40 Examples of Business Benefits

John Spacey, December 19, 2021

Business benefits, not be be confused with employee benefits, are things that are good for a business. This includes tangible benefits such as cost reduction and intangible benefits such as a creative corporate culture. The following are common types of business benefit.

Brand Image	Brand Recognition
Business Resilience	Conversion Rate
Corporate Culture	Cost Avoidance
Cost Reduction	Creative Output
Customer Attrition (Reduction)	Customer Engagement
Customer Experience	Customer Relationships
Customer Satisfaction	Diversification of Revenue
Employee Engagement	Employee Retention
Issue / Problem Resolution	Market Penetration
Market Share	Overhead Cost (Reduction)
Process Efficiency	Product Quality
Reputation	Return on Investment
Revenue	Revenue Per Employee
Risk Avoidance	Risk Reduction
Sales Volume	Service Quality
Share of Wallet	Social Responsibility
Stakeholder Relationships	Sustainability
Talent / Competencies	Tax Efficiency
Time to Market	Unit Cost Reduction
Work Quality	Work Throughput

Hard Benefits

A hard benefit is a measurable result that is positive for a business. For example, a theme park that improves its website to increase visitor satisfaction with the site from 12% to 78%.

Soft Benefit

A soft benefit is a qualitative result that is perceived but not directly measured in any reliable and precise way. For example, a diversity team in human resources that states that their program increases the creativity of the organization. This may be a realistic argument that resonates, even if it isn't particularly measurable.

Correlation vs Causation

Correlation is when two variables happen to move in the same direction. This often occurs because a third variable is causing both variables to move. It is also common for correlation to be random and meaningless. Correlation is often confused with causation. This is a common error in the calculation of hard benefits. For example, a diversity problem that claims that it increases revenue by pointing to numbers that show that highly profitable firms usually have diversity programs. Such firms may require diversity programs for compliance and reputational reasons such that this argument may confuse correlation with causation.