The Value Proposition Canvas

An Advantageous Tool for Customer Discovery and Product Development

Me: I'm having trouble falling asleep at night

My Mom: I've bought this herbal tea that has lavender in it

Me: And?

My Mom: It makes you sleep better

One of the most useful tools for conducting customer discovery and evaluating your value proposition is the "Value Proposition Canvas". It takes time and practice to fully understand the value and application of this chart. I'd like to share how I used this canvas for a personal example.

As a mechanical engineer for decades, I found myself loyal to PCs and resistant to switching to a MacBook, even though I no longer deal with heavy engineering software. Recently, I realized that carrying my ThinkPad has been causing significant back pain. Additionally, I love working from coffee shops and bohemian places, but not every location has power outlets. Considering my ThinkPad only holds about 2.5 hours of charge, I lack the flexibility to work from various locations. Let's examine how a MacBook could solve my problem using the Value Proposition Canvas.

Customer Profile

1. What would you like to do (Job)? Sit in my favorite coffee shop and design my website
2. What prevents you from doing it (Pain Point)? My laptop is heavy to carry, causing back pain, and doesn't hold a charge long enough, and that coffee shop doesn't have an outlet for customers
3. What would you like to achieve by switching to a new product (Gain)? Work from coffee shops, beaches, even Burningman for extended periods, and avoid back pain and posture issues

Value Map (MacBook)

1. What does your product do (Product/Service)? Performs intended tasks like emails, online searches, website design, etc.
2. How does it relieve your customer pain (Pain Relievers - Tech Specs)? High-performance battery, efficient operating system, and lightweight hardware design.
3. Oaky, how does it help your customer (Gain Creators)? They can take the laptop and work from anywhere they want for the day with lighter laptop with durable battery life - does that look like your marketing message?

The Value Proposition Canvas helps visualize how well a product (in this case, a MacBook) aligns with customer needs and desires. It's a powerful tool for both businesses developing products and consumers making informed decisions.

Now, going back to lavender tea example, lavender is the pain reliver while increased sleep quality is the gain creator. It's important to distinguish between the pain reliever (product specification) and gain creator (what does customer achieve as a result of using your product).

I will explain in my next article why it is imperative for you as a product manager to distinguish between the pain reliever and the gain creator.