From a recent analysis ran by HubSpot on their own pages ranking #1-5 in Google, they conclude that:

1. If you are already on page one in Google, backlinks matter less for you to win the Featured Snippet spot. However, to get to page 1, backlinks matter a LOT.
2. The queried keyword should correspond to a heading (h2, h3, or h4) somewhere in your page. Ensure to use these headings all through your content.
3. For content to appear in the Featured Snippet, it must be an answer to the query, be about 56 words long, and be within a <p> tag just under the formatted headings earlier mentioned.
4. Question based queries are more preferred, and the results for a Featured Snippet would be those having an ordered list format (for instance step 1, step 2, etc) using heading tags (see 2. above)
5. Location (geographical) of the search matters, that means Google.com might display something different from Google.co.uk or Google.ie, etc.
6. Page structure is incredibly key especially for non-query based searches.

Final Thoughts

I do hope that you got all the action points, hints, and note points above. If not, please keep referring back to the tutorial so as to keep getting optimal results in your online businesses.

Featured snippets offer a chance to outdo huge authoritative names in the market. Let's jump right on to doing it right and we'll reap the fruits!

References and Citations:

https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html (a Stanford University Paper)

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-featured-snippet-box

https://howeze.com/affiliate-marketing/

https://www.webpagetest.org/