Value Curve

A value curve compares offerings on the factors one customer segment values. It comes from Blue Ocean Strategy (W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne). Used here, it answers one question: does our offering meet this segment's specific needs far better than anything else they can use? A good strategy competes to be unique, not the best at everything.

It is a starting point, not the whole answer. It feeds the Alternatives part of the value proposition (the value-proposition skill), and the value proposition needs all six parts.

Before you start

• One segment per curve. Needs differ between segments, so a curve that mixes them shows no focus. If the segment isn't chosen yet, find clusters of customers with similar underserved needs first (market-segments, then beachhead-segment).
• The factors are the segment's needs, not your features. Phrase each as an outcome the customer wants ("find live sports events", "content for kids"), solution-agnostic, the way jobs to be done are phrased.
• Evidence comes from customers. For every need, interviews ask how important it is and how satisfied they are with what they use today. They also ask which competitors' products they use, and what they would pay relative to those (a Van Westendorp price survey is one way). About 10-15 interviews per segment.
• With no interviews yet (only websites, reviews, the owner's own knowledge), the curve can still be drawn, but label every score an assumption and name its source. Its first output is then what to test with customers.

Steps