Welcome to the third article about value proposition design for medical products.
As a quick recap, we analyzed the various customers and gathered insights on what jobs they are doing, identifying their pains and gains. You can access part one here and part two here for more details.
In this third part, I’ll show you how to craft a compelling offer using the left part of the value proposition canvas, and share more insights on the value map.
So don’t skip any part as you read on.
The value map
First, let me remind you that your value proposition primarily comprises products and services that are the base of your offering.
Products and services
Defining the products and services – it is that which allows your customer to do the job, whether it be functional, social or emotional.
Here is an example to help you understand the role of products and services better:
An anesthetist (as a service provider) working in a surgical center has the “Job to be done” of treating the post-operative-pain of patients, thereby facilitating a patient’s discharge that can continue at home and with a low incidence of adverse events.
Likewise, a product helping the anesthetist do the job could be the ketorolac, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to relieve moderately severe pain.
It is important to realize that our customers don’t care about characteristics, features, outputs, etc. All they care about is what those elements do for them.
So, the product features must fall into two categories – gain creators and pain relievers. Let’s examine the two below.
Pain reliver
Pain relievers are the elements that allow your product or service to eliminate or alleviate customer pains.
Still in reference to the ketorolac example, its use is associated with reduced need of opioid and better pain control than using opioids alone. Meaning it also significantly reduces the pain of the doctor linked to opioids side effects and the risk of opioids abuse.
Gain creators
Gain creators are ways the product or service creates customer gains and offers added value to the customer in terms of functional utility, social benefits, positive emotions, and cost saving.
For example, using ketorolac to treat post-operative pain in a surgery center produces gains because of its effectiveness, the possibility to be administered intravenously at the surgery center and orally at home, and the coverage from health insurance.
By researching the different customer profiles deeply within the various segments, efforts can be focused on the gains and pains where the benefits generated by the product are most valued. Seeing that the benefits only count if they match our customer’s needs.
The positioning statement
As mentioned before here, the value proposition can be expressed as a positioning statement. Usually, the positioning statement contains references to the sector, the target customers and the key differentiators. It is used to align internally, though a good positioning statement could be used externally, too.
There are a few templates to develop a positioning statement, and below are 2 common examples.
- For (targeted customer) that need (targeted market need), (your product) is a (category) that (supplies major benefits).[Unlike (competitor), our product (differentiator)].
- Our (products & services) help(s) (customer segment) who wants the (job to be done) by (reducing, avoiding customer pains) and (increasing, enabling customer gains). [unlike (competitive value proposition)].
Now that you understand the value map and how products and services affect gains and pains, in part four, you’ll see an example of value proposition and how to validate your value proposition with your customers.
Until then, let me know what you think about the value proposition canvas, and if you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it with friends and suggest they subscribe or follow me on LinkedIn.