

Ask HN: Help me craft my unique value proposition - marcamillion

I am trying to articulate my unique value proposition but I think I have been too close to the development of the app for too long, that my mind is getting cloudy.<p>So I would love to hear some thoughts and feedback on some of the language I can use.<p>The coming soon page is: http://www.compversions.com<p>I have A/B tested a few different ones (there are four actually), so I would love if you could post the one you see and post your suggestions based on what you understand.<p>Also, if you don't understand it, please let me know so I can explain and we can go from there.<p>Thanks!
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yoseph
I know this isn't exactly what you asked for, but hopefully, it helps!

To properly articulate your unique value prop, you need to truly understand
the value you are providing to users of your product. I know how difficult
that can be when you're too close to your product. About a month and a half
ago, I was in the same position.

Luckily, around that time, I heard the CEO of FreshBooks speak on the subject.
Here's the gist of what he said:

Be able to tell users what life was like BEFORE your product and what it's
like AFTER your product. Quantify it to make it real!

For example, if I've invented a teleporter...

BEFORE: On average 45 minute commute to work

AFTER: 0.015 second commute

Obviously, the big benefit of my invention is saving time. For yours, it could
be cost, time, etc. Just make sure it's quantifiable!

And from there, writing your one sentence UVP will (hopefully) be much easier.

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marcamillion
Yoseph,

Thanks for taking the time to share that story. It really helps.

You are absolutely right.

One of the earlier commenters, kingsidharth (I hope I got his name correct) to
be exact, suggested exactly that and he gave me some solid suggestions.

"Faster decision making."

Then it clicked to me, that's what I am selling. A decision-making engine.
Something that helps their clients make decisions quicker.

I wish there was a way for me to quantify this and articulate that, without it
looking cheesy.

Any ideas?

Thanks again for that story.

Love it.

P.S. By any chance do you happen to have a link to the talk that the CEO of
FreshBooks gave?

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yoseph
No problem. Happy to help!

Hmm, this probably sounds very simple, but how long do clients generally take
to decide? And maybe it's also better to think of it in terms of how long it
takes to attach your design, photo, etc to an email, for the client to open
the files from that email and align it on his screen...

I'd imagine that must take at least 5 minutes? I'm not particularly familiar
with the area compversions is operating in, but you get the idea.

I like "Faster decision making".

Unfortunately, I don't have a link. I saw him give this speech in Toronto.

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kingsidharth
Basecamp for Designers doesn't sound like a good idea. 37Signals won't be
happy if you get rich.

Anyways, based on the problem you are trying to solve. Tell them the benefit.
Something like "Let your Clients choose the best" or something like that.

There is feature (compare the diff versions) and then there are benefits
(hassle free decision making for client - faster work done). Benefits sell.

To be honest, you can't make your USP alone - you can just try and give it a
direction. Your users will define your USP. They might end up using it for
entirely different purpose. Or might fall in love with USP.

So don't worry about USP. Just tell them:

1) What is it 2) What it means for them (benefit) 3) What can they do here 4)
How to get started.

~~~
marcamillion
Thank you kingsidharth.

What I was really getting at is, help me brainstorm about how to articulate
the benefits I am providing.

You gave me some good ideas for starters. Have any more benefits I can use ?
:)

Btw, I am not too worried about 37Signals getting upset with me. The market
will decide. If the market doesn't think there is space for me, I will have to
pivot :)

~~~
kingsidharth
Hmmm.. usually one 'pain-in-the-ass-problem' solved is enough of a benefit.

But can't add more without using it. Just get started with if you have some
ideas (as you said).

As a designer, the best thing that I see is faster decision from client's side
which saves my time and makes me happy.

Dunno how many will agree - so yeah testing (you were very wise there, I must
say).

My addition:

"Help your clients decide Faster!" _Faster decisions, faster projects - easier
your life gets_

\--- _some bullet points here to tell about more features_ \---

There you go, did some copy-writing for you ;)

~~~
marcamillion
I love it.

If you feel inspired and have more, keep em coming :)

Thanks.

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petervandijck
This: "multiple designers and multiple projects and multiple revisions"

Plus this: "Faster decision making."

Leads to this value proposition: "Your clients take ages to choose between
design versions? They're overwhelmed by the options? Make your client's lifes
easier, help them decide better and faster."

It may be way off, or on the right track, not sure. (I think it's still a
little off.) It's hard since the pain you're solving for your clients (the
designers) isn't actually their pain, it's _their_ clients pain. So your value
is: solve the pain of _your_ clients with my product?

Mmmm..

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marcamillion
That's interesting. You are right. It's not exactly the designers' pain, but
it is the clients pain.

But the way I see it is, ultimately it becomes the designer's pain.

For instance, say you have a large client that is not tech savvy in the least
(or barely tech savvy) - but he wants to see many options.

How do you get it to them? Setup your own ftp server? Email? Basecamp?

Then how do they reply?

That's another one of the pains I am trying to solve.

So it's not JUST allowing them to easily chose from multiple versions, it's
also taking away that headache from designers of trying to figure out how to
get the revisions to clients.

~~~
petervandijck
"say you have a large client that is not tech savvy in the least" -> You
present to them in person.

I'm not a big believer in the "let the client choose between options" approach
in any case.

~~~
marcamillion
Fair enough. I hear you. Maybe the tool isn't applicable to you then - as you
said earlier :)

Perhaps future iterations will interest you.

------
iworkforthem
I think you should not ask the users to fill in so much details in your form.
Just ask for email first.. Let them confirm it first, then follow-up with a
request for more details.

~~~
marcamillion
Great point. This is the second time I am hearing this.

Will make that change now :)

Edit: Done!

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petervandijck
"Basecamp for designers" is pretty good I think. Can you explain the value of
your product to us in a few paragraphs? Then we can try to come up with some
language.

~~~
marcamillion
The problem I am trying to solve is this:

Say you hire a designer to do a logo for you. They come up with 5 versions.
How do you compare them? What some people do is literally print them out and
hold them up - or tape them to a whiteboard, etc.

So the way I am solving this is, allowing designers to upload multiple
versions to one place (my web app) and they notify their client. Their client
can then go and easily compare the multiple versions of the design, comment on
them and chose from there.

It's like Hot or Not, but for designs.

Of course, it will do everything else that you expect from a simple project
management solution - like Basecamp.

I should also mention that this is not specific to designers ONLY, but I am
starting with designers because that is a targeted niche that I think this
will help. I imagine photographers/ad agencies and others can use this.

If you happen to have other suggestions for other niche markets I would love
to hear them too.

~~~
petervandijck
"They come up with 5 versions. How do you compare them?" -> I just look at
them all and then give feedback. For me, this has never really been a problem.

I think it would help if you would target it to an even narrower niche than
just "designers" at first. Perhaps a certain type of designer.

~~~
marcamillion
Right...but how do you compare them? As in, exactly what is the process? Do
you resize your browser window ? Or download them to your machine and resize
windows like that? Or do you print them out and put them side by side?

Perhaps I experienced this because I was dealing with multiple designers and
multiple projects and multiple revisions. It just got unsustainable after a
while.

But I don't quite know how to target those people. I was thinking just let
price be the discriminator.

This won't work for those people that have 1 client every few months and a few
revisions.

But those with multiple clients and multiple designs going to those clients
and multiple revisions of those designs - can typically use something that
simplifies that process.

Basecamp definitely doesn't simplify it.

That's where my frustration/pain point came from and subsequently this
solution.

~~~
petervandijck
"As in, exactly what is the process?" -> depends on the format. If they
attached a few png's, I just open then in new browser windows. If they send me
a PDF with many versions, I open it and scroll through it. If they send me a
ZIP file, I ask them for something more userfriendly ;)

"multiple designers and multiple projects and multiple revisions" -> now we're
getting somewhere. This is your target audience, not just "designers".

~~~
marcamillion
Two things are interesting about this comment.

1) that the process you highlighted in the first sentence doesn't annoy you
royally. That's exactly what my issue was. There is no standardized way to get
feedback from all clients.

2) You are absolutely right. Maybe I should be drilling down deeper. The
question now is, how do I reach those clients with 'multiple projects and
multiple revisions' ?

I know how to reach designers - i.e. the design communities, the design blogs,
etc.

But how do I then segment my marketing even further.

Thanks for helping me flesh this out some more...it's REALLY helping me :)

