Why a unique value proposition matters and how to write one

What ultimately determines whether a potential customer makes a purchase? How do they decide where to shop, which products and services to buy? Your unique value proposition (UVP) is one of the key factors that influences whether a customer will buy from you, a competitor, or not at all.

Customers are looking for things like solutions, convenience, ease, happiness, and relief. Different products can make different promises, and different brands can deliver value in different ways. Your unique value proposition needs to express, in a succinct manner, how your business or products will deliver the outcomes they’re looking for.

That’s what makes consumers choose one company over another — far more than just price.

Let’s dive into unique value propositions, what they are, why they matter, and how to write them.

The job of a value proposition is to convince an ideal customer in your target audience that your product is the one they’ve been looking for.

A value proposition expresses the inherent value of the product or service — what it does, outcomes it delivers, feelings it produces, or problems it solves — in a clear statement or perhaps a short paragraph. It’s about the product itself, not just the brand. A value proposition touches on benefits that matter to the people that the product or service was created for.

It’s the reason people will choose yours instead of a competitor’s or even just buying nothing at all. Not every product is a necessity. You don’t just have to convince people to choose yours over the competition. You also must convince them to do something, as opposed to nothing.

The unique value proposition specifies what the customer can expect to happen after their purchase, and why that product is for them. It focuses on future reality, not merely the act of purchasing. Thus, a unique value proposition has nothing to do with price.

A value proposition has four primary characteristics:

It’s clear and simple

The language must be easy to understand with just one read. A good value proposition will not use industry jargon, unless that jargon is very common and widely known by nearly everyone in the target market.

In just one or two sentences, the value prop should capture the essence of who the product is for and how it helps them.

It uses target audience language

An effective value proposition also uses language that resonates with a target customer. In fact, using language they will recognize is an excellent strategy for making it clear this product or service is for them. They will see themselves in your marketing if you use the language they use.

Don’t use corny language in a value prop. In fact, humor of any sort is risky for this particular marketing asset. And don’t misunderstand — humor can be powerful and effective. But using it in a value proposition might distract potential customers from seeing what you need them to see.

It’s benefit-oriented

As discussed already, a compelling value proposition focuses on benefits, outcomes, solutions, and feelings created by using the product or service. How does it help? What does it make better? What emotions will the consumer feel afterward?

A good value proposition uses benefit-oriented language. It doesn’t use hype, which people recognize immediately as marketing. “Never before seen,” “best in the world,” “unlike anything else” — marketing language like that can have its place, but not in a unique value proposition.

It has the right focus

Lastly, a great value proposition focuses on the audience’s pain points — the things they care about. They’re coming to you for something. They don’t just want a deal. They don’t want to spend money. They aren’t shopping just for fun. Customers expect your product or service to address the needs or wants or problems that brought them to you.

It might be a pain point or frustration. For some products, that’s the only thing on the customer’s mind. They need help, and will buy from whoever can help them. They have a problem and are looking for solutions.

It might be something they need. Most people don’t get excited about toothpaste, but we need it. Which brand do we buy? The one that gives us something more than just using baking soda mixed with water. So the need usually gets met in tandem with some sort of pleasure, practicality, convenience, or some other benefit.

For other products, people are motivated by wants and desires. They don’t need this, but they want it because of how it will make them feel. There could be emotional or social benefits.

And for many products and services, what you sell touches on several of these, or even all of them. Your unique value proposition should focus on these aspects for its customers.

The need for, and use of, a unique value proposition isn’t the same for companies of different sizes.

Larger companies

For larger companies, you have more assets at your disposal with which to influence customers. You have a brand identity that itself has power. For some companies, the logo alone speaks to its customer base. In that case, your unique value proposition is just one of many ways you can attract and persuade consumers.

It makes an already well-known brand even stronger. It positions you as a company that delivers something of worth. Something important to that customer base.

Often, it’s the value proposition that comes to define the brand. Apple is a great example of this. Their products have enclosed, proprietary technology with a good reputation. That is part of their unique value proposition, and it’s far more important than their logo.

But the vast majority of businesses do not have that type of luxury. Most small business owners are happy to have logos and taglines and things of that sort, but if people have never heard of you before, those assets don’t move the needle as much.

Smaller companies

For these lesser-known businesses, the value proposition might be your single greatest marketing asset. It’s often the first message people see when they reach your website, which we’ll talk about later.

Why do most people come to your online store? Because they saw something that made them think you could deliver an outcome that matters to them.

Can this company or product solve my problem? Does it have the solution I’m looking for?

That’s what they’re asking themselves as they consider your products. And if you have a compelling unique value proposition, they will choose to buy from you.

It can motivate switching from the competition

Motivating a new purchase is different than persuading someone to actually switch brands. For many products, your customers are already buying it somewhere else. So, they’ve found a solution to their problem, and you have to show them why you can solve it even better.

