The biggest mistakes when writing new value propositions

7 Things you should NEVER do.

Old architecture and new architecture divided diagonally by a line.

The biggest mistakes when writing new value propositions:

1. Showing off.

Your value proposition should be about how you can alter your customers’ lives, not about how many features you could stack.

2. Being too vague.

The more precise your value proposition is, the easier it is for your customers to understand.

For example:

Save lots of energy by using … ❌

Instead, do this:

Save 30% of energy by using ✅

3. Being super-rational.

Buying is an emotional process. A study performed by Kahneman showed that 90% of financial decisions are based on emotions and only 10% on logic.

Your value proposition should tap into the right emotions. Otherwise, it will never sell.

4. Selling to everyone.

The best-performing value propositions focus sharply on a hyper-specific niche.

You can use different value propositions for the same product as a business. This is how you can be hyper-specific and still enter different markets.

5. Just selling to one person.

Especially in B2B, you have to sell to a decision-making unit (DMU). You have to tap into different emotions when selling to a financial controller or an HR specialist.

Both have to be convinced by your value proposition if you want to close the deal.

Even in business-to-consumer, you might have to convince more than one person to sell your proposition.

Use my bits of advice from points 3 and 4 to nail selling to a DMU.

6. Worrying too much about the length of your proposition.

It's true that our attention span is shorter than that of a goldfish.  

BUT

If your value proposition's hook attracts the right attention and you really solve problems for a specific niche, you can take all the time you need to explain your value proposition

and its benefits.

7. Not using a risk reversal.

When you create a new value proposition, people have to trust what you state. Sometimes you don’t have the proof they are looking for, which is why they are hesitant to take the leap.

A proper risk reversal will help you close the deal.

What kind of mistakes have you seen?

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Don't create unicorns,

Let's breed blue whales.

🐋