Recently, I went through a value proposition workshop for our upcoming Optimization Summit 2013 in Boston led by Adam Lapp, Associate Director of Optimization and Strategy, MECLABS.
The workshop produced a very simple, yet powerful spreadsheet I’m going to share with you today on the MarketingExperiments blog.
Simple, because it is essentially just a list of different elements or points of value of your products with a rating to determine how valuable they are.
Powerful, because … be honest. With all of the email sends, meetings and campaigns you run, how often do you really step back and try to categorize and rank the value of your products through your customers’ eyes?
So, download the MarketingExperiments Value Proposition Spreadsheet. Here are a few simple tips to get you started …
Get the key people in the same room
And brainstorm. But, this is a structured brainstorm. Start by simply listing all of the different points of value your product might have. Let’s take a car as an example:
- Best-in-class fuel efficiency
- High, but not top, safety rating
- Snazzy new design
- Unique sound system
Then, rate each of these elements of value on a scale of 1 to 5 for the following factors:
- Appeal – How much is this offer desired?
- Exclusivity – Is this offer available elsewhere?
- Credibility – How believable are your claims?
Based on this ranking, you will find elements likely to be more valuable to your audience, and elements somewhat less valuable to your audience.
Plus, using the spreadsheet, you now have a consistent way to communicate the levels of significance for different elements of value to everyone in your organization who is involved with that product.
Now craft some value propositions
From here, you want to craft value propositions based on the elements of value that have risen to the top from your analysis. Here are a few resources you may find helpful:
Search Engine Marketing: Finding appeal for your PPC Ads
Value Proposition: 3 worksheets to help you craft, express and create derivative value props
Powerful Value Propositions: How to Optimize this Critical Marketing Element – and Lift Your Results
Value Proposition Development online course
And, test those value propositions
Of course, this spreadsheet merely helps you find the most significant elements of value guiding to the ultimate judge of value – your customers. The final step is to actually test the value propositions you created. Here are some resources you may find helpful:
How to Test Your Value Proposition Using a PPC Ad
Value Prop Testing: 17% increase in open rate from a subject line test
Marketing Research Chart: Most effective testing methods for value proposition
Value Proposition Testing: 64% of marketers say landing pages are most effective
I think this spreadsheet idea is something I want to implement so I’ve downloaded it and will give it a try.
The spreadsheet was nice, but the tips helped me the most. I’ve always used spreadsheets to be organized. The tips just help me when I need to think outside of the box! Either way it helped.
Brilliant resources list. This is really useful – thanks for sharing.
If you think the spreadhsheets are good and the tips here are great then you will be blown away with the content in the course, I did not really want to spend 650$ on this – but I am glad I did !