3 Companies that Nailed their Value Proposition

A good value proposition immediately lets consumers know what they will get from your company, how they will benefit, and why they should use your company over others. When it appears on a website, it needs to be the first thing a visitor sees. A value proposition should be crafted in a way that is simple, easy to understand, and attention-grabbing.

Putting together your company’s value proposition may feel overwhelming, but it can be fun. A good value proposition requires a solid understanding of your brand, so you can communicate its full identity in a few words or short sentences. Shopify is an excellent value proposition example that highlights this point:

Build your business

You’ve got the will. We’ve got the way.

That’s it. They accompany this message with branded imagery and clean font. Without ever scrolling, the visitor to their site knows exactly what they will get from Shopify’s services, and how it will feel.

Let’s take a look at some more examples of how brands have mastered their value propositions.

1. MacBook Pro

The entire branding strategy for Apple products is simple and elegant—and it works. The MacBook Pro uses just a few words and some clever imagery, to get its point across. On Apple’s signature, white background sits a slightly tipped-open MacBook Pro, with just a hint that there may be some color on its screen if you could open it all the way. Above it, the words in bold black read:

• MacBook Pro
• The best for the brightest.

That’s it. That is the entire look and feel of the landing page before you scroll. Then, when you scroll, something brilliant happens. The MacBook Pro opens to display a bright, colorful home screen. The website then goes on to tell the viewer why this is the most powerful MacBook Apple has ever made, and then the text fades into details.

By creating a simple message from the top, with clean imagery and text, Apple let us know that this product is the best. Who is it for? Well, obviously you. You’re the brightest, right? You’re shopping for Apple products, so you must be smart. Additionally, showing us a MacBook Pro that is mostly closed demonstrates to us how thin it is.

Adding the scroll feature of opening the laptop to a bright, colorful display, sends the message that you are opening your world to new, creative, and intelligent possibilities when you purchase a Macbook Pro.

2. Planet Fitness

The website for Planet Fitness is a bit busy, and the entire value proposition does not show up all at once. It does all show up in the same place—at the top of the page—and very quickly. We get the whole value proposition in about five seconds, with a call to action in the sixth. The phrases slide onto the screen, then off:

• JUST $10 A MONTH
• TONS OF EQUIPMENT
• FREE FITNESS TRAINING
• JOIN TODAY!

While at first glance it may seem that Planet Fitness has not done a good job at making their value clear, upon further evaluation, they have done something quite clever. The text appears over photos of one of their locations. There are plenty of regular people, smiling and having a good time while they sweat. There are also plenty of free machines. This is often dread when you join a gym. No one enjoys having to be shoulder-to-shoulder with a stranger while you sweat and pant your way to fitness.

Planet Fitness immediately got the message out that their memberships are only $10 a month. They let you know that there is plenty of equipment, and they offer free fitness classes. They backed it up with photos of lots of equipment and friendly-looking staff interacting with customers. In the end, they wrapped it up with a simple, strong call to action. Join today!

3. The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy gives us powerful imagery as soon as we open the page. The entire visual field before the scroll is a gorgeous photo of a person standing on a mountaintop, overlooking the horizon at sunset. There is a stream to the right, and to the left are the words of the value proposition in white:

• Tackle Climate Change
• Little by little, the momentum is building to solve nature’s biggest challenge.
• Every action counts.

Underneath this powerful statement, is a call to action button. FUND REAL SOLUTIONS. This, again, is a simple, straightforward message that grabs your attention and makes it impossible to ignore the action that must be taken. The imagery shows us the beauty that we should care about, and the words of the message empower website visitors. Using words like “tackle” and “momentum,” and let us know that “every action counts,” tells us without a doubt, that this organization wants to collaboratively save the planet.