Value proposition : 3 tips to write it effectively
As always, the Startuppers Club helps you design your startup projects. You’ve managed to find a good idea to create your startup and you’ve even found a name that is still available. You’re good! So next step of the startupper-to-be is writing a good value proposition. Yet 3 statistics show that there is still work to be done: 7 out of 10 products that come out on the market do not find any customers (according to a study by Simon-Kucher & Partners, 2014). 82% of sites do not provide a clear understanding of what the company offers (according to a Convertize study, 2018). 8 seconds. This is the average attention time it takes for an Internet user to know if he or she will stay longer on the site. I – 3 criteria for a good value proposition A good value proposition should ideally fit into one sentence. It is the promise you make to your customers in exchange for their trust. It must be kept by your product or service. 3 criteria are important for good writing: Concrete Relevant Unique 1. How to make your proposal as concrete as possible to be easily understood? A. Easy to understand and clear Your value proposition must be very clear and easy to understand. Given the 8 decisive seconds to stay on a site, the Internet user must understand immediately what your startup proposes. A slogan or a short sentence should convey the overall idea. For example, you can’t use “Just do it” as a value proposition as it’s not self-explanatory at all. Nike can “do it” because the brand activity is already well-known. B. Close to reality The explanation of your concept must be as close as possible to reality so as not to create expectations or frustrations for the customer. Otherwise he would not be satisfied and will not come back. So, do not embellish the reality, but really explain what your startup can offer, what need it can meet etc… C. Accuracy of the value proposition The more specific the value proposition, the more likely the target customer will want to buy the product. For example, it is easy to see the difference between “learning how to negotiate” and “learning how to negotiate to buy property for a good price”. If you sell real estate training, then your wording becomes much more specific and your clients will know that you are offering exactly what they are looking for. 2. How do you make your value proposition relevant? A. Targeting the customer’s need Your value proposition must respond directly to the needs of your target customer. You need to determine how your service or product is in line with the customer’s wishes. The ideal if you have a website is even to understand what your target audience is typing to find you. In our recent example, he will certainly type “negotiate real estate purchase”. From an SEO and marketing point of view, it would therefore be a good idea to include these words in your wording. Perhaps “Learn how to negotiate to make a good real estate purchase” would be more appropriate. B. Understand the value proposition you are looking for This step is essential for a successful startup. Some ideas are good but do not correspond to any need and therefore do not reach any client. Don’t hesitate to take some time at the beginning to understand the market expectations. What are the key points of the expected service? What are the points that do not bring value to the startup’s proposition? etc… To do this, you can conduct market research and approach your future customers to better understand them, to know what they dream of. Taking time to define the need is key in entrepreneurship. This may save you from setting up a startup for nothing or having to shift your business model afterwards. 3. How to ensure the uniqueness of the concept? A. What makes your value proposition unique? Finally, the last step in the creation of the value proposition is to ensure the uniqueness of the concept. Of course, you can’t always be alone in thinking about an idea. But you have to try to explain why the offer you are proposing is the best fit, the best etc… B. Examples of uniqueness of proposal You can put forward a quality of service, speed of execution, outstanding reliability, or a different mindset from the competition… But the more you differentiate yourself, the more you will be able to federate your customers around strong values. A good example would be Apple and Samsung who both offer smartphones. But the value proposition is very different, and Apple customers are very loyal to their brand. II. The Ultimate Goal of the Value Proposition: Converting Customers Indeed, if the value proposition must be as adapted to the customer’s needs and its formulation as simple as possible, it is because it will serve to present your startup in a process of choice. The choice is made by the customer. Will he stay on your site? Does he want to buy your product? Will he be seduced by your service? Like most startups, you probably have a website. Therefore, the objective of your value proposition is that your first visitors continue beyond the landing page or home page. To achieve this, you need to be punchy, make the web user want to go further to learn more. But to optimise these conversions, in addition to the above, you will have to go through AB Testing. AB Testing to refine its value proposition The concept of AB Testing is to test several versions of your value proposition and see which formulation converts the most future customers. Once you have determined the best wording, keep it and put it up against a new challenger. This test should be conducted on a large enough number of visitors to be meaningful. Advertising to conduct your value proposition test If your site is not yet attracting
Find a good idea and create your startup !
You’re back to work or, for the lucky ones, you have free time. It’s time for the good idea. It’s time to stop working for someone else and become your own boss! “You have the eye of the startupper” ! We all dream of it, but few people really make it happen. The risk of getting started and the lack of time often come back as the main fears of neo-startuppers. The Startuppers Club offers a workshop to create your startup in 3 months… in one hour per day ! And it starts now ! Daily goal: find a maximum of good ideas! “Then, we will sort them,” as Osama Ammar often says. But at first, it is important to let go of his creativity. At the end of this session, you must have not one, but several startup ideas to go with! Take the time to think about it, but set a time deadline, not to lose too much time. Hereunder are some ways to find good idea, and maybe THE idea then. Identify a need and respond to it, the best way Every startupper dreams about it. This is the best way to find customers quickly after launch! You can’t find an existing solution to a problem? Create the solution yourself! The more complex the problem is, the more value it will bring to your customers, and the more your startup will be valued. Many storytelling begin like this: “I had a problem and could not find no solution, so I had the idea to create my startup.” And no need to have the idea of the century, not everyone will create Google or Amazon! Take the case of Charlotte Cadé, the founder of Selency: “I was looking for a vintage table not too expensive, but I could not find it in the flea markets I went to…”. So, she thought it was probably the case for other young design lover. Following this reflection, she created Selency, a beautiful seller of second hand furnitures online. The website gathers all thedesign items available in France and starts to expand in Northern Europe. And the startup quickly found its audience and raise funds! We could also have mentioned SpaceX for its recyclable rocket service, or Facebook and the creation of social networks, but you probably already know these examples 🙂 Improve a service or product, the Uber case Since everyone did not necessarily find a good idea with step 1, we propose a second kind of concept : improve an existing product. If you do not have ideas for creating a product or service, you can improve one. And again, the examples of companies that have applied this kind of strategy are numerous! Improving a product means being sure that there is a market and wanting to take a big share of it. A small market study will certainly be of use ! This could give the opportunity to verify some points: Does someone share your thoughts on improvements? How much would these people be willing to pay for this service improvement? ect … Take the well-known example of Uber. Uber did not invent anything, Travis Kalanick just improved a taxi service that tired everyone. The taxi is not new, taxi dispatch applications are not new either. BUT, stopping to pay tens of euros with incomprehensible surplus and have the opportunity payyour race even without cash, that’s new! And it makes life easier for millions of users today. And do not think that the presence of a giant of the American tech could be a problem. Local competitors have managed to come up against Uber here and there. In China, for example, Didi Chuxing managed to lock the market and defeat Uber China. Importing an idea and putting it to local taste may be a good idea Import an idea. This could actually be a good solution too! You can read articles on Startuppers Club , and you’ll be inspired by startup news from around the world. In particular, we regularly publish the list of startups to follow in Israel, Latin America or Africa… This can give good ideas! You can also travel and discover interesting concepts to import. Everyone knows the story of RedBull. Dietrich Mateschitz, an Austrian entrepreneur, joined forces with Chaleo Yoovidhya, a Thai entrepreneur and imported the famous drink. Put in the taste of the Westerners with design cans and 2 bulls, the energy drink cardboard. Marketing has helped a lot this imported product to break through. 50% of revenues are dedicated to advertising, RedBull is a real case study. You can know find this magic potion in the parties as in extreme sports events. The taste – a little strange at first – was very well integrated and the marketing adapted to the importing countries, it is a success! In the next article, we will see how to choose the best idea among those you have found!
What’s a Startupper? Definition.
What is a Startupper? Definition Startupper A startupper is a startup creator, and by extension someone who works in the ecosystem of innovative businesses. Anyone who recognizes himself in this description is more than welcome to the Startuppers Club ! 3 Qualities of the Startupper What does a good startupper ? Some qualities are common to almost all startuppers. In fact, to succeed in creating a business and to grow the project, you need an ability to have ideas and carry them out despite the difficulties. The Startuppers Club gives you the 3 essential qualities for the entrepreneur to perform: I – Being a Visionary like Elon Musk Everything starts from there. You have to have an idea. And an idea that will be valued in the future. Being able to anticipate what the future will be is therefore crucial for a successful start-up. It will then meet the future expectations of consumers by creating a product or service adapted. The perfect example is Elon Musk, the visionary startupper. When he anticipates the problem of global warming in the future, he creates the Tesla electric car. As he sees the problem of increasing flights, he develops the Hyperloop. When he notices the development of the number of satellites, he innovates with SpaceX. His extraordinary ability to anticipate the needs of society gives Elon Musk an important lead over its competitors and ensures its entrepreneurial success. II – Being Resilient Like Jack Ma Entrepreneurial life is described by some as a series of problems that must be solved. Indeed, every day, a competitor develops, a technical difficulty appears, etc … The role of the startupper is to overcome each difficulty and to have the tenacity sufficient to face the following problem. This is called resilience: the ability of an individual to withstand hardship. And if an entrepreneur really embodies resilience, it’s Jack Ma, the Chinese startupper ! Jack Ma has suffered so much disappointment, that he is no longer afraid and can move on to the next without being too impacted. This businessman is deemed to have applied for jobs by being regularly the only one refused. But that did not stop him from creating Alibaba, Taobao and Ant Financial, one of the biggest Chinese FinTechs. III – Be a Team Leader like Xavier Niel Latest Essential Quality, Team Spirit and Recruitment Skills. One of the main criteria for rating investors as business angels is the team. Indeed, they will always favor a complementary team and with real startuppers in the soul. And a good idea carried by average people will not work. We must know how to surround ourselves with other motivated, dynamic start-ups who, if possible, already have the first two qualities above. Xavier Niel is this leader startupper! He builds super-motivated teams and knows how to surround himself with the best. He founded the school 42 with people of the trade (Nicolas Cadirac in particular). Similarly, for his Kima Ventures fund, he chose a few trusted people who selects the investment records for him. So trust will certainly be a prerequisite for success …