The value proposition canvas is important for all businesses. It can be used for new products, initiatives foundation. It can also be used for knowing the value proposition of our existing business as well as for any new businesses and ventures.
The value proposition canvas consists of two major areas. One is focused on the customers and their needs while the other is focused on value proposition, we offer to fulfil our customer needs.
Value proposition canvas can be seen as the foundation and most important layer for forming any business and ventures. It can be also easily linked to the business model canvas Value Proposition and Customer Segments sections.
It is fairly easy to prepare and gives a full overview of our customers and how we fulfil their needs with our unique offerings.
We must start with our customer segments and define a unique persona in the “Customer” section. Based on the customer persona, we can fill up the “Want – Gain” section.
Ideally if you have completed the “Empathy Map” and “Persona” for your ideal customer then you can easily fill in the “Want – Gain” as well as the “Need – Pain” sections.
Let’s get the Customer section filled up,
1. In the “Customer” section fill up the ideal customer persona information. Focus on defining the key aspects of the ideal customer segment.
2. In the “Want – Gain” section fill up the customer wants and/or gains. What will the customer gain if they get the solution they are looking for.
3. In the “Need – Pain” section fill up the customer pain points and/or needs. Think about what pains will be resolved and what the customer really needs.
4. In the “Early Adopters” section fill up the customer sub segment that will be the early adopters of the product / solution / service.
5. In the “Early Majority section fill up the customer sub segments that will be the early majority of the product / solution / service.
After completing the “Customer” section, let’s move to the “Product” section and fill up the benefits, features and user experience parts. Let’s get the Product section filled up,
1. In the “User Experience” section fill up what customers will experience when they use the product/solution/ service.
2. In the “Benefit(s)” section fill up the key benefits of the product.
3. In the “Feature(s)” section fill up the key features of the product.
4. In the “Unique Value” section fill up the Unique Value offered by the product. This should be something that none of our competitors or alternatives offer.
5. In the “Alternatives / Competitions” section fill up what are the current alternatives include what competitors are offering.
Please do remember to ensure the value proposition product and customer sections are in synchronised with each other and complimenting.
Here is the complete overview of the “Value Proposition Canvas” and how it will look like.
This completes the value proposition. Do remember to review and revise it a few times as you might not get it 100% right in the first attempt and there will be need to review it with team and key stakeholders.
With the value proposition canvas, you should be able to share the entire proposition to stakeholders with just one slide.
Please keep it simple and brief. The details for each section can come from respective detailed exercises of “empathy map”, “persona”, “product prototype” etc.
I hope you will like, share and use this for your creating value propositions. In my next series of articles, I will share about more useful concepts that I have used over years and which are necessary must have for everyone to learn and know.
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