Value proposition canvas

Capture and visualise multiple customers of your target audience.

View all resources Brainstorm canvases Value proposition canvas

Exploring value proposition

With this exercise, you or your team will think both in place of the customer, as the offer your startup will provide. In its essence, you will look for the value you will bring to the customer, both in product and service.

What you’ll need:

A Pen, Post-its.
1 printed Value Proposition Canvas.
You can use the canvas alone or preferably in a group.

Using the canvas

The Value Proposition Canvas was initially developed by Dr. Alexander Osterwalder as a framework to ensure that there is a fit between the product and market. It is a detailed look at the relationship between two parts of the Osterwalder’s broader Business Model Canvas; customer segments and value propositions.

The Value Proposition Canvas can be used when there is a need to refine an existing product or service offering or where a new offering is being developed from scratch.

Step-by-step guide

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The customer profile
A customer profile should be created for each customer segment, as each segment has distinct gains, pains, and jobs.

Gains: the benefits which the customer expects and needs.
Pains: the negative experiences, emotions, and risks that the customer experiences in the process of getting the job done.
Customer jobs: the functional, social and emotional tasks customers are trying to perform, problems they are trying to solve and needs they wish to satisfy.

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Value Map
What are the core factors to keep into account regarding value to your product or service?

Gain creators: how the product or service creates customer gains and how it offers added value to the customer.
Pain relievers: a description of exactly how the product or service alleviates customer pains.
Products and services: the products and services which create gain and relieve pain, and which underpin the creation of value for the customer.

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Achieving Fit
After listing gain creators, pain relievers and products and services, each point identified can be ranked.

Rank from nice to have to essential in terms of value to the customer. A fit is achieved when the products and services offered as part of the value proposition address the most significant pains and gains from the customer profile.
After validating the value on paper, it is important to get real customer feedback.