/ˈvæljuː ˌprɒpəˈzɪʃən/

A value proposition tells your customers why they should do business with you rather than your competitors, and makes the benefits of your products or services crystal clear from the outset. It is the intermediary between your customer and your product and is a way of explaining why your customers should care for the product that you’re building and what makes this product relevant to them today. So, value proposition doesn’t exist without understanding your customer segment. It is fundamentally a statement about satisfying a customer need - and not just about a “good” product idea. 

The match between a value proposition and a customer segment is called a product-market. 

There are several helpful formats to write a good value proposition:

‍

#1 Geoff Moore's Value Positioning Statement

Format

For  ____________ (target customer)

who ____________  (statement of the need or opportunity)

our (product/service name) is  ____________  (product category)

that (statement of benefit) ____________ .

(Sometimes followed by).. as opposed to________, who do this_______ . 

Example

For non-technical marketers

who struggle to find return on investment in social media

our product is a web-based analytics software that translates engagement metrics into actionable revenue metrics.

#2 Venture Hacks' High-Concept Pitch

Format

[Proven industry example] for/of [new domain].

Example(s)

Flickr for video.

Friendster for dogs.

The Firefox of media players.

#3 Steve Blank's XYZ

Format

“We help X do Y doing Z”.

Example(s)

We help non-technical marketers discover return on investment in social media by turning engagement metrics into revenue metrics.

#5 Dave McClure's positioning

Format

Short, simple, memorable; what, how, why.

3 keywords or phrases

KISS (no expert jargon)

Example(s)

"Mint.com is the free, easy way to manage your money online."

#6 David Cowan's Pitchcraft

 Template

1. Highlight the enormity of the problem you are tackling.

2. Tell the audience up front what your company sells.

3. Distill the differentiation down to one, easy-to-comprehend sentence.

4. Establish credibility by sharing the pedigree of the entrepreneurs, customers, or the investors.

Example(s)

One person dies of melanoma every 62 minutes. We offer a dermatoscope app for iPhone that enables people to easily diagnose their skin, leveraging patented pattern recognition technology trusted by the World Health Organization.

#7 Eric Sink's Value Positioning

Template

Superlative ("why choose this product").

Label ("what is this product").

Qualifiers ("who should choose this product").

Example(s)

The easiest operating system for netbook PC's.

The most secure payment gateway for mobile e-commerce.