90% of startups fail. Why is that? A careful survey of failed startups by Fortune determined that 42% of them identified the main reason for their failure as the “lack of a market need for their product”. This problem can be easily counteracted by identifying the clear Unique Value Proposition (UVP) of your product, customer profile, the job to be done, the customer pain, and the gain your product or service provides. The best UVPs are relevant, have quantified value, and unique differentiation. First identify the job to be done – the things your customers are trying to get done in their work or their life. A customer job could be the tasks they are trying to perform and complete, the problems they are trying to solve, or the needs they are trying to satisfy Then determine exactly what it is about your product or service which fills a specific need by consumers. We like to call this the pain and the gain. The pain that the consumer is experiencing and the gain they receive from your company’s product. You can’t just guess that your product will seem valuable to your consumers – you have to talk to your consumers in some way to discover their point of view. Robin Chase, co-founder of the popular Zipcar service, first started another company, GoLoco, that never succeeded the way Zipcar has. GoLoco was a ride-sharing service and ZipCar offered people a simple way to rent cars short-term. Chase later admitted, “We built the website first and asked our customers about it later.” Chase needed to shift her mindset of her consumers from passive acceptance to active seekers of a solution to their problem. According to an article by Forbes, “many entrepreneurs fall in love with their own vision to the extent that they put customers second. You may not even realize you’re doing this if you don’t consciously guard against it.” Being able to step in the shoes of your consumers will help you to make better decisions for your company and adapt to changes in the market. It changes the way you view and talk about your own product. A successful UVP needs to be scalable in some way. Either your product is disposable and customers will repeat purchases or there is a wide appeal of your product that will bring in numerous one-time customers. Your company won’t get very far if your product solves a problem that only 100 customers feel. Sometimes consumers feel the pain of their situation but can’t identify the solution that they desire. This is why a strong UVP is so powerful – it communicates the benefit of your product clearly and in the voice of your customer. Read this article to learn how to craft a fantastic UVP. ]]>