Your value prop pillars make you stand out. They should be the one, two or few things you do that nobody else does. A common mistake B2B SaaS companies and marketers make when looking at value proposition pillars is how many they need to have.
The other day we were talking with a new client who came in with positioning exercises they had done before. One of them was a value proposition pillars sheet with 14 different tabs, each with a value prop and its reasons to believe, for one industry and one very specific ICP.
It was not features and it was not benefits in the way you would normally think of them; it was 14 different value props. The reasons to believe were the same for each because there were simply too many of them. We ran a positioning exercise together, narrowed it down to what really made them stand out and mapped it to their personas. It reminded us of something we learned in debate club.
The first rule of debate club
Do not list all your arguments. If you have multiple arguments to make in a debate, the worst thing you can do is list four or five. Your opponent will take your weakest one and argue that. You run the same risk when you have too many value prop pillars.
You need enough to stand out. If one or two are substantial, do not add a third or a fourth. If you find yourself adding extra value props, it is probably because you were not fully convinced by the first ones you had. They were never specific or unique enough.
The why/how ladder
So how do you find the right balance between having strategic and concrete value proposition pillars? You ask why and how. When you are challenged as a B2B SaaS CMO or brand lead to make your value propositions specific, use this method: the why/how ladder. Like any ladder, it is bidirectional. You either go up or down.
Why: step up the ladder
You step up to get to the why. Why is this important? Why does your customer or persona care? The answer to the "so what" question. For each value proposition, ask "why" a couple of times to reach the real outcome that helps you create powerful messaging.
Example. You were running positioning exercises and one value prop is "Segment API compatible." Step up: why is this important? "Our whole ICP uses Segment." Why is that important? "If they use us it saves them a lot of time doing XYZ." Why is that important, and how much time does it actually save? Now the next answer has a very specific ROI argument you can use. You end up with something like "because now our customers can do XYZ and save $xxx per hour." Keep asking why until you reach something that is genuinely relevant for the customer.
How: step down the ladder
You step down to validate that a value proposition is truly unique and to understand how it is unique. What makes a specific feature an "only" for you? What is your special approach that is better than everyone else's?
Example. "Segment API compatibility is our superpower." How are we special in that? What do we do specifically that makes us special? "There are XYZ specific features we offer that no one else has." Keep going down the how ladder to verify that something is actually unique.
If you ever find yourself struggling with superpowers or positioning for your B2B SaaS, use the why/how ladder to find unique and specific value propositions. Both directions help your messaging: the why part creates impact your audience cares about, and the how part gives you credibility and makes your value props more specific.
Frequently asked questions
How many value proposition pillars should we have?
One or two strong ones almost always beat four or five weak ones. If you feel the need to add more, the earlier ones probably were not specific enough.
What is the why/how ladder?
A simple technique for testing a value prop: ask "why is this important?" repeatedly to reach the real customer outcome, and ask "how are we uniquely doing this?" to verify that the claim is truly ours.