What is a value proposition?
A value proposition is the reason someone would pick your product over whatever they do today. It says who it’s for, the problem it fixes, and why it’s better than their current workaround. If you can’t say it in one sentence, you don’t have one yet. You have a feature list.
The three parts
Who it’s for.
A specific group with a specific problem, not “everyone.” Everyone is nobody’s first choice.
The problem it fixes.
In their words, not yours. “The line is so long I don’t have time to eat” beats “lunch throughput optimization.”
Why it beats what they do now.
Your real competition is usually a workaround: skipping lunch, a spreadsheet, a group chat, doing nothing. You have to be better than that.
A template to start from
For [who], who [struggle with this], [product] [does this], unlike [what they do today]. It’s clunky on purpose. Fill it in, then rewrite it the way you’d say it to a friend. If the friend version sounds like something they’d want, you’re close.
Value is the risk that sinks products
A product can work perfectly and still fail because nobody needed it badly enough to change what they already do. Working isn’t the same as mattering. That’s why the value proposition comes before the build, not after.
How to test one
Asking people “would you use this?” mostly gets you politeness. A better test is to put the promise in front of them and count who acts on it: a sign-up, a pre-order, a click on a button for something that doesn’t exist yet. Try two versions of the promise and see which one people act on more. That tells you which value proposition is working.
You don’t need an app to find out if people want one. Put a sign-up on the cafeteria door and count. Pick a pitch, send 200 students past it, and see who bites.
This is the same exercise that’s in the app.
Pick the sign on the door
- Walked past
- 0
- Signed up
- 0
Questions people ask
What’s the difference between a value proposition and a slogan?
A slogan is written to be remembered. A value proposition is written to be true: who it’s for, what it fixes and why it’s better than the alternative. A good slogan can come out of a value proposition, but it can’t replace one.
How long should a value proposition be?
One sentence you can say out loud. If it takes a paragraph, it’s trying to serve too many people or claim too many things. Pick the one group and the one problem that matter most.
Learn it by doing it
The app teaches this in Module 2, Four Ways It Can Fail, and Module 16 on demand testing.
Product Management is a course for curious teens, in five-minute lessons with something to play with in every one. Part I is free on iPhone, iPad and Android. No account, no ads.