Ever had a lightbulb moment when you thought you had a killer product idea--an idea so unique that you believe you're on to a unicorn?
I've been there.
Early on in my career, I would rush headlong into research and development, convinced the product would be successful, and often was disappointed halfway down that journey.
With trial and error, I realise that establishing the value proposition of a product idea was critical.
I particularly like. Alex Cowan's Venture Hypothesis template. It's a simple but powerful tool.
Template structure:
A certain [User Persona] exists,
and they have a certain [Problem Scenario].
Currently, they’re using this [Primary Alternative],
but if we offer them our [Value Proposition], then we'll observe success [through metrics].
A good value proposition is posited on being able to know who your user persona is and their problem scenario first. Only then, you can work out what your proposition is to them.
It's not easy, but it's essential to success.
Recently, I was asked by a client to come in to troubleshoot when a new digital product was unable to attract the interest of their target customers.
After reviewing their research and communication materials, we finally established that the product and engineering teams were unable to articulate the value proposition of this new product for their customers.
This led to skewed marketing and promotional activities that focused on the wrong messages.
I worked with the the teams, refining the user persona, the problem scenario, the current alternative and the product differentiator until we produced a compelling value proposition that resonated with the target group. With that customers started registering interest and trialling out this new product.
Sometimes, it's not the product that is not good enough. It's just that the proposition for the customer is not clear enough.
Do you have a humbling moment in your journey to building great products? What did you learn from it? Share your thoughts here so we can learn and grow together.