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Useful Value PropositionExamples (and How toCreate a Good One)By: Peep Laja

Value proposition is the #1 thing that determines whether people willbother reading more about your product or hit the back button. It’s alsothe main thing you need to test – if you get it right, it will be a hugeboost.

If I could give you only one piece of conversion optimization advice,“test your value proposition” would be it. [Tweet It!]

The less known your company is, the better value proposition youneed. When I reviewed a bunch of websites, the conclusion was that

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need. When I reviewed a bunch of websites, the conclusion was thatmissing or poor value proposition is one of the most commonshortcomings.

Note: If you’d like to become a master at conversion optimizationand creating value propositions, enroll in ConversionXL Institutenow.

What exactly is a value proposition?A value proposition is a promise of value to be delivered. It’s the primaryreason a prospect should buy from you.

In a nutshell, value proposition is a clear statement that

explains how your product solves customers’ problems or improvestheir situation (relevancy),

delivers specific benefits (quantified value),

tells the ideal customer why they should buy from you and notfrom the competition (unique differentiation).

You have to present your value proposition as the first thing the visitorssee on your home page, but should be visible in all major entry points ofthe site.

It’s not just for aesthetics, or to placate a CEO or copywriter, butultimately, to improve your customer lifetime value.

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It’s for people to read and understand

Value proposition is something real humans are supposed to understand.It’s for people to read. Here’s an example of what a value proposition isNOT supposed to be like:

Would you be able to explain to your friend what the offer is and howthey’d benefit? Didn’t think so. Unfortunately it’s no joke. Suchmeaningless jargon-propositions are abundant. Avoid blandvertising atall costs.

Use the right language

Your value proposition needs to be in the language of the customer. Itshould join the conversation that is already going on in the customer’smind. In order to do that you need to know the language yourcustomers use to describe your offering and how they benefit from it.

You cannot guess what that language is. The way YOU speak about yourservices is often very different from how your customers describe it . Theanswers are outside of your office. You have to interview your customersto find it out, or use social media.

What the value proposition is NOT

Revenue-focused marketing automation & sales effectivenesssolutions unleash collaboration throughout the revenue cycle”

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What the value proposition is NOTIt’s not a slogan or a catch phrase. This is not a value proposition:

It’s not a positioning statement. This is not a value proposition:

Positioning statement is a subset of a value proposition, but it’s not thesame thing.

What the value proposition consists ofThe value proposition is usually a block of text (a headline, sub-headlineand one paragraph of text) with a visual (photo, hero shot, graphics).

There is no one right way to go about it, but I suggest you start with thefollowing formula:

Headline. What is the end-benefit you’re offering, in 1 shortsentence. Can mention the product and/or the customer. Attentiongrabber.

Sub-headline or a 2-3 sentence paragraph. A specific explanation

L’Oréal. Because we’re worth it.”

America’s #1 Bandage Brand. Heals the wound fast, heals the hurtfaster.”

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Sub-headline or a 2-3 sentence paragraph. A specific explanationof what you do/offer, for whom and why is it useful.

3 bullet points. List the key benefits or features.

Visual. Images communicate much faster than words. Show theproduct, the hero shot or an image reinforcing your main message.

Evaluate your current value proposition by checking whether it answersthe questions below:

What product or service is your company selling?

What is the end-benefit of using it?

Who is your target customer for this product or service?

What makes your offering unique and different?

Use the headline-paragraph-bullets-visual formula to structure theanswers.

How to create a winningvalue proposition?The best value proposition is clear: what is it, for whom and how is ituseful? If those questions are answered, you’re on the right path. Alwaysstrive for clarity first.

If your value proposition makes people go “hmph?”, you’re doing itPDFmyURL - online url to pdf conversion

If your value proposition makes people go “hmph?”, you’re doing itwrong. If they have to read a lot of text to understand your offering,you’re doing it wrong. Yes, sufficient amount of information is crucialfor conversions, but you need to draw them in with a clear, compellingvalue proposition first.

Research by MarketingExperiments says that the key challengecompanies have is identifying an effective value proposition, followed bycommunicating it clearly.

What makes a good value proposition:

Clarity! It’s easy to understand.

It communicates the concrete results a customer will get frompurchasing 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 amazing miracle product’),superlatives (‘best’) and business jargon (‘value-addedinteractions’).

It can be read and understood in about 5 seconds.

Also, in most cases there is a difference between the value propositionfor your company and your product. You must address both.

Here’s a value proposition worksheet you might find useful.

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How to cra a unique value propositionA key role for the value proposition is to set you apart from thecompetition. Most people check out 4-5 different options / serviceproviders before they decide. You want your offering to stand out in thisimportant research phase.

So how do you make your offer unique? Often it’s hard to spot anythingunique about your offering. It requires deep self-reflection anddiscussion.

If you can’t find anything, you better create something. Of course theunique part needs to be something customers actually care about. Nopoint being unique for the sake of being unique (“the ball bearings insideour bicycles are blue”).

All supermarkets are pretty much the same, right? Well, no. Here’s anexample from Austin, TX of how a supermarket can be unique.

Here are two articles that can help you with finding a “theme” or anangle for your value proposition:

Value Propositions That Work

The Five Propositions that Help Companies Create Value for theirCustomers

The key thing to remember is that you don’t need to be unique in thewhole world, just in the customer’s mind. The closing of a sale takesPDFmyURL - online url to pdf conversion

whole world, just in the customer’s mind. The closing of a sale takesplace in a customer’s mind, not out in the marketplace among thecompetition.

Boosters for your value propositionSometimes it’s the little things that tip the decision in your favor. If allmajor things are pretty much the same between your and yourcompetitors’ offer, you can win by offering small value-adds. I call themboosters.

These things work well against competitors who do not offer them.Boosters can be things like

Free shipping

Fast shipping / Next day shipping

Free bonus with a purchase

Free setup / installation

No setup fee

No long-term contract, cancel any time

License for multiple computers (vs 1)

(Better than) Money-back guarantee

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A discounted price (for a product)

Customizable

You get the idea. Think what small things you could add that wouldn’tcost you much, but could be attractive to some buyers.

Make sure the booster is visible with the rest of the value proposition.

Example

Notice the “free shipping” signs on the left and top right? Those areboosters.

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Good value proposition examplesIt’s tough to find perfect value proposition examples. Probably becauseit’s hard to create a great one. I find flaws or room for improvement withmost value propositions I came across.

I’m also fully aware that I’m not the ideal customer for many of theexamples shown below, and all my critique is, is an educated hypothesis(that should be tested).

Here are some good examples along with my comments:

CampaignMonitor

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Comments

Very clear what it is and for whom

Specific lead paragraph

Key features outlined above the fold

A relevant image

Features a booster – “100% rebrandable”

Stripe

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Comments

It’s clear what it is and for whom

Specific benefit oriented sub-headline

Relevant visuals

Smooth transition into features and benefits

Geekdom

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Comments

Clear statement about what it is and for whom

List of benefits

Relevant image

Evernote

Comments

A different kind of layout, but well done. It tells a story of ‘what’and ‘how’ . Easy to follow.

Key features / benefits listed along with relevant imageryPDFmyURL - online url to pdf conversion

Key features / benefits listed along with relevant imagery

‘Remember everything’ is a good slogan, but I’d add a specific sub-headline underneath it for improved clarity.

Square

Comments

Very clear headline

Benefit and action oriented sub-headline

Key benefits clearly listed

Relevant image

Missing: comparison with the competitionPDFmyURL - online url to pdf conversion

Missing: comparison with the competition

Meetingburner

Comments

The headline is very clear

The text paragraph is decent, but shouldn’t start with a call toaction

Comparison with the competition done (5x faster, free, mention ofunique features)

I would definitely list the key benefits / features in bullets forimproved readability

PreyPDFmyURL - online url to pdf conversion

Prey

Comments

The headline does communicate an emotional benefit, but its notclear enough and should be better. It’s the first thing people read.Clarity would get an instant boost if the headline would besomething like “Keep track of your laptop, phone or tablet. Get itback when it gets stolen or lost. “

The following paragraph does a good job explaining what it is.

I would use an actual screenshot of the product to betterdemonstrate what it does.

It uses boosters like social media proof and respected logos.

Extra note: last week my laptop was stolen. 5 days later I got it back because IPDFmyURL - online url to pdf conversion

Extra note: last week my laptop was stolen. 5 days later I got it back because Ihad Prey installed on the laptop and I could track its location. I passed the infoto the cops, who retrieved it. It’s awesome – install it on all your devices.

Poor value proposition examplesSome lessons from the department of “don’t do this”.

Cloudflare:

I use this service myself and think it’s great, but they really need to do abetter job.

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Comments:

Don’t rely on just the video to do the job. Your value propositionhas to be in words people can read. Video is extra, supplementalinformation.

Awful clarity: “we’ll supercharge your website”? Nobody willunderstand what that means.

Continuum Financial

Comments

No proper value proposition in place at all. The readability isPDFmyURL - online url to pdf conversion

No proper value proposition in place at all. The readability isextremely poor. The text is for reading, it should be minimum 14px.

Don’t ever waste precious attention on useless headlines like“Welcome to our website”. Have you ever seen a website where thevisitors are not welcome?

The text is all about “them”. We are, we offer, we have. It should beabout the customer.

Jargon!

Image is relevant, but kind of cheesy stock photo. Use a moreauthentic image.

Testing value propositionsYou definitely have to test your value proposition. How?

1. A/B testing

The best way is to craft 2 candidates (or more, if you have tons oftraffic) and split test them. Ideally you would measure sales conversions(for most accurate results), but if that is not possible lead conversions oreven clickthroughs will do.

2. Pay per click advertising

A fast and cheap way to go about it is using Google AdWords orFacebook ads.

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Facebook ads.

Basically you would split test ads with different value propositions,targeting the same customer. The ad with higher CTR (clickthroughrate) is obviously a better attention grabber and interest generator,although it doesn’t necessarily mean higher sales conversions.

Send the traffic to a corresponding landing page and test conversionstoo.

What are some of the better value propositions you have come across?

Bonus – Value Proposition Review

Posted in Blog, eCommerce Resources, SaaS Resources PDFmyURL - online url to pdf conversion

Posted in Blog, eCommerce Resources, SaaS Resources Tagged A/B Testing, beginner, Copywriting, Value Proposition

Join the Conversation Add Your Comment

Peep Laja

Peep Laja the founder of CXL, a renowned conversionoptimization champion. He was nominated as themost influential CRO expert in the world.

After running the CXL agency arm for 5 years, hestarted CXL Institute where data-driven marketers gettrained.

Over the last 20 years Peep has worked in webdevelopment, marketing consulting, B2B sales, SEO &PPC and SaaS. His understanding of the wholecustomer journey

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great, this really helped me for my marketing class. thanks!

Good post.A value proposition is not for products or services only. In the samemanner you can create what is called Professional ValueProposition. To do so, answer the following three questions:1.Why can I be useful? What business driver should I respond to?2.How do I proceed? Which area should I focus on?3.What results can I deliver? For what improvement?To learn more http://blog.instarlink.com/en/content/generate-value-proposition

Studey Student5 years

ago

RazakarivonyBenjamin

3 years ago

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Well written and highly useful post.

Thank you for sharing

Thanks for this post it was brilliant to see a visual representation of thegood, the bad and the ugly when it comes to UVP’s. It’s been great tosee examples of a UVP translated into website design. We’ve beengetting caught up and stuck around our UVP and this has really helped.

We’ll come back and share our landing page when we’re lessembarrassed by it!

Janine and Jo

Pete5

years

ago

Janine Ogg5 years

ago

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brillant

great ! nice information for me

gops5

years

ago

Javed Hussan5 years

ago

Steve O’Connor5 years

agoPDFmyURL - online url to pdf conversion

Google ventures said explain your value proposition in 5 seconds. Isearched how to do that and found your article. Fantastic advice and100% rebrandable :)Great links too – thanks

fabulous..!!!

I have read so many content regarding the blogger lovers but this articleis actually a good post, keep it up.

ago

varun bangia4 years

ago

Renate4

years

ago

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Wow this might be one of the best posts I’ve read on value statementoptimization. Simple, easy to read, and no longer than it needed to be.Hope to put some of this into effect soon for our own startup!

Amazing Post again.. just can’t get off this blog.. this is my 5th article ina row.. great sensible, useful content with lot of case studies andresearch.

Sunny Mui4 years

ago

sam4

years

ago

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I wanted to send this to my staff and some clients. I didn’t: “You haveto present your value proposition as the first thing the visitors see onyour home page, but should be visible in all major entry points of thesite.”

Its educative,informatory,and well advising for right decision.continue with good job.kind regards.

Ann Stephenson4 years

ago

bathlomew onyach4 years

ago

Derrick B. (Web Design LondonOntario)

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I just wanted to thank you. I am in the web design industry, and myhome page introduction isn’t really talking to anyone. I don’t have avalue proposition on my home page, the the message is weak overall.Funny enough, I checked my competition, and they are the same! Thisinfo is really going to help point me in the right direction. I appreciate it.

This is very detail and great value for creating the value statement!Excellent work.

Really, really detailed, meaty article. More copywriters and designers

4 years ago

Jay4

years

ago

Clinton Skakun4 years

ago

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Really, really detailed, meaty article. More copywriters and designersshould read this article. I must have read it 5 times, just to grasp a littlemore of what you where saying. Thanks to you I just increased mylaunch page skills a few points.

Quite informative! I really like the comparative analysis, it reallyhighlights key elements of a good value proposition

Great article. Great Examples. Got some work to do now.

Kaniel4

years

ago

HenryV4

years

ago

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My site is kind of embarassing and to this end we are looking at a totalupdate in our approach. Most of what is on this site to be removed tobetter focus on what we do in the Real Estate industry, ie. Sell, buy andconsult.

A very good post, Peep. I’ve really got down what a homepage needs tohave.

john moroz4 years

ago

Prabu Rajasekaran4 years

ago

Paulus Sarwana ofPDFmyURL - online url to pdf conversion

Teaching a concept through good and bad examples are alwaysinformative and entertaining as well. I believe that creating a good valueproposition can help us in researching and selecting the right keywordsfor our target audience. Next, it also helps in creating content thataddress their problems. Finally, providing a series of solutions that makethem want to buy our products or services.

I use a lot of explanations to clients as to why don’t ‘Welcome to…’gleefully looking forward to using yours!:-)many thanks

Paulus Sarwana ofSmallWeBusiness

4 years ago

lydia kenyon4 years

ago

Javid JamaePDFmyURL - online url to pdf conversion

Great article! Articles on UVP generally focus on SaaS businesses anddon’t give much attention to e-commerce, so thanks for including asolid e-commerce example with Down & Feather.

informative article. keep it up. i’m following each of your article becauseit might help me creating my next website.

Found the article very helpful. I am designing a website and these tips

Javid Jamae4 years

ago

Taylor Dean4 years

ago

Mrini4

years

ago

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Found the article very helpful. I am designing a website and these tipsare handy and useful. Thanks for publishing.

Very helpful article Peep. I have been focusing much more onconversions for websites and you clearly explained what a valueproposition is. The examples you provided made it very clear. I’m goingto check out some more of your posts. Thanks for your help :)

A strong value proposition is specific, often citing numbers orpercentages. It may include a quick synopsis of your work with similarcustomers as a proof source and demonstration of your capability. It’soutcome focused and stresses the business value of your offering.

