Feature-led

Describing a product, service, or strategy where the primary focus and driving force are its specific features. This approach prioritizes the inclusion and promotion of individual functionalities, advantages, or characteristics over other aspects like user experience, design, or overall strategy. A feature-led approach often emphasizes technical capabilities and competitive advantages based on these capabilities, sometimes at the expense of a cohesive user journey. It suggests a development cycle or marketing strategy focused on introducing and publicizing new features, aiming to attract customers based on the novelty or enhanced functionality they provide. This can also reflect a development team prioritising the technical capabilities, such as the integration of AI in a camera over the end user experience.

Feature-led meaning with examples

• The new software's marketing campaign was heavily feature-led, highlighting its advanced AI-powered image editing tools while neglecting to showcase the intuitive user interface and simple navigation. This approach aimed to attract tech-savvy users.
• In a competitive market, the company adopted a feature-led approach, constantly releasing new product iterations with incremental upgrades. This strategy helped them stay ahead of rivals who were slower in innovating.
• The project was ultimately a failure. The feature-led design resulted in a disjointed user experience, as each new feature felt tacked on, lacking seamless integration with the pre-existing components.
• The CEO was excited for the feature-led approach, releasing details about a variety of new features in the hopes of attracting investors. They were relying on these to bring in the investments.
• The marketing of the new phone relied heavily on feature-led promotion, which included showcasing the new camera's new AI capabilities and longer battery life, without consideration of user experience.