Value Proposition Canvas

The Value Proposition Canvas makes explicit how you are creating value for your customers. It
helps you to design products and services your customers want.

Resources:

● Printable PDF of the canvas.

● Video that explains the canvas in five minutes.
● The Value Proposition Design book, from which this document is based.

This document is broken down into the following sections:

● Customer Profile
○ Customer Jobs
○ Customer Pains
○ Customer Gains
● Products and Services
○ Pain Relievers
○ Gain Creators
Customer Profile

The Customer (Segment) Profile describes a specific customer segment in your business model
in a more structured and detailed way. It breaks the customer down into its jobs, pains, and
gains.

Customer Jobs

Customer Jobs describe what your ideal customer is trying to get done in their work and
in their lives, as expressed in the own words. A customer job could be the tasks they are
trying to perform and complete, the problems they are trying to solve, or the needs they
are trying to satisfy. Make sure you take the customer’s perspective when investigating
jobs. What you think of as important from your perspective might not be a job customers
are actually trying to get done.

Customer Jobs: Describe what your ideal customer is trying to get done. It could be the tasks
they are trying to perform and complete, the problems they are trying to solve, or the needs they
are trying to satisfy.

Describe here:

Functional Jobs: When your customers try to perform or complete a specific task or solve a
specific problem, for example, mow the lawn, eat healthy as a consumer, write a report, or help
clients as a professional.

What functional jobs are you helping your customer get done?
(e.g. perform or complete a specific task, solve a specific problem…)

List / explain here:

●

Social Jobs: When your customers want to look good or gain power or status. These jobs
describe how customers want to be perceived by others, for example, look trendy as a
consumer or be perceived as competent as a professional.

What social jobs are you helping your customer get done?
(e.g. trying to look good, gain power, or status…)

List / explain here:

●
Personal / Emotional Jobs: When your customers seek a specific emotional state, such as
feeling good or secure, for example, seeking peace of mind regarding one’s investments as a
consumer or achieving the feelings of job security at one’s workplace.

What personal / emotional jobs are you helping your customer get done?
(e.g. esthetics, feel good, security…)

List / explain here:

●

In the table below, rank each job (1-10) according to its significance to your customer, with one
being the most significant. For each job, indicate how often it occurs.

Customer Jobs (Functional, Ranking (1-10), with one How often does it occur?
Social & Personal / being the most significant.
Emotional)
Customer Pains

Pains describe anything that annoys your customer before, during,and after trying to get
a job done or simply prevents them from getting a job done. Pains also describe risks,
that is, potential bad outcomes, related to getting a job done badly or not at all.

Customer Pains:

Describe negative emotions, undesired costs and situations, and risks that your customer
experiences or could experience before, during, and after getting the job done.

Describe here:

How does your customer define too costly?

(e.g. takes a lot of time, costs too much money, requires substantial efforts…)

List / explain here:

●

What makes your customer feel bad?

(e.g. frustrations, annoyances, things that give them a headache…)

List / explain here:

●

How are current solutions under-performing for your customer?

(e.g. lack of features, performance, malfunctioning…)

List / explain here:

●

What are the main difficulties and challenges your customer encounters?
(e.g. understanding how things work, difficulties getting things done, resistance)

List / explain here:

●

What negative social consequences does your customer encounter or fear?

(e.g. loss of face, power, trust, or status…)

List / explain here:

●
What risks does your customer fear?
(e.g. financial, social, technical risks, or what could go awfully wrong…)

List / explain here:

●

What’s keeping your customer awake at night?

(e.g. big issues, concerns, worries…)

List / explain here:

●

What common mistakes does your customer make?

(e.g. usage mistakes…)

List / explain here:

●

What barriers are keeping your customer from adopting solutions?

(e.g. upfront investment costs, learning curve, resistance to change…)

List / explain here:

●

In the chart below, rank each pain (1-10) according to the intensity it represents for your
customer, with one being the most intense. For each pain indicate how often it occurs.

Customer Pains Ranking (1-10), with one How often does it occur?
being the most intense.
Customer Gains

Gains describe the outcomes and benefits your customers want. Some gains are
required, expected, or desired by customers, and some would surprise them. Gains
include functional utility, social gains, positive emotions, and cost savings.

Customer Gains:

Describe the benefits your customer expects, desires or would be surprised by. This includes
functional utility, social gains, positive emotions, and cost savings.

Describe here:

Which savings would make your customer happy?

(e.g. in terms of time, money and effort…)

List / explain here:

●

What outcomes does your customer expect and what would go beyond his/her expectations?
(e.g. quality level, more of something, less of something…)

List / explain here:

●

How do current solutions delight your customer?

(e.g. specific features, performance, quality…)

List / explain here:

●
What would make your customer’s job or life easier?
(e.g. flatter learning curve, more services, lower cost of ownership…)

List / explain here:

 ●

What positive social consequences does your customer desire?

(e.g. make them look good, increase in power, status…)

List / explain here:

●

What are customers looking for?

(e.g. good design, guarantees, specific or more features…)

List / explain here:

●

What do customers dream about?

(e.g. big achievements, big reliefs…)

List / explain here:

●

How does your customer measure success and failure?

(e.g. performance, cost…)

List / explain here:

●

What would increase the likelihood of adopting a solution?

(e.g. lower cost, less investments, lower risk, better quality performance, design…)

List / explain here:

●
In the chart below, rank each gain (1-10) according to its relevance to your customer, with one
being the most relevant. For each gain indicate how often it occurs.