A unique value proposition makes this possible. You may be able to promise a solution unlike what they’re getting now. Your solution may touch on different aspects of the same problem. It may solve more than one problem at once. It may solve it in a new way that will produce fresh, new emotions they don’t get from their current choice.

They may be your ideal customer, and when they see your value proposition, they respond immediately, thinking, “That’s what I’ve been looking for!”

It replaces price as the reason to buy

A strong value proposition also overcomes price resistance. If what you’re offering compels them enough and inspires enough excitement about the outcomes you will deliver, people will pay more for it. They will leave a competitor with better prices and spend more with you.

This happens all the time. It’s so important to not get trapped in a race to the bottom — to try to offer the lowest prices. Few people shop by price alone. In fact, there are at least ten motivations other than price for why people buy.

An effective value proposition will reduce the effect of price in the buying decision. That means you can charge more, increase profits, and get higher sales conversions at the same time.

It’s easy to get confused with all these marketing terms, so let’s help clarify what a unique value proposition is by differentiating it from other items.

It’s not a slogan, tagline, or catchphrase

Taglines, slogans, and catchphrases are meant to be short quips or pithy sayings that align with your brand identity. Famous ones include “Just do it”, “Where do you want to go today?”, and “The relentless pursuit of perfection.”

They repeat these in nearly every ad. They often appear alongside the logo. A value prop has a very different purpose than these — to motivate actual purchases.

It’s not a sale or offer

Sales and offers come and go. A unique value proposition will remain unchanged for months, if not years. You might update it and adjust it now and then, but it’s not making a specific offer. There is no call to action in a value prop. That comes after.

It’s not a mission statement or vision statement

A vision statement paints a picture of how a company wants to be known, and how they want to bring change in some aspect of the world or their industry. A mission statement says something about how they intend to accomplish that. These statements often have more internal value than they do in affecting customers.

It’s not a unique selling proposition (USP) or positioning statement

Both of these have a different slant than a unique value proposition. We’ll discuss these next.

The differences between these can seem subtle at first, but they are quite different. A good way to show the difference is to look at a rather famous unique selling proposition:

“Fresh hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed.”

That was the Domino’s Pizza unique selling proposition for years, and it single handedly vaulted what had been an obscure pizza chain into the national conversation. In the ensuing years, the franchises spread like wildfire. Few pizza companies even delivered at that time, and none of them included a money back guarantee if they were late.

The USP’s goal is to give one company a competitive advantage over the others. It’s about differentiation. You’re defining yourself in a way that no other company can. It sets you apart from the competition.

A unique value proposition makes the case for how your company solves customers’ problems. That means benefits, solutions, and outcomes. With a value prop, other companies could actually be making the same basic offer, but you’re framing the outcomes for the customer in a fresh and compelling manner.

So the sales proposition focuses on beating the competition, and the value proposition focuses on the customer’s needs and desires.

From a sales standpoint, the unique selling proposition is more important than the positioning statement. These are actually more similar than either is to the value prop. Positioning statements tend to be more internal, not customer-facing.

You might create this statement to attempt to define how your brand differs from the competition. And then, you would use that statement to craft your unique selling proposition. But this, like the USP, is about defining your company against the competition more than it’s about customer outcomes.

You can write a value prop for your whole brand, as well as for key product or service categories. You can start with whichever one seems easier or more urgent.

This may depend on the nature of your business. Some companies primarily offer services. For example, consider a mobile residential maid service. They sell house-cleaning services. That’s it.

Customers call them because they want a cleaner house but can’t find the time to clean it themselves. For service-based companies, you’ll just need one company-wide unique value proposition.

But an ecommerce business may have several very different product categories, and coming up with an overarching value proposition for the whole company could prove challenging. For them, it might be easier to develop one for each product line.

Here’s a good process for how to create a unique value proposition:

Specify core benefits

Begin by listing out how your product or service affects your customers after they use it.

What happens? How do they feel? What is better in their lives? What has changed for them that wouldn’t have changed if they hadn’t made this purchase?

Identify primary target customers

Clarify who you’re selling to. Are you primarily targeting certain demographics such as age, income, home ownership, or marital status? Is it based on industry if you’re selling B2B? Perhaps it’s based on particular needs — this is common with service-based companies. You don’t need a plumber until you need one.

For many companies, there will be several components that make up your general target audience.

Learn about your customers

Next, you may need to do some customer research. Why?

Because there are things you think your customers want, pain points you think they have, and language you think they use. But is any of that really accurate? How do you know?

Until you conduct some research into your target market and get a clearer understanding of your buyer persona, you’re mostly just guessing.

For example, what do potential customers think when they visit your website? What do they like? What confuses them? Do they understand how you can help them? Are they understanding your marketing campaigns as you intend?

