetorical trick, but as an expression of fundamental perception processes. Those who understand how these processes work can design communication in such a way that it becomes connectable.

Common mistakes when using WIIFM

Although the principle sounds simple, WIIFM remains ineffective in many organisations. This is rarely due to the concept itself, but rather to its implementation. The following mistakes are among the most common:

• Benefits are claimed but not demonstrated. Many messages contain phrases such as ‘This makes everything easier’ or ‘This leads to greater efficiency’. Such statements remain abstract and do not create any tangible benefits. A WIIFM only works when the benefits are concrete, visible and comprehensible.
• Benefits remain too general. A benefit that is supposed to apply to everyone often reaches no one. If people cannot relate to their own situation, the message falls flat. The more specific the target audience, the more precisely the benefits can be formulated.
• Functions instead of effects. Many communications focus on functions. But functions say little about what actually changes for the recipient. WIIFM does not describe what something can do, but what it achieves.
• Benefits come too late. The benefit is often only mentioned at the end of a message, sometimes even as an afterthought. However, attention is captured at the beginning. If the benefit only appears after several paragraphs, many readers will have already switched off mentally.
• Individual perspectives are missing. Teams bring together different roles, expectations and working realities. A single WIIFM message is rarely enough. What is helpful for a developer may be irrelevant to a product manager. Organisations often underestimate how much perspectives differ.
• Lack of credibility. A WIIFM requires trust. If benefits are exaggerated or cannot be experienced in everyday life, acceptance declines. People are sensitive to contradictions between announcements and reality. A WIIFM that does not match the experience immediately loses its effect.

These mistakes show that WIIFM is more than just quickly adding a benefit. It is a conscious translation of a measure into concrete meaning for a target group.

WIIFM in practice

An effective WIIFM does not show what an organisation is planning, but what a measure means for the people involved. The key is to translate the plan into a concrete effect in everyday life. The following examples illustrate how this change in perspective can be implemented.

Example: Change communication

Bad: We are introducing a new system.
Good: You will work faster because the new system takes over routine tasks and important information is easier to find.

Bad: We are standardising our processes.
Good: You will need fewer queries because processes are clearer and decisions can be made more quickly.

Example: Internal project management

Bad: We are changing our reporting structure.
Good: You will save time because there will be no more repetition and information will be collated in one place.

Bad: We are introducing new meeting rules.
Good: You will be able to focus more because meetings will be shorter and decisions will be documented more clearly.

Example: Leadership and clarification of objectives

Bad: We expect more personal responsibility.
Good: You will have more influence on decisions and can control processes more directly.

Bad: We are adjusting our roles.
Good: You will have more clarity about which tasks have priority and where you can get support.

Example: Recruiting

Bad: We are looking for new members to join our team.
Good: You work in an environment that promotes responsibility and offers room for personal development.

Bad: We offer flexible working hours.
Good: You can better adapt your work to your private life and remain more flexible in your everyday routine.

Example: Internal communication

Bad: We are publishing new guidelines.
Good: You avoid mistakes and uncertainties because rules are more understandable and accessible.

Bad: We are expanding our intranet.
Good: You can find important information more quickly because content is presented in a more structured way and is easier to search.

These examples show a pattern: poor wording describes a measure. Good wording describes a concrete change for the target group. It is only through this translation that a message gains relevance, orientation and impact.

Notes:

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[1] Why do losses weigh more heavily than gains?

Here is an interesting video: How To Apply The WIIFM What’s In It For Me Principle In Your Marketing