Explain why the right customer should choose you.
A value proposition explains who your offer is for, the problem it helps them address and the value they can expect. It should be specific enough for a customer to recognise themselves and understand why a conversation with you would be worthwhile.
Start with four questions
Who is the customer?
Choose a group whose needs you understand. “All small businesses” gives you little direction. “Independent retailers managing stock across two or three shops” creates a more useful starting point.
What are they trying to achieve?
Describe the outcome in their language. They may want fewer stock surprises, faster month-end reporting or a clearer way to choose their next investment.
What gets in their way?
What is making things difficult for them? Separate what customers have actually told you from your assumptions.
Why is your approach worth considering?
Explain how you help and what makes that credible. Use evidence, a distinctive process or relevant experience rather than unsupported claims such as “the leading solution”.
Worked example: a fictional bookkeeping business
Starting description: “We deliver innovative, customer-focused financial solutions for businesses of all sizes.”
The customer is unclear, the service is vague and the benefit is difficult to picture.
Clearer description: “We help independent cafés keep their bookkeeping current and understand their monthly cash position, with a named bookkeeper and a short monthly review.”
This makes the audience, service and working relationship clearer. The fictional business would still need evidence that these benefits matter to its customers.
Draft your own version
Use this structure as a first draft:
“We help [specific customer] achieve [useful outcome] by [what we do], with [credible reason to choose our approach].”
Then rewrite it in natural language. A good value proposition does not need to sound like a completed form.
Test it before you polish it
Show the draft to someone who resembles your intended customer. Ask:
- What do you think this business does?
- Who do you think it is for?
- What would make you interested, or put you off?
- What would you need to know before taking the next step?
Compare their answers with your intention. Improve the wording where the meaning is being lost, and investigate where the offer itself needs work.
Common mistakes
Listing features without explaining value. Connect what you provide to something the customer is trying to achieve.
Trying to serve everyone in one sentence. Start with a priority audience. Different offerings may need different messages.
Using benefits you cannot support. Record the evidence behind claims and mark assumptions that still need testing.
Treating the wording as permanent. Revisit it when the audience, offer or evidence changes.
Put it into practice
Use the editable worksheet to record your customer, problem, intended outcome, evidence and first draft. Bring the unresolved questions to a customer conversation or mentoring session.
Does your website communicate the same value?
You may have a clear proposition on paper, while your homepage leaves customers guessing. InkWell’s free customer-perspective review gives you an outside view of the message your website presents.
Put it into practice
Explore the editable worksheet preview. Request the resource below or try the worksheet preview.
Open worksheet preview