How to Create an Impactful Unique Value Proposition

Branding,Business Tips,Starting a Business

Inspection Support Network

It’s easy to overlook unique value propositions as a vital aspect of your small business. But, a high-impact UVP can improve your customer lifetime value and increase visibility while ensuring you’re reaching the right markets. Having the means to express your available services to your target audience greatly impacts your success — especially as you’re starting out.

Stand out from your competitors to reach customers efficiently and directly by creating the perfect unique value proposition. Using this comprehensive guide for business owners and home inspectors, you’ll be the frontrunner in your industry.

What is a unique value proposition, and why is it important?

A unique value proposition is a statement that shares your product or service’s distinctive selling points and benefits with would-be customers, as seen in your business plan. A strong UVP, paired with successful networking, improves your business by drawing in new customers and retaining them. As a clear message to customers, your UVP reduces client churn while stabilizing your projected sales and profits. Below are a few of the main benefits of a well-written UVP:

Clear communication: One of the best things you can do to attract and retain customers is to communicate clearly from the get-go. A well-written UVP sets up a deliberate and focused line of communication that potential customers will respond to.
Improved engagement: Simply put, when your values align with your customers’ values, you’ll see increased engagement with your brand and services. A clear understanding and great experience create positive, long-term relationships.
Quality leads: The better your UVP, the more likely it is to attract people in immediate need of your goods or services — giving you a competitive advantage. These refined, quality leads drive higher conversion rates, saving you the effort spent on the wrong clients.
Unified messaging: A UVP clarifies your services for customers and employees. This feature allows you to ensure the same messaging is present across different communication avenues — including your website, social media, and more.

How does a UVP work?

By providing upfront, detailed information about your business and available services, a unique value proposition expresses what sets you apart from the competition. It’s typically the first thing a potential customer or client reads when they arrive at your website or peruse some marketing materials.

Different from a slogan, catchphrase, or quick-pitch, a UVP states in plain terms what your customer will receive if they purchase your goods or services. It eliminates surprises and sets them up for the experience while fostering organic excitement and engagement.

Types of UVPs

While there is a wide range of concepts to classify UVPs, the MECLABS institutes have divided them into four levels. These levels help you hone in on the specific type of UVP that will most benefit your business.

Primary value proposition: This position refers to your brand itself. You could call it your brand’s mission or the value your business adds to the world. This process helps your customer choose you over your competitors, impacting your customer database.
Prospect-level value proposition: Perfect for accessing different subgroups within your target client base, a prospect-level value proposition is tailored to each sub-section of potential clients. Designed to achieve the best outcomes, a prospect-level UVP makes your services stand out over your competitors to niche client groups.
Product-level value proposition: Focusing on a specific item you offer, a product-level value proposition focuses on the benefits the product provides a potential client. This UVP style leads your client to a specific product or service within your catalog.
Process-level value proposition: Focused on your marketing and messaging, a process-level UVP drives results for individual conversion steps rather than tangible products or offered services. This process leads potential customers to engage with your messaging instead of similar messaging from competitors.

How to craft the best UVP for your business

The right UVP depends on how you want to present your business to your potential clients. Use a SWOT analysis to determine your business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Then, create an outline with the most impactful components of your business and define your ideal clients and customers. This process will help you write a UVP that stands out.

UVP components

A standard UVP consists of a few distinct parts. Including these sections in your UVP will help you present a clear and concise message:

Headline: A good headline grabs a potential client’s attention while expressing the benefit of using your product or service.
Body: The body is about 2 to 3 sentences where you dive into specific explanations of what you do, who your services are for, and why they’re helpful to a potential client.
Bullet points: To make your UVP easily digestible for all potential readers, create around three bullet points that list the key benefits of your service or product features.
Visuals: Rich imaging helps to flavor your message, provides an understanding of your aesthetic, and draws in potential customers who align with your values.

Questions to ask

To get some clear direction and inspiration for your UVP, ask yourself the following questions before starting. This method will allow you to hone in on your desired client base and stay on message throughout all your marketing.

