Why do customers really buy our products? In this video we’re going to talk about value propositions, what they are and how to identify what your business’s value proposition is, to help you stand out from your competitors, connect more deeply with your customers, and ultimately help you sell more. So let’s dive into it. Hey everybody. My name is Dan Demsky and I am a co-founder of Unbound Merino, an e-commerce apparel brand built right here on Shopify.
Ask the Exact Value of Proposition
Let’s start out by simply asking, what exactly is the value proposition? At its core, a value proposition is a promise you make to your customer post-purchase. You’re essentially saying, this purchase will outperform your expectations and solve the problem that needs solving. A value proposition is bigger than the product or service itself.
Also Read: PPC service pricing
On our website, we use value propositions to help our customers better understand that what we’re selling is more than just a t-shirt. If you look at our website the first thing you’ll notice is the header text which says, the ultimate everyday high-performance clothing. So right out the gate, we’re promising high-performance clothes. But the promises have to run deeper than just a quality claim.
Our job is to help customers see the layers of value they’ll receive or the benefits they’ll experience as a direct result of making a purchase on our website. So let’s look a little further. The copy on our t-shirt product page is there to explicitly communicate our value proposition: wash less, wear longer, simplify your life with our best-selling hundred percent merino crew.
As you can see right next to our product photography, we are communicating three things about our products, but more importantly, we’re showing potential buyers the holistic impact our product will have in their life. We sell t-shirts and other high-quality merino clothing. But what people are actually buying is simplicity, less washing, more wearing, and less complicated life.
Popup Value
It carries through other parts of our website, advertising, and marketing materials. Now let’s look at another website, the pela case. Pela Case is a brand that makes phone cases. That’s the product. But the value proposition is the promise they make to their customers. Look at the main header on their homepage. Front and center it says, meet Pela.
The world’s first compostable phone case. This is the value proposition. The product is a phone case. The value is giving the consumer the ability to live more sustainably and reduce their carbon footprint. While you’re selling a physical good, what the customer is really buying is the sense of satisfaction of being a better global citizen.
Product, phone case. Value proposition, sustainability, and becoming a part of the solution. Let’s take a look at one more website that’s built its business on a rock-solid value proposition. Intelligent Change. The value proposition is the first thing you read on their homepage.
Tools to positively change your life
They provide a wide range of products like the five-minute journal, which is a gratitude journal, the productivity planner, which is a task managing workbook, and an hourglass timer for 30-minute work intervals. These products are great, but the value isn’t the relatively common items that they sell. You can get those just about anywhere. The real reason people buy products from Intelligent Change is that they sell the larger value proposition of personal development and growth.
Also Read: The Limited Edition SEO Guide
That’s bigger than any individual product on the site. The key to honing in on your value proposition is to think from the perspective of the consumer focusing on their desires, needs, and wants. That focus is far more important than any detail or features of the products that you’re selling. The book titled Value Proposition Design from the Strategyzer series breaks the customer profile into three sections. Here are three important things to consider when coming up with your value proposition for your customers.
Number One, Customer Jobs
Think of your product from the perspective of being hired to do a job. There’s a framework called jobs to be done, JTBD, that will help you focus your thinking around why customers buy our products. In a nutshell, what job is my product being hired to do by the customer? It sounds a little weird, but looking at purchasing like hiring can bring a lot of clarity to your value proposition. With our products and clothing, we asked the question, what jobs are people hiring our clothing to do?
We’re not a fashion brand, so we know people don’t hire our clothing for the job of gaining social status or appearing trendy. Our clothing is hired for the job of solving a specific problem. Streamlining and upgrading their wardrobe with a few quality pieces of gear that perform day in and day out.
Travelers, both business and pleasure, hire Unbound Merino to reduce the amount of luggage they need to pack from a big suitcase to a small carry-on. Traveling gets easier and better when they invest in our value proposition. By knowing the jobs to be done with clarity, we can equip ourselves with the right messaging in our ads and on our website.
Number Two, Customer Pains
Think of your product as a solution to your customer’s pain points. What problems, obstacles or risks does your product help alleviate? In our case, we’ve spoken before about the annoyance of traveling with lots of luggage, waiting at the luggage carousel, the risk of your checked bag or missing or being stolen, and the hassle of having to schlep a big bag through a new city or up a flight of stairs. Our value proposition directly solves this by allowing our customers to pack less and travel more. Our value proposition is all about providing a solution to the customer’s pain points.
Number Three, Customer Gains
Describe the specific benefits that your customer will gain when they purchase your product. Gains can include money saved, social gains, extra utility, etc. For Unbound Merino, some of the gains could include time saved by not having to wait for checked luggage or not having to do as much laundry at home or on the road. If you break down your customer profile by listing the jobs to be done, customer pains, and customer gains, you can begin to pair value propositions with specific needs and identifiable desires that will motivate your potential clients to become loyal customers.
Get to know your customers as well as possible. That’s the best way to hone in on your value proposition. Surveys can help but in my experience, talking to actual customers on zoom or on a phone call is the best way to tap into the well of insights that they could provide. I emailed customers and asked them if they’d be willing to have a full-hour-long phone call, where I could interview them about what led them to make a purchase on our website in exchange for a hundred-dollar gift card.
You’d be surprised at how willing customers are to spend some time with you and share their experiences. There’s a lot to learn here obviously, from the big thought-provoking aha moments to just picking up on the little nuances in the language customers use when describing your products.
Decoding And Articulating Value Propositions
Both are extremely helpful in decoding and articulating value propositions. Now that you’ve taken the time to consider the value proposition of your business, you may need some helpful tools to turn it into a reality. At Shopify, they believe that running a business should be a possibility for them. This is why they offer a totally free no-risk 14-day trial.
If your business requires a reliable, robust tool that will allow you to scale and grow your business, be sure to check out the link below to access the full Shopify platform. Shopify will fully support you in building the business of your dreams just as they’ve done for me. If you found this video to be helpful, make sure that you give it a thumbs up. That actually helps the channel and community grow.