You can research this using strategies like focus groups and surveys. You can also survey your existing customers. Ask them why they like shopping with you. What keeps them coming back? What motivated them to make their first purchase? Do they tell their friends about you, and if so, what do they say?

To write a great value proposition, you need to know what your customers want. You need to know their pain points, wants, desires, fears, and concerns as it relates to your products meeting their needs and providing the outcomes they hope for.

You need to know the kind of language that resonates with them.

How your products deliver benefits

Once you have more clarity on what your customers want, you can examine how your products deliver the benefits and outcomes they desire.

A good way to really dive deep into this is to use something called the “so what” method.

For example, let’s say an online store sells organic soaps, body washes, and other skin cleansing and skin care products. One of your specific benefits might be that your products make customers feel clean and fresh.

So what?

Feeling clean and fresh makes them feel better about themselves regarding whatever they have planned next.

So what?

They’ll engage in their activities with more confidence and self-assurance.

So what?

They’ll make better first impressions on people they meet.

So what?

They’ll have more success in starting and forming new relationships, whether at work or in their personal life.

So what?

They’ll have a more fulfilling and enjoyable life.

You get the idea. We went from soap to having a fulfilling and enjoyable life just by asking ‘so what’ over and over again. And you could keep going with that. You could also do this for different benefits of the soap. What are the benefits of the ingredients? Or the production process? Or the longevity of the soap’s effects? With each benefit, you can use the ‘so what’ method to dive deep into how that benefit makes your customers’ lives better.

Do this for all your core benefits, and you’ll be amassing a powerful list of ways your product solves customers’ problems with desirable outcomes, meets their needs, and addresses the pain points that matter to them most.

Create a value proposition canvas

A value proposition canvas explores, clarifies, and organizes all the information you’ve gathered by this point. It’s a visual tool that helps you prepare to work on the actual unique value proposition statement.

There are two main components to the value proposition canvas — the customer profile and the value prop. You can visualize it however you want — side-by-side lists, boxes or circles with all the content inside, two separate documents or sheets of paper — whatever works for you.

Customer profile

In this section, you spell out the key information gleaned from your customer research. This includes:

The most pertinent customer pain points they want addressed
Outcomes they gain when using your products
Tasks they want to complete
Problems they want solved
Key language terms they use related to your products or industry

Value prop

In this part of the value proposition canvas, you list out the most important aspects of your products and services:

The core benefits and the outcomes they deliver
How your products address customers’ pain points
Which product or service addresses each customer issue

Synthesize

With both portions of the value proposition canvas completed, examine your lists and look for commonalities across both sections. Look for essential, foundational, brand or product-defining attributes that show up on both lists. Look for the items that would answer the question of “What does your company do?”

Those elements are what will help you finalize your unique value proposition.

Express it in one sentence

Here’s the fun part. Now, you get to spend some time brainstorming creative ways to express these most core, essential, and foundational ideas in a simple, clear, compelling manner.

You’ll get best results if you try to create a single clear statement. If you have qualified employees, you might have a few of them work on this as a team effort. Doing so will produce additional benefits for your team, besides just getting more people working on the unique value proposition.

Support with additional content

You may find that your brainstorming session produces several great unique value propositions, and you struggle to choose the one you like best. This is a good problem to have.

One way to utilize other ideas is to take one sentence as your lead sentence, and then follow it up with a couple additional sentences. You may also decide to convert some to bullet points. This is perfectly fine for online businesses, because your website can adapt to whatever format you like best.

You can also sometimes add a relevant image to provide additional support for your value proposition.

In the online business world, the best place to leverage your value proposition is right on your home page. This very often works as your lead headline. And if you create secondary content to support it, that will be the subheading or bullets right below the main headline.

If you’re creating unique value propositions for different products, services, or categories, you would place this on those subpages or product pages.

You can also use it in your marketing campaigns. For instance, the value prop works great when posting on social media, and also as pay per click (PPC) ad text.

You can also push it out regularly to your email subscribers, SMS subscribers, and also to your existing customers. Every time they make a purchase, you could include a 3×5 card thanking them for their purchase, and on there you can restate and thus solidify the reasons why they chose to shop from you, using your unique value proposition.

Is it working? How do you know?

Maybe you struggled with doing market research in the development of your unique value proposition. For smaller businesses, this is not uncommon. But after you’re using it, you can begin to evaluate how well your value prop is resonating with customers. It’s okay if value propositions evolve over time, and different value propositions will resonate with different customers.

Here are a few ways to see what’s working:

If you have social media accounts that get a decent amount of engagement, go see what customers and followers say about your company and products. Are they talking about your products using elements of your value proposition? Do you hear some of the language from your value prop in their posts?

Read customer reviews

Likewise, look through your reviews for the same things. Are customers reciting the same benefits, outcomes, solutions, and emotions you believe your products deliver? Is there alignment here?

