Is there Value in your Value Proposition?

The most challenging business problems are like icebergs. You can see the smallest part of the problem, maybe highlighted by stagnating sales or high customer turnover, but the real issue remains hidden.

Perceived value is one of those iceberg problems. You know your business offers an excellent service or product, you’ve surrounded yourself with bright and committed staff, and you’ve set out to change the world.

So why are those sales figures so disappointing?

Unfortunately, they’re the tip of the iceberg. The much larger, much more dangerous problem is that you and your customers have different perceptions of your value. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got the best product/team/service in the world if you can’t communicate its value to your customers.

Customer Value Proposition Outcomes

Inform better decisions in your business

So how do you avoid smashing into the iceberg? Well, it’s about closing the gap between your actual value and your customer’s perception of it, and a unique CVP is the first step on that road.

It involves building out your customer value proposition strategy, based on actionable insights revealed by meticulous research, intrinsically connecting you with your customers’ needs, creating an experience that they will truly value.

instructions on how to create value propositions designs Creating a growth driver wheel during a workshop
Customer Value proposition key drivers for a client

Equip your company to grow with confidence

In a world full of challenges, the toughest are the ones you cannot see. Once you're armed with the right CVP, success is easy.

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Designed to profit your people, your customers and your business

Most companies, on the face of it, have simple elements of customer value already in place. Levi's make a range of jeans to suit anyone, Samsung makes the smartphones with the most features.

The issue with these rather bland and high-level propositions is that they lack the nuance that is vital to connecting with the individual customer and setting your business apart from the competition.

By only appealing to the masses, you risk becoming irrelevant to the individual.

A customer value proposition is a roadmap to connecting with the individual, showing them that you truly understand their problems and giving them a compelling reason to choose you as their solution.

Like all roadmaps, the building blocks of your CVP should always be data. For over a decade, Proto have been pioneers of using critical insights to equip companies to grow with increased confidence.

Using a workshop to prioritise outcomes

Remove the barriers between what is and what is possible

Businesses are often caught up in their own internal perception of their value. They understand their product or service best, and when the customer chooses to go somewhere else, the blame is usually laid at the customer's feet for not understanding, or not currently needing, what they're offering.

Operating on an internal perception of value alone is going to be hugely costly in the long run because the only perceived value that matters is that of your potential customer. If you can't connect with your customer's needs and prove to them that you're their knight in shining armour, then one of your competitors will.

Having a research-driven CVP in place highlights the best options for your business based on the actual needs of your customers. By identifying what the customer truly finds value in, a CVP allows you to position yourself to provide the most compelling solution to a problem, remedy to a fear, or reason to act.

Creating beautiful outputs for our clients Customer Value Proposition

We found the why that opens the how.

Music, as with all art, is emotive at its core, as are the reasons people seek it out. Working with a large well known media organisation to develop a new app, our research identified emotion management as central to success. And ensuring we designed a Value proposition that serviced the four need states of Needing Comfort, Enabling you to Escape, Improving as an individual and Elevating Special Events - was the central focus and core components to deliver a differentiated offer in what is an already crowded and highly serviced audio market.

This direct connection to the needs of the individual allowed us to work with our client to identify the way in which those needs were enabled, identifying the ‘must-have’ features, based on customer feedback, and highlighting ways in which they could position themselves above and away from their competitors.

Using our growth driver wheel in a client workshop Product features contained in a cvp

"The insights we gained from the process were surprising. We knew we had a big journey ahead, but I don't think we realised that at every single touch-point we had an opportunity to improve customer experience. I remember reading the results of the research for the first time and it was very sobering, but it gave us absolute clarity and impetus for change."

Felicity Clark, Customer Experience Manager at Alinta Energy

Equip your company to grow with confidence

In a world full of challenges, the toughest are the ones you cannot see. Once you're armed with the right CVP, success is easy.

GET IN TOUCH

Delivering phenomenal outcomes


“Working with Proto was a leap of faith, but they have become a major strategic partner in our CX evolution. The work they've developed and the way we've been able to embed it in the organisation has been absolutely phenomenal, and we're getting the outcomes we want.”

Felicity Clark
Felicity Clark Customer Experience Manager

Creating empathy to deliver outstanding results


“Proto were a pleasure to work with. They were adaptive and responsive, and developed a deep empathy for both the client and their customers. The quality of their products and services was outstanding.”

Michael Storey
Michael Storey Manager of Customer Research and Strategy at Sydney Water

Halving your customer churn


“Without the customer experience insights from the research program, we would not have been able to identify the acquisition issues that we had. Changes to the customer interactions that led up to financial protection have reduced the outflow rates by 50%.”