Customer Gains Ranking (1-10), with one How often does it occur?
being the most relevant.
Products & Services

This is simply a list of what you offer. Think of it as all the items your customers can see in your
shop window - metaphorically speaking. It’s an enumeration of all the products and services
your value proposition builds on. This bundle of products and services helps your customers
complete either functional, social, or emotional jobs or helps them satisfy basic needs. It is
crucial to acknowledge that products and services don’t create value alone - only in relationship
to a specific customer segment and their jobs, pains, and gains.

Products & Services:

List all the products and services your value proposition is built around.

List / explain here:

●

Which products and services do you offer that help your customer get either a functional, social,
or emotional job done, or help him/her satisfy basic needs?

Describe here:

Products and services may either be tangible (e.g. manufactured goods, face-to-face customer
service), digital/virtual (e.g. downloads, online recommendations), intangible (e.g. copyrights,
quality assurance), or financial (e.g. investment funds, financing services).

In the chart below, rank all products and services (1-10) according to their importance to your
customer, with one being the most important. Are they crucial or trivial to your customer?

Products & Services Ranking (1-10), with one being the most
important.
Pain Relievers

Pain relievers describe how exactly your products and services alleviate specific
customer pains. They explicitly outline how you intend to eliminate or reduce some of the
things that annoy your customers before, during, or after they are trying to complete a
job or that prevent them from doing so.

Great value propositions focus on pains that matter to customers, particular extreme
pains. You don’t need to come up with a pain reliever for every pain you’ve identified in
the customer profile - no value proposition can do that. Great value propositions often
focus only on a few pains that they alleviate extremely well.

Pain Relievers:

Describe how your products and services alleviate customer pains. How do they eliminate or
reduce negative emotions, undesired costs and situations, and risks your customer experiences
or could experience before, during, and after getting the job done?

Describe here:

Do they…

Produce savings?
(e.g. in terms of time, money, or efforts…)

Yes / no? If yes, how?:

Make your customers feel better?

(e.g. kills frustrations, annoyances, things that give them a headache…)
 Yes / no? If yes, how?:

Fix under-performing solutions?

(e.g. new features, better performance, better quality…)

Yes / no? If yes, how?:

Put an end to difficulties and challenges your customers encounter?

(e.g. make things easier, helping them get done, eliminate resistance…)

Yes / no? If yes, how?:

Wipe out negative social consequences your customers encounter or fear?

(e.g. loss of face, power, trust, or status…)

Yes / no? If yes, how?:

Eliminate risks your customers fear?

(e.g. financial, social, technical risks, or what could go awfully wrong…)

Yes / no? If yes, how?:

Help your customers better sleep at night?

(e.g. by helping with big issues, diminishing concerns, or eliminating worries…)

Yes / no? If yes, how?:

Limit or eradicate common mistakes customers make?

(e.g. usage mistakes…)

Yes / no? If yes, how?:

Get rid of barriers that are keeping your customer from adopting solutions?
(e.g. lower or no upfront investment costs, flatter learning curve, less resistance to change…)

Yes / no? If yes, how?:

In the chart below, rank each pain your products and services kill according to their intensity for
your customer, with one being the most intense. For each pain indicate how often it occurs.

Pain Relievers Ranking (1-10), with one How often does it occur?
being the most intense.

Risks your customer experiences or could experience before, during, and after getting the job
done?

List / explain here:

●
Gain Creators

Great creators describe how your products and services create customer gains. They
explicitly outline how you intend to produce outcomes and benefits that your customer
expects, desires, or would be surprised by, including functional utility, social gains,
positive emotions, and cost savings.

As with pain relievers, gain creators don’t need to address every gain identified in the
customer profile. Focus on those that are relevant to customers and where your
products and services can make a difference.

Gain Creators:

Describe how your products and services create customer gains.

Describe here:

How do they create benefits your customer expects, desires, or would be surprised by, including
functional utility, social gains, positive emotions, and cost savings?

Explain here:

Do they…

Create savings that make your customers happy?

(e.g. in terms of time, money and effort…)

Yes / no? If yes, how?:

Produce outcomes your customer expects or that go beyond their expectations?

(e.g. better quality level, more of something, less of something…)

Yes / no? If yes, how?:

Copy or outperform current solutions that delight your customers?

(e.g. regarding specific features, performance, quality…)

Yes / no? If yes, how?:

Make your customer’s job or life easier?

(e.g. flatter learning curve, usability, accessibility, more services, lower cost of ownership…)
 Yes / no? If yes, how?:

Create positive social consequences that your customer desires?

(e.g. makes them look good, produces an increase in power, status…)

Yes / no? If yes, how?:

Do something customers are looking for?

(e.g. good design, guarantees, specific or more features…)

Yes / no? If yes, how?:

Fulfill something customers are dreaming about?

(e.g. help big achievements, produce big reliefs…)

Yes / no? If yes, how?:

Produce positive outcomes matching your customer's success and failure criteria?
(e.g. better performance, lower cost…)

Yes / no? If yes, how?:

Help make adoption easier?

(e.g. lower cost, less investments, lower risk, better quality, performance, design…)

Yes / no? If yes, how?:

In the chart below, rank each gain (1-10) your products and services create according to its
relevance to your customer, with one being the most relevant. For each gain indicate how often
it occurs.

Gain Creators Ranking (1-10), with one How often does it occur?
being the most relevant.