Blog/Business Strategy
Value proposition is the # 1 thing that determines whether people will bother reading more about your product or hit the back button.
Alex Osterwalder, author of Business Model Generation and co-founder of Strategyzer, together with KISSmetrics held a webinar on how to create compelling value propositions. In this webinar, Alex tackled things such as using the Value Proposition Canvas and Business Model Canvas and how to use it on testing your value propositions. Taking in the things we learned during the webinar, Convert shares to you how to compose a compelling value proposition.
The Four U’s Exercise
You can see how important this is in the determination of your spot in the market. Let’s say you are already able to frame the idea based on what your customer is trying to get done, your next challenge is to write the value proposition – converting the idea into words. How do you write the ideas that will sell?
- If the problem is Unworkable, you have an opportunity in hand, but, only if the idea proves that the inaction or consequences are fatal.
- If fixing the problem is Unavoidable, then you have to comply to regulatory or governance control.
- If the problem is Urgent, you have to come up with a solution ASAP because it’s impacting your organizational goals.
- If the problem is Underserved, there are a lot of solutions available but wait, I don’t see anything dealing with my problem? Or maybe, there are thousands of people like me.
Know Your Customer
In an article published by Peep Laja, he stated that:
- Jobs that your customer is trying to get done.
- Tasks that your customer is trying to perform to get the job done.
- Problems that your customer is trying to solve.
In the simplest and fastest way that you can, your customer must be able to see that your business is the “perfect fit” for their needs. If you can define and communicate clearly what you have, you have a business to do and a market to support.
Writing Unique Value Propositions
Make sure that there is a “value” in what you are offering. A value that is so irresistible and that the only option left is to buy. If you want to know more about the webinar, you can watch it full here.
You business Value Proposition needs to prove that your idea is the perfect solution por a problem that you are trying to solve. The very important and known four U’s are perfect to evaluate if you have a problem worth solving:
One of the traditional mistake when building Value Proposition is to dive into the details of the solution before giving sufficient thoughts to the problem you are looking to solve. One of the classic yet common mistake is to compile detailed business plan and marketing plan documents which eventually ends up useless. Your business idea will have tough time if you give precedence to business plan over value proposition.
- Be clear and concise. Clarity is always the number one rule. To achieve this, you need to be concise. The shorter the message, the better.
- Communicate results. Let the customer know what is expected of your product or business.
- Let your product stand out. Ask yourself – how is your offer better than the existing product?
- Be truthful. Avoid using catch phrase like “never before seen”, “the ultimate solution” and so on. Make your case instead.
- Apply the “5 second rule”. Your value proposition must be written in a way that can be easily read and understood in just 5 seconds.
Originally published October 05, 2015 – Updated January 06, 2022
Three unique selling points can help you know your potential customers better and assist you in developing better value propositions around customers needs and help you to stand out against your competition:
