How to Write a Powerful Value Proposition

A powerful value proposition is a clear and concise statement that describes the specific outcomes an individual, organization, or person can realize from using your product, service, or solution.

Every good website and product needs a powerful value proposition to help distinguish it from the competition, create clear value, and drive sales. 

Without a concise and meaningful value proposition, you are leaving it up to the shopper to determine why they should buy from you - which translates to, they probably won’t. 

The science of behavioral Economics shows that most consumers are lazy and time-crunched, so they are looking for key pieces of information to help them make easy and fast decisions. (A.K.A. mental shortcuts.) 

A well-researched and crafted value proposition can do just that.   

A powerful value proposition is a clear and concise statement that describes the specific outcomes an individual, organization, or person can realize from using your product, service, or solution.

Everyone has pains or discomforts they want to alleviate, and gains or objectives they want to achieve. It’s all about the outcomes - which may be emotional, social, and qualitative, or functional, objective, and quantitative. It depends entirely on the type of person (also known as a persona), you are marketing to, and the solution that you provide. 

A specific persona (job title, personality type, age group, or psycho-demographic profile) will share similar pain points and goals. For example, digital marketers are a persona type who all share common pains (budget and resource constraints), and common goals, such as reducing Cost Per Lead (CPL) and increasing Conversion Rates (CR) to improve revenue.  

For example, at Shopper Approved, our broad persona definitions are website owners and digital marketers. Both of which are trying to drive more online marketing efficiency and sales to improve revenue and profit margins. 

After researching how and what our product really does for this defined group, we tested the value proposition of: “Shopper Approved improves your online visibility, clicks, and conversions.” And this really rang true and resonated with digital marketers, given the actual results they saw with our product, which was reflected in their case studies, reviews, testimonials, and feedback. 

A sustainable value proposition only works if it solves a real need, desire, problem or pain point, and if it reflects what the user will experience, and how users feel or talk about the product.

As a marketer, your job is to identify your most critical or common personas and map their common pains and desired gains. Once you do this, you can begin crafting a concise value proposition that either mitigates or removes their pain or allows them to achieve their goals or both.  

To help you in this process, Strategyzer offers a free tool to help you create a powerful value proposition called the Value Proposition Canvas. Which you can download here. 

Another great resource comes from Meclabs, where they talk about aligning the brand with the value proposition in this video. 

We also discuss the importance of adding value and creating value propositions, along with 3 additional key strategies for growth in a brand new Special Report titled How to Grow Your eCommerce Business in a Recession.

In this report, we dive into over 100 years of research into down economies, recessions, and depressions, to show you the 4 most important things you should be doing right now to keep your online business running in the short term while positioning yourself in the best possible way for success once the economy picks back up.