How to Write a Value Proposition Statement That Resonates with Customers and Prospects
Dalia Arroyo
A strong value proposition statement serves as a foundation for effective sales messaging. It tells your prospects why they should invest in your solution over any other option. Without one, your brand risks being overshadowed by — or even losing deals to — your competitors.
So what is a value proposition statement? And how long should it be? In this post, we’ll break down the step-by-step process of writing a value proposition statement that compels conversions.
Value Proposition Statement
What is a value proposition statement?
A value proposition is a concise statement that describes the advantages that users gain from choosing your solution over your competitors.
How long should a value proposition statement be?
Ideally, one sentence. However, it can be up to three sentences.
How do you create a value proposition that resonates?
- Identify buyer personas
- Highlight your specific benefits
- Define your unique selling points
- Simplify to sell
- Test and optimize
What are the key components of a strong value proposition statement?
- Targeted buyer personas
- Identified problem
- Seamless solution
- Key benefits
- Competitive edge
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What is a value proposition statement?
A value proposition is a concise statement that describes the advantages that users gain from choosing your solution over your competitors.
In other words, it answers the question: “Why should I buy your product instead of theirs?”
The best value propositions are clear, specific, and customer-focused. They emphasize outcomes, not just features.
Value Proposition vs. Mission Statement
Value propositions are not to be confused with mission statements. While both clarify your business direction, they serve different purposes. Think of value propositions as the “what” or “how” and your mission statement as the “why.” Understanding their key differences allows you to maximize your value proposition.
| Value Proposition | Mission Statement | |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A concise statement that describes the advantages that users gain from choosing your solution over your competitors. | A broad statement explaining what drives your team to work within your industry. |
| Who are you writing for? | You are typically appealing to prospects and customers. | You are typically writing for job candidates and internal employees. |
| Examples | EBQ helps B2B companies accelerate revenue by providing outsourced sales and marketing teams that act as a seamless extension of your business. | EBQ exists to help companies grow faster while creating meaningful career opportunities for our people. |
How long should a value proposition be?
From our experience, the strongest value propositions are no more than one sentence long. However, some organizations can get away with 2-3 sentences if their offering is complex and requires more nuance.
All in all, your prospects should be able to understand the value you bring immediately without reading through the long prose of copy.
How to Create a Value Proposition That Resonates
Now comes the fun part: creating a value proposition that is memorable yet meaningful to prospects. Start by understanding who you should be speaking to.
1. Identify buyer personas (The "Who")
There’s no point in writing if you don’t know who you’re talking to. This is where developing your buyer personas comes in, which helps humanize your target audience and anticipate their needs.
As you develop your buyer personas, make sure to answer the following three questions:
- What are their job-specific pain points?
- What are their organization’s problems?
- How can your solution make their lives easier?
EBQ Tip: Validating and analyzing your market is key to creating a future-proof value proposition. Your first-hand research, paired with in-depth competitor analysis, will help you identify what points you need to speak to when writing your value proposition statement.
2. Highlight your specific benefits (The "What")
Value propositions need to speak to the benefits your customers will enjoy by leveraging your solution. Therefore, you need to understand how your solution will improve your prospect’s lives and solve their problems.
Focus on the outcomes or results your customers will achieve — not just listing out the features of your products. If possible, make sure you list out S.M.A.R.T. results to amplify your impact.
Example: When we were developing value propositions to promote our appointment-setting services, we were targeting sales executives who suffer the pain of prospecting.
Some of our value propositions would be:
- Boost ROI by 200% within one year of working with EBQ
- Save 10 hours a week prospecting and focus on closing deals
- Increase touchpoints by 5x by leveraging EBQ’s sales cadence
3. Define your unique selling point (The "Why You")
This is where your competitor analysis comes into play: you must now clearly identify why a customer should choose you over your competitors. By positioning yourself as an alternative, better, or even more exclusive option, you’ll create a value proposition that resonates with prospects.
However, steer clear of vague claims, such as “highest quality” or “best service.” Instead, focus on tangible differences between your service offerings and your competitors.
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4. Simplify to sell
Too often, value proposition statements are written with jargon, buzzwords, and overly complex language to give off the impression that the seller is superior. However, this isolates your prospects — risking a lost sale.
Instead, use this simple framework to create a value proposition statement that will take seconds to understand:
We help [target audience] achieve [desired outcome] by offering [your unique offering].
For Example:
- We help businesses close more sales meetings by assigning a dedicated specialist to master their sales messaging talk tracks.
- We empower businesses to maximize their marketing automation platforms with certified specialists to create and execute email marketing campaigns.
5. Test and optimize
As your business evolves, so will your value proposition statements. Try testing different variations of your statements to see which messaging resonates and converts the best through A/B testing on landing pages.
Download the Ultimate Guide to the B2B Buyer’s Journey
Learn how to create a seamless buyer journey — from discovery at a trade show event to creating loyal brand advocates.
TL;DR: The Key Components of a Value Proposition
To summarize, every winning value proposition should include:
- Targeted buyer personas: Who you help
- Identified problem: What pain point do you solve
- Seamless solution: How your product solves it
- Key benefits: The transformation customers experience
- Competitive edge: Why you’re better than the competition
When you combine these elements in a single, powerful sentence, you’ll have a value proposition that resonates with your customers and drives them to act.
Curious to see if your value proposition statement is resonating with your target audience? Our business development team can help you tap into your market, ask questions, and gather survey results to help you make better data-driven decisions.
About the Author:
Dalia is EBQ’s VP of Customer Experience with over 10 years of experience in customer service. After forming the Customer Experience division, she achieved over $1.2M in revenue within the first six months under her leadership.