Unique Value Proposition (UVP)


Every website should have a Unique Value Proposition (UVP), that is, the unique value that you promise to deliver to your customer that separates you from your competitors.

The UVP is like a song refrain                                                                                                                              

Where should the Unique Value Proposition go on a website? Let me reply with a question of my own: Where does the chorus or refrain go in a song? This may seem as a bit of a non-sequitur, but think about it.

  1. The refrain carries the theme of the song. Even when you can’t remember the name of the song, you’ll usually recall the refrain, because that’s the heart of the song
  2. The rest of the song fleshes out, substantiates, and supports the refrain. The stanzas and the refrain are intimately connected.
  3. The refrain is repeated over and over, and in the best songs, each repetition gains meaning and emotional weight from the stanzas that preceded it.

The vital role of the UVP                                                                                                                                            

To see how this works online, simply substitute “Unique Value Proposition” for “refrain” and “website” for “song” and here’s what you get:

  1. The Unique Value Proposition carries the theme of the website. In other words, the reason visitors would want to do business with you should lie at the heart of your online messaging. If it’s not, you’re spending too much time talking about what you want to talk about rather than what’s important to the customer.
  2. The rest of the website should flesh out, substantiate, and support your Unique Value Proposition. People will look to see if you back-up what you claim. If the rest of your site doesn’t fit with the Unique Value Proposition, you’ll lose credibility — and the sale.
  3. The Unique Value Proposition is repeated over and over (though not verbatim nor in its entirety) from different angles or perspectives, such that the claims and promises gain weight, credibility, and emotional resonance with each click or page.

The Bottom Line: Treating your Unique Value Proposition as a song refrain helps to insure messaging consistency and full substantiation of your claims.

So when visitors look to corroborate your claims by cross referencing the various elements and pages of your website, they’ll become increasingly reassured and confident with each click.

Local Contractor Example                                                                                                                                         

For example, if you are a local contractor specializing in completing basement renovations and garage enclosures in “half-the-time” of traditional contractors, your Web visitors will expect to see your claimed specialty and value proposition reflected in your:

  • Prior work history
  • Qualifications/certifications
  • Gallery of projects
  • Guarantees
  • Testimonials, etc.

If each of those elements speaks to your specialized focus and your “half-the-time claims,” you’ll win a lot more leads. If they don’t support your Unique Value Proposition, your visitors will likely go elsewhere for their renovations. Or at the very least, you’ll lose a lot of good prospects.

Also, if you claim to hire only the best, expect a fair amount of prospective customers clicking through your employment pages to see what your real standards of employment are.

So your Unique Value Proposition — or some piece of it — should really be on every page in your site. Or at least supported and referenced by every page on the site.

Jeff Sexton of JeffSextonWrites.com is a skilled copywriter who has consulted with several Fortune 50 companies, run hundreds of messaging tests, and provides copywriting services to companies large and small.


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