Planning a competitive value proposition

Value Proposition Canvas

What is the  Value Proposition Canvas?
The Value Proposition Canvas is a simple template that can be used to better understand the direction in which a company's products/services should be developed to increase competitiveness and successfully introduce new products and services.

What problem does it answer?

In an increasingly competitive market, it is harder for companies to differentiate their products. Traditional tools - price competition, new features, channel expansion - do not always meet the basic market hypothesis, that a buyer will buy, if the subjective value of the good is higher than the price. With the Value Proposition Canvas, we get a broader picture of the factors that influence successful sales, based on the customer.

What are the main steps?

The Value Proposition Canvas is a simple template with 6 fields of questions that provide important new insights for successful product development and sales.

The logic of the canvas is based on the concept of "Job Theory", whereby customers "hire" products and services to perform real-life tasks. Jobs are interpreted broadly. This approach gives us a complete picture of who our competitors are, which in some cases may go far beyond our product category, or even our industry.

Completing the template only looks simple - some of the answers are factual, while others are based on hypotheses from the organisation's managers and professionals. An important task is to validate these hypotheses with real customer interactions.

The template consists of two main parts - customer fields and value proposition fields. It is important that all the points identified in the customer fields are answered in the value proposition field.

What results can we expect from it?

Understand which factors beyond product features influence the willingness of our customers to buy, which parts of the value creation process, in addition to product development, we need to focus on to successfully sell, acquire and retain loyal customers.

TYPICAL QUESTIONS:

• Is there any special method or set of questions for filling in the Canvas?
  To help you fill in the Canvas, you can use the questions for the fields in the template. The suggested order is: customer problem - product features, fears - fears resolved, gains - additional benefits.

• Is the Value Proposition Canvas related to the Business Model Canvas?
  Experience has shown that most of the work and uncertainty in completing a Business Model Canvas is around the formulation of the customer value proposition and the customer's challenge. In response to this, the Value Proposition Canvas model was designed to help you formulate a competitive value proposition that goes beyond simple product functionality.

• What is the most difficult part of the Canvas?
  The starting point of Canvas is to look at the world from the customer's point of view and identify the task to be done purely through their lens, without being influenced by our current product offering and operations. We need to process the problem with the right openness, constantly reminding ourselves that we need to validate all findings.