How to Write a Great Value Proposition

Learn what a value proposition is and how to write one for your company that attracts customers.

Your Value Proposition is the Core of Your Business Model

It’s important to have a clear understanding of your value proposition. Why?

Your value proposition is the core of your competitive advantage. It clearly articulates why someone would want to buy from your company instead of a competitor.

-Lindsay Cox

There’s a reason that the Value Proposition lies at the center of the Business Model canvas. It’s what you organize your business around delivering.

In this article, you’ll learn what a value proposition looks like, the elements of a successful value proposition, an example of how you can use your social impact in your value proposition, and a process you can use to create a great value proposition that attracts the right customers!

What Is A Value Proposition?

A value proposition states the reason people should buy your services to solve their problem. It’s a statement that captures the value you bring to your target customer.

Think of it as a statement that gets across what problem you solve and why your solution is special. As a startup, it’s the sentence you put on the top of the website so people know what you offer.

Examples of Great Value Propositions:

Lyft uses an aspirational headline to capture it’s main value proposition – you can get anywhere in the city conveniently with their app. But they have competition – Uber, Bird Scooters, and a few other companies could make the claim they give you “The whole city. In the palm of your hand”. So how is Lyft unique?

They expand on this below:

If you look at the first item – If it gets you there, it’s in the app…. 9 different options. Lyft obviously sees this as their primary differentiator. It’s what makes them unique from Uber, Bird, and other potential competitors.

Now that we know this is what makes Lyft unique, they should probably include it in their headline. Something like “9 ways to get around the city. All in the palm of your hand”.

Let’s look at a good example of a good impact-driven value proposition:

Impact snacks offers a clear unique value proposition here “Snack for Change”. When you buy their snacks, you’re creating impact. It’s also built into the product name – a great way to remind people of what you do!

This is a great example of how to make social impact a main part of your value proposition. They’re immediately positioning yourself as a tasty way to do positive things with your spending.

One thing that Impact Snacks could’ve done better is gotten a little more specific up-front on what impact someone creates by buying a snack. It’s pretty vague – what change am I creating? I’d probably be more likely to press that button if I had an answer.

They do it a little further down the page, but I’d put these three components of their value prop above the fold:

What Makes a Great Value Proposition:

Here are the some elements of a great value proposition, with help from a Quicksprout Infographic:

Great value propositions:

• Explain how your product solves problems or improves situations.
• Show customers what specific benefits they can expect
• Speak specifically to what your target customers see as important.
• Show customers why they should buy from you over competitors.
• Are clear and can be understood in 5 seconds or less.

Let’s break down the different parts of Impact Snacks’ Value Prop and how it stacks up to the criteria of a good value proposition:

It looks like the Impact Snacks team did a pretty good job of articulating their value proposition!

Do you want to create ways to test your value proposition in the market? Check out the new Business Model Mapping Workshop. You’ll map out your business model, extract assumptions, and create actionable experiments to test your value proposition in the market. Check it out here

How to Create Your Value Proposition

Now you know what makes a good value proposition. It’s time to try creating your own!

I’ll use my own company as an example to move through this exercise.

My answers are italicized.

Here are the steps you can take:

Take 2-5 minutes to brainstorm how to describe your offering. 

• Design for business strategy, brand, and marketing.

Take 2-5 minutes to brainstorm all of the benefits your product or service brings to customers:

• Fun, collaborative, and creative exercises to innovate across your business
• An experienced ally that cares about their business and mission
• Clarity on their path forward.
• High-quality, consistent execution

Rank the benefits based on what your target customer feels is important and what makes you unique (this might take some research and testing if you’re not sure)

1. Clarity on their path forward.
2. Fun, collaborative, and creative exercises to innovate across your business
3. High-quality, consistent execution
4. An experienced ally that cares about their business and mission

Create a one liner that summarizes all of the benefits and acts as your headline: 

Design for business strategy, brand, and marketing that gives you clarity on your path to social innovation

If you want to go the extra mile. break down your other benefits in bullet points, and write a sentence or two about the problem it solves or why it’s useful:

• Fun, collaborative, and creative exercises to innovate across your business Your business strategy meetings shouldn’t be tedious and frustrating. We get buy in on exciting new initiatives across your team by creating these initiatives together in collaborative workshops.
• High-quality, consistent execution Don’t be left worrying if that freelancer is going to execute on your deliverable. Don’t get caught up in the constant budget overages that come with agencies. Get a clear scope of work, high quality design, and transparent communication at every step of execution.
• An experienced ally that cares about their business and mission When you’re a client, it’s not just another transaction. It’s an opportunity to help someone reach their dreams and I don’t take that lightly. I’m by your side for the ups and downs that come with being an impact-driven entrepreneur.

If you’re getting stuck on this process, you should use the Value Proposition Canvas to get more clear on what problems and benefits different parts of your offering bring to your customers.

See how I used each benefit to start a conversation about the problem it addresses and how it addresses it? This part is where the sales really happen. Sure, you want to get their attention with a clear and readable headline. But you facilitate real trust once you get into the details of how your benefits help them get to where they want to be and avoid problems while doing so.

I’ve Clarified My Value Proposition. What’s Next?

As I stated, the value proposition is the core of your business model. Put the one liner you created in the previous section at the center of your Impact Business Model Canvas, and it’s time to move into customer segments, relationships, and channels. I’ll discuss those in the next article.

You should also have your headline and top benefits on every piece of marketing material you have. When it comes to messaging, consistency is key to drive action.

Do you want to create ways to test your value proposition in the market? Check out the new Business Model Mapping Workshop. You’ll map out your business model, extract assumptions, and create actionable experiments to test your value proposition in the market. Check it out here

Do you want my feedback on your value proposition? Email it to me at [email protected]. I’d love to see what you’ve come up with