Your value proposition is a key component of your marketing strategy. It plays an important role in acquiring conversions and serves as the foundation for your “competitive advantage,” succinctly communicating why customers should do business with your company as opposed to one of your competitors.
Your value proposition is a factor you don’t want to mess around with. You need to put a lot of careful thought into its creation.
So what does a great value proposition look like and how can you write one?
Before getting into that, let’s first look at a couple of facts about value propositions.
Value Propositions -What You Need To Know
According to a QuickSprout infographic, your value proposition is the “#1 thing visitors should see on your website” and yet “54% of companies do nothing to optimize their value propositions.”
What your value proposition does:
- Explains how your offer solves problems and makes your customers’ lives better
- Lets your customers know the specific emotional and functional benefits they can expect
- Convinces customers that there is value in what they’re purchasing
What your value proposition does NOT do:
- Serve as a slogan or tagline for your business
- Act as a brand positioning statement (although “positioning statements do flow from value propositions”)
Your value proposition consists of four parts:
- Headline
- Sub-headline or 2-3 sentence paragraph
- 3-5 bullet points
- Visual element (photo or video)
Your value proposition should answer the following questions:
- What is your offer?
- What are the benefits of your offer?
- Who is your target customer for this offer?
- What makes your offer unique and different from its competition?
How Do You Create A Successful Value Proposition?
Make sure you start with some prep-work. Don’t just jump right in, shooting in the dark, without having a plan.
Step 1: Gain a solid understanding of who your ideal customer is.
Step 2: Write down all the benefits—both functional and emotional—that your customers will get from your offer.
Step 3: Identify how you can link your list of benefits to your value offering.
Step 4: Detail a list of ways your offer is different from that of your competitors.
Peep Laja: “A key role for the value proposition is to set you apart from the competition. Most people check out 4-5 different options/service providers before they decide…So how do you make your offer unique? Often it’s hard to spot anything unique about your offering. It requires deep self-reflection and discussion.
If you can’t find anything, you better create something. Of course, the unique part needs to be something customers actually care about. No point being unique for the sake of being unique (‘the ball bearings inside our bicycles are blue’)…The key thing to remember is that you don’t need to be unique in the whole world, just in the customer’s mind.”
The Qualities That Winning Value Propositions All Share:
- They are easy to understand and can be read in about five seconds.
- They communicate concrete results that customers can count on.
- They make your company and offer stand apart.
- They avoid using hyped up language and jargon.
- They contain relevant, authentic visual elements.
Ways To Enhance Your Value Proposition:
Especially if you are having trouble discerning what makes your offer unique, you can try adding one or more of the following “boosters” to your value proposition.
- Free or next-day shipping
- A bonus or free gift with purchase
- No long-term contract
- Free setup/installation
- An above-and-beyond money-back guarantee
- Customization options
- Coupons or discounts
Lastly, once you come up with a value proposition you think is a winner, try to create a few more and then split-test them to see which one garners the best conversion rates.
What do you think about these tips for creating a unique value proposition? What process did you use to create yours?