Who are my customers? Create a comprehensive and detailed buyer persona profile of your ideal customer. The more specific you are, the better you can craft for messaging. If you have more than one type of buyer, create individual profiles for each.
What are the needs of my customers? Once you’ve defined your client, consider what that person needs and why they need your services or products. Is your self-run home inspector business perfect for first-time home buyers who might not know all the terminology or processes? Are you ready to work with the established home buyer to create quick inspection processes?
What is my related price? Check how you compare to the market that surrounds you. You don’t want to price yourself so low that you can’t maintain healthy competition with similar businesses in your area. However, pricing yourself too high will price you out of creating a robust and diverse client list. Make sure your related pricing matches your ideal customer.

Steps for writing a UVP

Finding the right tools to help build your home inspection business is only one part of the puzzle. To reach meaningful success and profitability, follow these simple steps. An impactful UVP sets your business apart and creates new traction and room for growth:

Identify your customer: Use the answers to the questions above to focus on your customer. Are they professionals? Homeowners? First-time buyers? Seasoned sellers? Focus on that client while crafting your UVP.
List your product/service benefits, value, and stand-out features: Gather the information you need to fill out your UVP statement. List out the ways your product or service benefits that ideal client. Highlight the value that the client receives from your services. Identify how your product is different from the competition. Covering these three points is crucial for a great UVP.
Focus on clarity and specificity: While writing your UVP, stay focused on specifics. Use straightforward language while avoiding technical jargon, slang, or phrasing a typical customer wouldn’t understand. Make your message approachable to allow a potential customer to engage with your message easily.
Test and optimize your UVP: Gather a group of unbiased people who aren’t familiar with your product or service and have them read your UVP. Running a simple test will allow you to find the areas you can improve before presenting your UVP publicly. Collect the varying impressions of your test group and have them answer specific questions.

Great UVP examples

A great UVP is hard to define outright because of the many factors that go into its creation. You may come across a UVP that’s technically great, but if you’re not their ideal customer, you might miss what’s particularly impactful about it. Below are three examples of UVPs with a high focus on their ideal client and straightforward messaging:

Slack

Slack’s UVP focuses on credibility and productivity and grabs potential clients’ attention effectively. Potential users quickly understand using Slack will make their working lives simpler, more pleasant, and more productive. This message appeals to the people making operational decisions with a business and the employees who use the software daily. Featuring impressive information, such as the software that NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory uses, and their unique ability to integrate with more apps than any other productivity application sets them apart.

CrazyEgg

CrazyEgg is far from the only website tracking application on the market. With dozens of competitive companies available to their preferred clients, CrazyEgg focused on their ability to provide more for less. Their understanding that potential customers may not even know they need this service makes it easier for a new client to understand what they’re offering. Using action verbs, simple visuals, and easily-digestible information, they convince new clients they’re exactly what their business didn’t know it needed.

Visa

A more universally recognized brand, Visa’s value proposition is its impressive tagline: “everywhere you want to be.” Not only does this phrase inspire a wide range of potential clients without ostracizing anyone, but it also makes it clear that Visa is accepted everywhere without issue. Quickly allowing a client to understand your service reduces the hassle — and that clarity is something most customers universally seek. Visa keeps its messaging easy to understand and relatable while promising an elevated and stress-free experience.

Testing your UVP

As mentioned before, trying your UVP before a public launch allows you to identify areas that could use more clarity to reach your intended audience. When paired with must-have technologies, the proper testing can launch your home inspection business toward quick and lasting success. There are two standardized ways to test your UVP with their advantages and focuses in mind.

A/B testing

Marketers use A/B testing to compare two different versions of the same thing. In the case of UVP statements, you may be fluctuating between two messaging strategies. There are many ways to engage in A/B testing — including test groups and unbiased readers. To track digital impact, try out two different versions of your UVP on your website, and then use software to track which version generated the most profitable engagement.

Pay-per-click advertising

Pay-per-click or PPC ads are available on many social media platforms and search engines, such as Facebook and Google. These advertisement runs are generally low-cost and allow you to target specific audiences while visualizing your growth toward a predetermined benchmark. To test your UVP messaging, split your test ads while targeting the same customers and see which ad receives more traction. This perspective also allows you to engage your customers on social media by asking for their input and opinions.

Remember — a UVP is one tool you can use to build a client base and scale your small business. Building a solid reputation with existing clients, conducting and refining target audience research, and building a clear and detailed customer persona will make crafting your UVP easier. And soon, you’ll start to see continued growth in the client bases you want to break into.