Many companies that think they have a marketing problem really have a clarity problem. They either:
- Don’t understand what makes their product matter.
- Or communicate it in a way that gets ignored.
A value proposition isn’t a tagline or a headline. It’s a powerful reason. It’s your company’s case for why someone should become a customer, and it needs to stand up under pressure.
But here’s the problem: most companies never pressure test it.
It starts with understanding who you’re talking to
Before writing a single line of messaging, you need to know who it’s for — and not in a vague persona template kind of way.
The path to building real value starts with asking sharper questions:
- Who is the person (or team) that actively feels the pain your product solves?
- What are they trying to accomplish right now?
- How are they currently doing it?
- What’s in their way?
- Are they using a competitor or just stuck in a manual process?
- Most importantly, how does what you’re offering change their outcome?
If you can’t answer those questions precisely, your messaging is noise. And we all know noise doesn’t convert.
Build a real value proposition, not a clever statement
A strong value proposition is rooted in what’s true, what’s different and what can be believed. It combines clarity with conviction. And it includes something you can confidently say you do better — or differently than anyone else in the market.
To be blunt, if you stripped away your company’s name from your value proposition and it could still apply to ten other vendors in your space, then what you have isn’t a value proposition; it’s a list of industry clichés.
At least one part of your value proposition should include what Flint McGlaughlin calls your “only factor.” Something you can say no one else can credibly claim. If you don’t have an “only,” then your job is to define one. Don’t fabricate something because you have to, but find the true element your product, service or approach does that others simply don’t.
You’re not trying to be everything (nor should you want to be). You’re trying to convey something clear, specific and purposeful.
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Use the four-part filter: Appeal, exclusivity, clarity, credibility
McGlaughlin spent years testing value propositions. He found four conditions that must all be true in the mind of the prospect:
- Appeal: “I want this.”
- Exclusivity: “I can’t get this anywhere else.”
- Clarity: “I understand this.”
- Credibility: “I believe this.”
Miss any one of these, and the message breaks down. Most companies focus only on appeal and ignore the rest. Some aim for exclusivity and end up sounding vague. Few achieve all four. The ones that do? They convert and stand out.
Test it like a scientist, not a slogan writer
Rebrands and messaging revamps often launch in one sweeping motion: new website, new positioning and new narrative. Everyone claps, but no one knows what’s working, let alone why.
That’s not a strategy. That’s building your runway on wishful thinking. Testing your value proposition requires a controlled, measured process.
- Build a hypothesis.
- Choose a control.
- Test one variable at a time.
- Run it in a channel where you can isolate impact and quickly get a real signal from your audience.
Paid search can still be helpful here, but the game is shifting. Social gives you more control these days. You can target specific segments of your ICP and test copy in real time without broadcasting it across your full market presence.
One important rule: document everything.
- What you tested.
- Why you tested it.
- What you thought would happen and what really did.
- What the reasoning is behind the testing scenario.
If something performs better but you don’t know why, it’s luck, not a win you can repeat on a larger scale.
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How to build a real testing program
If you’re serious about getting sharper, here’s how to build a value proposition testing process:
1. Define your control
Start with what’s live: homepage headline, email subject line, top-performing ad. That’s your baseline. If you don’t have one, you have nothing to measure against.
2. Create one clear hypothesis
Don’t test a bundle of copy changes and hope for the best. Isolate a specific angle or claim. For example: “Messaging focused on speed-to-value will outperform messaging focused on ease-of-use.”
3. Choose a fast feedback channel
Use channels where results come quickly and clearly. Paid social is ideal nowadays, as you can control targeting, and your audience doesn’t need to know it’s a test. You can also use outbound email, landing pages or paid search, as long as there is traffic, to get the results you need as quickly as possible.
4. Run the test long enough to matter
Two days is not a test you can trust. Two weeks gives you a better signal. Let the test breathe, especially if the traffic is not as high as you’d like it to be. You’re not looking for a winner, either. You’re looking for confidence and conviction through data.
5. Capture what you learn and why you think it happened
Don’t just write down which version won. Write down why you think it won.
- Was it more specific?
- Did it address a clearer pain?
- Was it more believable?
This context is helpful far beyond your seat at the organization.
6. Feed the winners back into core messaging
If something works, apply it to the rest of your narrative. A winning ad headline might inform your product page. A high-performing subject line might reframe how you open sales calls.
Nothing stays in a silo. Application culminates the test and then simultaneously justifies the next round. Your value proposition must evolve as your company does (and will).
Loop in sales early and often
There’s no better feedback loop than a sales team actively selling the thing you’re trying to message. They hear what lands and what doesn’t. They get real-time reactions from the people you’re marketing to. That’s an invaluable signal to a data-driven marketer.
If you’re not listening to call recordings, shadowing demos or syncing with sales regularly, you’re missing the fastest path to sharpening your message. Stop guessing when you could just ask. I can promise you that your sales team cares more about the results of a well-received value proposition than you do.
Pro tip: Sales objections are free A/B tests. Pay attention.
Dig deeper: How to align sales and marketing for revenue growth
Refinement is about understanding the ‘why,’ not just getting better results
A lift in conversion is fine, but you’ve learned nothing if you don’t know why it happened. Real progress comes when you can point to a specific idea, message or change in framing and say, “This is why it worked.” Your entire organization will thank you when you nail this.
Once you have that clarity, you don’t just stop there and use it in your marketing, either. Your job is now to distribute it across all elements of the organization and scale it.
Great messaging can happen in brainstorms, sure. But messaging that encourages revenue happens when you comprehensively understand:
- What people believe before you speak.
- What they need to hear to shift that belief.
- What gets them to act.
Final word
If your value proposition doesn’t hold up under pressure testing, it’s not ready for the market. It is a humbling process, but it’s powerful and injects velocity into your marketing and revenue-focused programs.
Until someone builds a product that sells itself, your message is why people buy or don’t.
Document it. Test it. Prove it. Then, go bigger and challenge it again.
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