If not, that might be okay. Maybe what customers love isn’t what you thought they would, and you can adjust your value proposition after seeing their reactions.

Use A/B testing

You can run an A/B split test right on your website as long as you get enough traffic to make the results statistically significant. This works well if you weren’t sure on how to phrase your unique value proposition, and liked more than one option. You can create two versions of a web page, and the A/B test will reveal which one results in more conversions.

You could also run this type of test with just one unique value proposition, and compare it to whatever content was on your homepage or product page before. This would tell you if the value prop made a measurable difference in buying behaviors.

Use PPC ads

You can test out different versions of your unique value proposition with online ads. Run split test ads with different text, all pointing to the same corresponding landing page, and see which set of ads results in more conversions.

Conduct surveys or polls

And as always, you can run surveys or polls. You could make this part of the purchase experience. After they’ve finished their purchase — or perhaps after they’ve received it if they had to wait for it to be shipped — send out a simple survey that asks why they bought from your company and what they like about the products they bought.

Using multiple choice questions will work best for this because they’re simple and quick. And you can use text from your unique value proposition in some of the choices.

Let’s look at how some regular online businesses — not the big corporations who can assign whole departments to unique value propositions — are attempting to express their unique benefits to potential customers.

Here are a few great value proposition examples, with comments for each about what’s working and some light suggestions for how they could make them even better:

Brush and Pencil

This business sells art-related products. What do artists want? To create something great. The phrase “takes your work to new heights” is a great use of language that will connect with artists, many of whom hope to see their work “lifted up,” to so speak, meaning it gets seen and lauded by many.

This is the language of aspiration and it resonates with their target audience.

This value prop could probably be improved by adding at least one word that directly relates to art. It could also benefit from a second sentence or two that more directly speaks to their products. The current version leads with a great promise that speaks to outcomes and desires their audience wants. Aligning that with their products would make it an even more compelling value proposition.

African Safari Consultants

Tourism, especially international tourism, caters to a particular demographic. The target audience for this company has money, and likes to spend it seeing new things in new, far-off places.

Their unique value proposition does a fair job with the language it uses to connect with this audience. Words like five-star, finest, and luxury all speak directly to that audience and should make them feel like they’re in the right place.

This value prop also promises a great experience, and lists a number of ways to fulfill desires related to having that experience. And it does it all with just one phrase and one sentence.

In terms of improving it, there may be room for this value prop to promise more benefits to using what their service offers and the experiences they can deliver. But as is, this is a strong value proposition.

Gorilla Printing

Here’s a great value proposition example that uses a lead headline followed by secondary content. This proposition tells their target market how the company delivers the outcomes they want.

This is a niche printing company, and they establish that with their first three words — “Bigger is better.” You don’t come to this company to print brochures or company handbooks. You come here for big stuff. So they call out their audience very well.

But then, just in case a potential customer may not be quite sure what large format printing is, the secondary content spells it out by listing several varieties. It also includes a complementary visual.

And it promises the “widest range”. It also lists the city, because most printing customers tend to be local.

And as for desirable outcomes, the phrase “like you’ve never seen” hits the mark. And “only the beginning” works as a great follow up.

You can imagine these phrases both coming up on the value proposition canvas, and then the people in that meeting struggling to decide which one to use. With the approach shown here, they were able to use both.

If we were going to nitpick this, you could say the case isn’t made for how the printed products will engage the customers of the customer. They could, for example, change the main headline to say “like your audience has never seen.”

MegaFit Meals

This is another unique value proposition example that utilizes the lead headline and supportive content very effectively. The lead headline speaks to the core desire of its target audience. They don’t just want nutrition. They want a higher standard, something above and beyond what the average person who cares about nutrition wants.

The “higher standard” language also implies that the recipes and recommendations of this company are themselves held to a higher degree of quality than conventional nutrition coaches and other meal services hold themselves to. So it speaks to internal quality as well as the outcomes for the customers.

The secondary phrase reinforces that with “better meals,” and then it embellishes that with two more benefits. “At your fingertips” is the language of ease and simplicity. It promises that this service is easy to use. And “every week” promises consistency, routine, and predictability, meaning less stress or worry about what to eat.

Notice how each phrase speaks to a different core benefit that addresses a different problem or pain point.

One possible area of improvement might be to more effectively call out their ideal audience. For instance, are their meals emphasizing protein, balanced nutrition across the food pyramid, all natural and free of preservatives, gluten-free, vegetarian, low carb, something else? Right now, you can’t tell because the promise is fairly broad, and site visitors would need to dig deeper to find out if their products are actually what they’re looking for.

But this is another very good unique value proposition.

Now you’ve got what you need to create your own value prop. You know what it is, why it matters, and how it differs from other marketing assets. And you have a process for how to create a value proposition, along with several great examples from a variety of businesses and industries.

All you have to do now is schedule some time to work on it!