This is the seventh in a 12 part blog series, where I review CXL Institute’s ‘Digital Psychology and Persuasion’ Minidegree. This week I took two new courses: i) Psychology of Products, and ii) Psychology of Websites. In today’s blog we will discuss value proposition that improve conversions and marketing.
What product are you selling? Who should buy your product? Why should the customer buy your product over your competitors? What value will your product provide to the customer?
A value proposition answers these questions and moves your ideal customer closer to purchase. It has to be the first thing a visitor sees on your page and strike curiosity in them to explore more. Presenting your product in a compelling way will improve conversions and help with marketing strategies across channels.
What is a Value Proposition?
A value proposition explains what benefit you provide for who and how you do it uniquely well. It describes your target buyer, the problem you solve, and why you’re distinctly better than the alternatives.
Simply put, it summarizes why a customer should choose you.
What makes a Unique Value Proposition?
Also known as USP (Unique Selling Point), a UVP is the value you promise to deliver to your customers.
Clearly state these three things to captivate your ideal customers:
- Pain-focused: How will your product address customers’ pain points and improve their life?
- Relevance: What specific benefits will your product deliver?
- Differentiation: Why should they use your solution over your competitors?
A value proposition should always be benefit focused. Instead of dwelling on features of your product, use UVP to explain which pain points your product will address, how it will improve their life and how that will make them feel.
Transform these into a distilled insight into your product, roughly as:
We help (X) do (Y) by doing (Z).
Lastly, you don’t need to be unique in the whole world, but just in your customer’s eyes.
What the Value Proposition is not!
It isn’t a slogan: Wheaties – The Breakfast of Champions.
It isn’t a positioning statement: America’s #1 Bandage Brand. Heals the wound fast, heals the hurt faster.
Although slogans, taglines or positioning statements are essential brand accessories, they don’t encourage your potential customers to make a purchase. Mission statements don’t help the customer in differentiating different businesses, but value propositions do.
How to Write a Value Proposition?
Start with the following formula:
- Headline. What is the end-benefit you’re offering in one short sentence? It can mention the product and/or customer. Make it an attention grabber.
- Sub-headline or a 2–3 sentence paragraph. A specific explanation of what you do/offer, for whom, and why it’s useful.
- 3 bullet points. List the key benefits or features.
Visual. Images communicate much faster than words. Show the product image, the hero shot, or an image reinforcing your main message.
Use the Correct Language to Write Your Value Proposition
How your product is discussed within your business will be much different than how your customers talk about it. A value proposition should always be written in a language used by the customers. If you don’t write your value proposition the way your customers would talk about it, there will be a gap between what you say and what they understand.
Interview or survey your customers to understand how they speak about your product. Identify common words and phrases used then write them into your UVP to attract new customers.
Process of Creating a Value Proposition
Step 1: Identify customer benefits.
Make a list of all benefits your product offers to customers.
Step 2: Link Benefits to value offering.
Identify what value your products bring to the customer.
Step 3: Differentiate and position yourself.
Make it clear who your target customer is, what you offer to them and how you are different.
Tactics for Developing Effective Value Propositions
- Clearly explaining the value of products and services
- Clearly explaining why the ideal customer should choose your solution over the competition.
- Developing unique value propositions for separate products or services
- Targeting specific value propositions for specific buyer personas
- Competitive research
- Testing value propositions through various media.
- Clarity! It’s easy to understand.
- It communicates the concrete results a customer will get from purchasing and using your products and/or services.
- It says how it’s different or better than the competitor’s offer.
- It avoids hype (like “Never seen before!” or “Amazing miracle product!”), superlatives (“best”) and business jargon (“value-added interactions”).
- It can be read and understood in about 5 seconds.
Also, in most cases, there’s a difference between the value proposition for your company and your product. You must address both.
“While the value chain focuses internally on operations, the value proposition is the element of strategy that looks outward at customers, at the demand side of the business. Strategy is fundamentally integrative, bringing the demand and supply sides together.” – Harvard Business School’s Institute for Strategy & Competitiveness
Your value proposition has to be the first thing visitors see on your homepage, but it should also be visible at all major entry points to the site. Although it’s often found above the fold on the homepage, you should be aware of other common entrance points (e.g. a landing page, category pages, blog posts, and product pages). Finding a unique value proposition usually involves a new way of segmenting the market. It is a cost vs benefit equation that shows your prospect’s motivation.
Next week, I will further discuss my learnings and opinions from the next few courses I take in the Minidegree. To stay updated with my weekly blogs and explore the ‘Digital Psychology and Persuasion’ Minidegree with me, subscribe to my blog.
Until then, explore the various programs offered by CXL, by clicking on the link below: