In March of 2012, Michael Dubin filmed himself walking through a warehouse he rented for one day, looking into the camera and saying “Hi, I’m Mike, and I’m going to talk to you about shaving.” He spent the day filming that video with a buddy off his improv comedy team. Upload it to YouTube. He spent $4,500 of his own money to make it happen.
But in that video, Mike explained, simply and directly, what Dollar Shave Club did and why people should care.
The site crashed hours after the video launched. In 48 hours, 12,000 people gave their credit card info and became paying subscribers — to a product they’d never seen, from a brand they’d never heard of —according to Dubin in an interview with CNBC. In 2016, Unilever bought Dollar Shave Club for $1 billion.
Why’d that video work? Because in those first 30 seconds, Mike had stated a flawless value proposition. Not a tagline. Not a mission statement. One specific, plain-language answer to the only question your customer is asking when they learn about your brand for the first time:
Why should I give you my money instead of doing what I already do?
And the answer he gave was simple: quality razors that get shipped to your door every month, for $1. That’s it. He didn’t disrupt the industry. He simply charged less than his competitors, stopped using mommy porn in his advertisements, and made buying razors convenient again. No more $20 razor packs guarded by pharmacy employees behind plexiglass displays. No more throwing away half your blade when you could get away with using two.
Three sentences. Each one explains the customer’s problem, your solution to it, and why you’re a better choice than what they already have. That’s all a value proposition has to do.
What’s a Value Proposition Isn’t
Your customer isn’t asking to hear about how your company will change the world. They don’t care about your vision or mission. They don’t care about your business model.
Yet most companies answer the question “why should I buy from you?” with answers like these:
“We empower our customers to do more by providing innovative solutions.”
“We’re passionate about helping you re-imagine everything.”
“We believe in quality, integrity, and delivering excellence.”
Those sentences could be on any startup’s website. They could also belong to your competitors. They address no specific problem the customer has. Rather, they simply address… everything. They try to solve problems your customer didn’t know they had by offering so much value customers don’t know where to start.
Do you see why these sentences aren’t value propositions? They couldn’t be used as one.
A value proposition is one sentence, written from the customer’s perspective, that answers these three questions at once:
- What is this?
- Who is it for?
- Why should I care?
If a stranger looks at your value proposition and can’t answer each of these questions within ten seconds, you haven’t really stated your value proposition.
Let’s use Dollar Shave Club’s video to walk through what a good value proposition looks like. (Hint: the first 30 seconds.)
“What is this?” A subscription service for shaving razors.
“Who is it for?” People who buy razors. Specifically, men who don’t like having to search high and low for the best retail deals.
“Why should I care?” Let’s take a look at why…
Passing the Dollar Shave Club Test
If your value proposition passed the test above, congratulations! You just learned how to write a good value proposition.
Dubin gives three distinct reasons someone should care about Dollar Shave Club. Let’s review them:
Dollar Shave Club costs $1/month. Their blades are “good enough.” You don’t have to think about buying them again.
Boom. Done. Not a word of corporate BS in that value proposition.
His argument is flawless. He clearly defines who his ideal customer is (men who buy razors), identifies the specific problem they hate about buying razors (price and shopping frequency), and solves it with a product that costs less, works just as well, and is delivered to your door.
Not once does Mike make the customer think. He does all the thinking for them. That’s the value proposition’s job.
Think of a value proposition as extra homework for your customers. If they have to do any thinking to figure out what you do or why they should care, you haven’t done your job.
When potential customers hear what you do for the first time, the first question that comes to mind is “what is this?” Let your value proposition do the selling by answering that question and two others users.
In no more than 30 seconds, a customer should be able to look at your value proposition and walk away with:
A clear understanding of who your product is for. The problem it solves. Why you solve that problem better than anyone else.
How to Write A Value Proposition That Works
Easy. Fill out this formula:
For [specific person who has a specific problem], [product name] [does X] unlike [the alternative], which [doesn’t do X because of Y].
Let’s fill that in with real words:
“For men who hate spending so much on shaving accessories, Dollar Shave Club delivers high-quality razors right to your door unlike buying them at retail, which costs twice as much.”
Boom! Two paragraphs took you ten seconds to read. That’s how long it should take a customer to understand your value proposition. Any longer than that and you’re taking a chance they’ll lose interest.
Start with the problem your product solves, stated from the customer’s point of view. Not “we offer cutting-edge solutions for frustrating grooming dilemmas” — say “buying razors at the store is expensive.”
Be specific. What’s the specific problem your customer has? How does your customer describe it? Use their words, not yours. They’re your language.
Next, state exactly how your company solves that problem. Make sure you’re being concrete.
“For men who hate spending dozens of dollars on shaving products, Dollar Shave Club delivers razors to your door”
But, literally, what does it do? “$1 a month, delivered to your door” is specific. “provide premium shaving solutions that don’t require face touching” is not.
Finally, state one benefit that makes you a better choice than your competition, including the option of doing nothing. For DSC, that benefit was price and convenience.
Gillette noticed the threat DSC posed and came out with their own “gearbox” — more blades! A bigger innovation than anybody has asked for to one problem nobody has cared about. Meanwhile, Dollar Shave Club solved the problem everybody had: spending ‘too much money on something they’d rather not think about buying.
Replace “gearbox” with your competitor’s response to you and you’ve got yourself a formula that’ll help you build a clear, compelling value proposition in seconds.
Fill that formula in with words, not buzzwords. Say it out loud. If it sounds like something a human would say to another human, you’re good. If it sounds like corporate speak, try again.
Simplicity was the entire reason Dollar Shave Club was able to usurp decades of Gillette’s marketing in just two days. You can do the same. All it takes is specificity. Not money.
