Test your best value proposition on five people and rewrite it based on what they say.
Farah sells modest workwear online. Before she uses her value proposition anywhere, she shows it to five women in her target group for about ten seconds each and writes down exactly what they say.
Most owners skip this step, because it means showing unfinished work to strangers and hearing honest reactions. It is also research that needs no budget. Each conversation takes about five minutes, and the whole exercise, including the rewrite, fits in an afternoon.
You need four things: your best value proposition from lesson 4.1, your three questions from lesson 4.3, the test sheet attached below, and five people from your target group. You already know where to find five people.
Put your headline and supporting line on a phone screen or a printed card. Nothing else goes on it: no logo, no photos, no price, no explanation. Extra material gives clues that the real ad or web page may not give, and you are testing the words.
Use the identical card for all five people. If you change the wording partway through, you cannot tell whether different answers came from different people or from different words.
Show the card for about ten seconds, then take it away. A short look is closer to how people meet a real ad or the top of a web page, often while distracted. A message that only works after a minute of study will not work on someone reading their phone in a queue. Say nothing before or during the look. If someone asks what it means, tell them you will explain afterwards.
Once the card is away, ask three things in this order: what you offer, who it is for, and what would stop them from trying it. Use your own wording from lesson 4.3, but keep the order. The first two questions test whether they understood. The third shows you what proof is missing.
Let silences run. The most useful answer often comes after a pause, once people stop being polite.
Write the answers on the test sheet as close to word for word as you can. Do not paraphrase them into your language or correct their grammar. A customer's exact phrasing is worth more than your summary of it, because it is how customers actually talk. Those words are raw material for your rewrite, and later for headlines, ads and product descriptions, so keep the sheet.
Do not rewrite after the first or second person, because one reaction can be unusual. Rewriting after each conversation lets the loudest opinion steer the result, and it means you test five different statements once each.
When all five are done, lay the answers side by side and look for patterns: the same misreading from two or more people, an objection that keeps coming up, or a phrase several people used. Then rewrite once. Keep the original next to the revision so you can see what changed.
Farah's original, from lesson 4.1, offered workwear that covers what you want covered and still looks sharp in meetings: modest blouses, dresses and trousers in breathable fabrics, cut for women who commute in Singapore heat and sit in air-conditioned offices all day.
Her five testers were two women from a neighbourhood community group, one past enquirer who did not buy, and two colleagues of a friend she had never met. Their answers:
Tester 1 described it as modest office clothes and worried about size, because she is usually between sizes. Tester 2 called it work clothes that are "covered" but "not boring", and asked whether it is expensive. Tester 3 described it as modest, breathable workwear and wanted to see it on someone her height. Tester 4 asked whether it is for women who wear hijab to work, and was unsure if it is only for that. Tester 5 called it "covered" work clothes that "don't look frumpy", and said sizing would stop her.
Side by side, the answers showed that 5 of 5 understood the product. Three raised sizing, which made it the main objection, so the size chart and exchange policy need to sit directly under the headline. Tester 4 showed that "modest" on its own made some readers think the clothes were only for women who cover their hair. Two testers used "covered" without being prompted, and two said "not boring" or "don't look frumpy".
Her revised value proposition reads: covered work clothes that are not boring; blouses, dresses and trousers in breathable fabrics for women who want to dress modestly at the office, with or without a hijab; free size exchanges on the first order.
The revision uses two tester phrases and answers the most common objection, sizing, with proof in the form of free size exchanges.
You are finished when you have five word-for-word answer sets, notes on the patterns you found, and one revised value proposition that uses at least two phrases from your testers and answers the most common objection, kept beside your original.
Fill in the sheet as soon as each conversation ends, while you can still hear how they said it.
Record the five responses in the test sheet. Then write a revised value proposition that uses at least two phrases your testers used.
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