Value Map (Simplified)
The Value Map (see image below) was originally created in the book Value Proposition Design, by Ostenwalder, Pigneur, Bernarda and Smith. Its purpose is to ensure that your product meets the requirements of your customers. First you identify what people are looking for in a product, and what frustrates them about competing or substitute products. Next, you design your offering to address these concerns. It’s a very useful exercise, and a logical next step after you have defined your target customer.
However, in my experience, based on creating numerous Value Maps with students, they can be a bit confusing and impractical. In particular:
Students have difficulty distinguishing ‘Customer Jobs’ (what the customer is trying to achieve) from ‘Gains’ (the benefits that customers are looking for).
The authors of Value Proposition Design recommend that you print out a large format Value Map and use sticky notes, but that’s often impractical in the time available during a lecture. Therefore you end up writing straight into the boxes. However, the round ‘Customer Profile’ box makes it impractical to write in.
The original Value Map requires you to work from right to left, which is unnatural for students in most Western countries.
Therefore I have created a simplified version of the Value Map, that addresses these issues.
What is it for?
The purpose of the Value Map is to match your customers’ needs with the value that your business is providing. It is a helpful tool that can be used in the marketing strategy process after the target customer has been defined (for example with a customer persona).
How do you use it?
Before you start you need to have a clear idea about the products and services that you offer. You also need to have a clear definition of your target customer. If you have already made a customer persona, you may have already defined your customers’ motivations (called ‘Gains’ in the Value Map) and their frustrations with other products (here called ‘Pains’).
You start on the ‘Customer’ side of the map, by filling in the Gains and Pains. Customer Gains describes what the customer is looking for in the type of product you provide. Customer Pains describe reasons why customers are frustrated with similar products. In each box, you simply make a short list (two to five items). Next, you move to the ‘Value’ side of the map, and you describe how your product/service offers customers the benefits they are seeking (‘Gain Creators’) and how you remove or minimize their frustrations with other products (‘Pain Relievers’).
How do you teach it?
There are several ways to define a company’s Value Proposition (or Positioning and Differentiation). The advantage of the Value Map is that you make a clear connection between your customers’ needs and the value your business provides. The canvas can also be used effectively in a workshop where teams of students have to develop a marketing strategy for a fictional company or business idea.
The Value Map is a straightforward tool, and students generally have no difficulty with it. At most, students sometimes get the sense that they are repeating themselves. For example, if one of your main ‘Customer Gains’ is cost-saving, that means typically that one of their Pains is that other products are too expensive. So one of your Gain Creators is ‘Lower prices’, and one of your Pain Relievers is also ‘Lower Prices’. This is a consequence of how the Map was designed; I normally tell my students to just ignore the duplications.
Finally, it is important for students to focus on just the most important Gain Creators and Pain Relievers, maybe five in total. A company cannot be everything at once. Especially, it cannot be the cheapest and offer the best quality products.
