Pinning Down Whose Problem You Solve: The Value Proposition Canvas
Published
Write the customer's side before your product description
The Value Proposition Canvas places the customer on one side and your offer on the other, then checks whether the two match. Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Greg Bernarda, and Alan Smith presented it in their 2014 book Value Proposition Design. It zooms in on the customer segment and value proposition blocks of the Business Model Canvas.
Most people start by listing their product's features. This tool reverses the order. You write the customer's side first.
Right side: the customer profile
The circle on the right covers three things for one customer segment.
- Customer jobs: what the person is trying to get done, in work or in life
- Pains: the hassles, risks, costs, and worries along the way
- Gains: the results they want and the extras they would welcome
"Jobs" is close to the idea in Jobs to Be Done. Write what the customer wants done, not a product feature. Instead of "wants tax software," write "get the filing finished on time and without mistakes."
Then rank pains and gains. Mark the ones that matter most and set the small ones aside.
Left side: the value map
The square on the left describes your offer in three parts.
- Products and services: what you actually provide
- Pain relievers: how you reduce the pains
- Gain creators: how you deliver the gains
What matters is that these answer the pains and gains you marked on the right. If a feature on the left connects to nothing on the right, customers may not care about it.
Checking the fit
The authors call a match between the two sides fit. At the moment of writing, though, it is only fit in your head. The next step is asking customers.
Show potential customers the right side, the jobs, pains, and gains, and ask whether it is accurate. If so, show your offer and ask whether it would ease those pains.
Fit gets stronger if people pay, book, or sign up. A verbal "sounds good" is weak evidence.
Limits
The canvas cannot uncover motives customers have not recognized themselves. If what you write leans on your own imagination, a tidy canvas can still be wrong.
One canvas also covers just one segment. If you serve several, each needs its own. Start with the segment whose pain is greatest.
Finding jobs, pains, and gains
If you write jobs, pains, and gains from imagination, you will miss. Pull them from real words: conversations with potential customers, the wording of inquiries, and posts on review and question sites.
When you ask, "When was the last time this gave you the most trouble?" will bring out real pains better than "What features do you want?" because it points to a specific past event.
Narrow the offer
Even if you can list many ideas on the left, you do not need to include all of them. Narrow down to two or three that answer the pains and gains you marked. The more you list, the harder it is to see what you are selling.
Updating after you write
If customers show that your guesses on the right side were wrong, rewrite them. Being wrong at this stage is a result, not a failure. Finding out on paper costs far less than finding out after you have built something. Keep dated versions so you can see how your thinking changed.
Kinds of customer jobs
Jobs can be functional (prepare a document), social (be seen well by others), or emotional (feel reassured). A product's value often lies in the latter two as well as in function. For help with tax paperwork, the function is producing the documents and the emotion is relief that nothing is wrong. Writing down both makes the wording of your offer more concrete.
What to do next
- Pick one segment and write up to three customer jobs.
- For each job, write pains and gains, and mark the biggest ones.
- On the left, write how your offer addresses each marked item.
- Look for features with no match, then cut them or ask customers if they need them.
- Show the right side to three potential customers and ask whether it is accurate.
If contracts or product claims raise a legal question, consult a professional.