Quinton4

years

ago

Karen Walters4 years

ago

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outcome focused and stresses the business value of your offering.

An excellent article! Great examples of what to do and what NOT to do.After 3 years online, I am finally learning how important a UVP really is.

Well done. Too often I see companies – especially young tech companies– loading up with proposition with tech jargon. We really have to get tothe issues our customer cares about before they will listen.

Adam Dukes4 years

ago

Dale Callahan4 years

ago

ShashiPDFmyURL - online url to pdf conversion

Awesome reading, clear and makes sense. I am a full time student andam writing an assignment where I have to put value proposition of myproduct. After reading this article, I am much clear how I should framemy value proposition. Great work. Thank you so much.

Extremely in depth article I must say. Will definitely take it into accountand do lots of testing. Should be interesting!

Shashi4

years

ago

TJ3

years

ago

Stan Eigi3

yearsPDFmyURL - online url to pdf conversion

Those are useful value proposition examples indeed. I know there areplenty of such articles on the Net (I mean helpful ones), but thereshould be even more! Those are invaluable to beginner bloggers. Thanks!

Great post… I will definitely use these tactics as it relates to myendeavor I am working on.

It would be perfect to see you giving the alternatives to L’Oreal andBand-Aid.

years

ago

www.inspireyourbeing.com3 years ago

Patri Hernandez3 years

ago

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Your website’s usability sucks. You have zoom disabled for mobiledevices. Did it ever occur to you that some people may want/need tozoom? Other than that your content is good.

Really great and useful content here, thanks for putting this together :)

John3

years

ago

Janine Pemberton3 years

ago

Ruchi3

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As always, great post Peep.

But I am wondering, could you give some examples of how eCommercesites can do value propositioning great? If you sell, for example, archerygear, what would you do?

Excellent and decent post. I found this much informative, as to what Iwas exactly searching for. Thanks for such post and please keep it up.

Great article, I learned a lot.

years

ago

Clipping Path Service3 years ago

John Shaver3 years

ago

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Combined with your article about how worthless carousels/sliders were,I created a new graphic on our site. I would love any quick feedback:http://www.designpanoply.com

The slider is still there, but doesn’t play automatically, and the arrowspop up when it gets hovered over.

Keep up the great content :)

My coach just brought out the unique value proposition for my siteand I came here to find out more about UVP. Great content andvery useful to help write the website copy. I think I have my UVPfigured out but if anyone would like to comment on it please emailme.

Dutch2

years

ago

Edelyn GarciaPDFmyURL - online url to pdf conversion

The explaination is very useful for a business. There is this learning thatcould acquired by reading the article.

Great stuff, Peep.

I was really struggling to create something super exciting and totallyunique but the point about using small boosters to make our valueproposition unique helped a lot.

Also the distinction between what is actually unique with what is uniquein our customers’ minds.

We have implemented a bunch of your tips for our new website’s valueproposition.

Thanks!

2 years

ago

Suraj Sodha2 years

ago

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Great post Peep. I probably have read this at least 10 times by now, lovethe visuals and analysis.

I thought your article was super valuable and wanted to share it. I usedit in my recent post: Step-By-Step Guide: Create A Unique SellingProposition for Your Landing Page (http://blog.usefedora.com/create-unique-selling-proposition-for-landing-page)

Thanks!

This will be very useful & helps us to be competitive.

Allison2

years

ago

Nolan J. Valenzuela2 years

ago

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Great points and such an important topic. Having the right valueproposition can really get your business going. Customization is the key.

Great article.

Explain in a good way to understand.

In Brazil, brands have a poor understanding in value proposition.

Julie Hall2 years

ago

Gleison Nascimento2 years ago

Arjan2

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thanks for the book!

Thanks for one of the best summaries of what a value statement shouldbe and Not BE!

2

years

ago

Clay Braziller1 year

ago

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