Felicity Rowcliff Dean
Felicity Rowcliff Dean Customer Centred Design Manager

Take your NPS score to the next level


“From an NPS perspective, I have gone Spinal Tap on you guys and gone to 11. I still think the work you did with us, the way you went about it and the deliverables amounted to one of the best pieces of consulting advice I've ever commissioned.”

Matthew Liebmann
Matthew Liebmann Former Chief Operating Officer

Enabling customer-centric design


“Over the last 18 months, we've constantly referred to the work Proto did for us when designing and developing all the improvements to the app we're making. We've found their work to be highly valuable and has resulted in significant improvements to the MyOptus App that, without their insight wouldn't have been possible.”

Lucy Turner
Lucy Turner CX Design Launch Manager

Exceptional prototyping


“The outcome of the prototyping has been exceptional and we continue to use the knowledge and expertise that Proto shared with us during their engagement. The icing on the cake for me was that Proto captured all of the insights from the customer workshops into an organisational asset that we now use as an integral part of our toolkit for training and briefing new team members.”

Sharon Nanetti
Sharon Nanetti Optimal Care Program Director

Prioritising what matters


“Proto's in-depth customer research helped us to uncover underlying customer needs that wouldn't have been possible without an 'outside-in' approach. The team identified the core customer problems and provided actionable insights that enabled us to remove key areas of customer friction and frustration and redesign a credit card experience like no other.”

Christian Johansson
Christian Johansson Head of Marketing, Customer Finance

Achieving a 20 point increase in NPS


“I have worked with Damian and the team at Proto for several years. In this time, they have worked collaboratively with us to build a roadmap of strategic 'outside-in' initiatives that ultimately resulted in a 20 point increase in NPS. They imparted a great deal of CX knowledge, approaches and tools that have been invaluable to the team and the business.”

Amanda O'Donnell
Amanda O'Donnell Head of Customer Experience

Insight driven, customer centric ideas


“Proto revealed and captured a ton of insights, putting Gumtree in a position where we can take our experience from good to great!”

Coen Horrevoets
Coen Horrevoets Head of Product

Award-winning customer experiences


“We won the AFR Smart Investor SMILES award for Best Online Broker. This award is based on customer voting and I believe this was as a result of a clearer focus on our existing clients which you helped us to understand.”

Arni Selvarajah
Arnie Selvarajah Chief Executive Officer

Design that reduces cost to serve


“The Proto team demonstrated flexibility in their approach which made such a refreshing change. They took the time to coach and mentor each of us in a highly creative and energetic environment. Furthernore, they helped us exceed our customer satisfaction targets, all whilst stripping out in excess of 20% of our service costs in under 12 months. Proto helped us to stay focussed on the customer which enabled us to win in the market.”

Matthew Anderson
Matthew Anderson Chief Operating Officer

Service innovation at scale


“We worked with Proto on an exciting & unprecedented challenge at Optus, to design the customer experience of the future. Damian & the team had high energy & together we operated as 'one team'. Proto worked hand in hand with us to bring the internal team up to speed, & also brought in global experts to work with us to take our deliverables to another level of quality & innovation.”

Dan Sunderland
Dan Sunderland Director of Customer Experience Strategy and Planning

Actionable Customer Strategies


“Proto developed a membership strategy that addressed points of friction along our members journey, identified opportunities to improve and clarified the types of engagement that our members needed at the different stages in their career. We were impressed with the depth of insight that Proto were able to bring to the project - as well as the energy and ideas that they helped to generate.”

Sarah Thompson
Sarah Prescott-Thompson General Manager Shared Services

A partnership for CX


“Working with Proto was very much a partnership. We worked hand-in-hand to put CX on the map within the organisation. The team are flexible, trustworthy and do what it takes to achieve the best outcome. If you’re looking for a quality agency, providing quality data and insights – Proto are your guys. We received over 90 initiatives from the project of which 79% have now been implemented and we are seeing the benefits flow through!”

Customer Experience Specialist

Unique Product Innovation


“Proto integrated into multiple simultaneous projects to ensure we achieved the best outcome. They brought real clarity around customer needs, the fundamental elements of our value proposition and provided a clear roadmap of where we're trying to get to. This allowed us to differentiate beyond the traditional proposition. As a result, one customer-informed initiative we developed was loanScore™. This unique innovation helps customers see how good their home loan is and evaluate their options for a better deal.”

Anthony Justice
Anthony Jusitce CEO

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