10 Flawless SaaS Value Propositions You Wish You Had

A few years ago, there was this meme, “What people think I do vs. What I really do.”

It poked fun at stereotypes and popular misconceptions and everyone loved it (including IMPACT), but jokes aside, the viral sensation raised a pretty valid question.

You know what you do. Your employees know what you do. Your mom knows what you do (usually), but do your website visitors really know what you do?

The answer to this question may very well depend on the clarity and effectiveness of your organization’s value proposition.

What Makes a Value Proposition Great?

In short, your value proposition is your business and its competitive advantage in a nutshell. It’s your opportunity to tell your audience what your SaaS uniquely offers and why they need your product over that of your competitors.

The very best value propositions are clear (both theoretically and visually on the page) and concise, while answering the questions:

• What do you do?
• Who do you service?
• How do you do it differently?

Being able to craft a compelling value proposition that captures all of these complexities (especially for something that can be as complicated as SaaS) in a short, memorable nugget is an artform and an extremely valuable skill.

Here are 10 SaaS pros who absolutely got it right.

1. Squarespace:

“Build it Beautiful. / WEBSITES•DOMAINS•COMMERCE + MORE.”

Pairing its straight-to-the-point value proposition with a clean, minimalist design, Squarespace makes it clear what they offer their customer, then demonstrates it with their presentation and graphics. This is brand consistency at its best.

2. Dropbox

“Good things happen when your stuff lives here / Dropbox keeps your files safe, synced, and easy to share.”

Dropbox’s value proposition is casual, friendly, and direct. It let’s visitors know that if they store their files on the platform, it will be a positive, carefree experience. It’s as simple as that.

3. Sidekick

“Powerful Contact Insight Right in Your Inbox / Build and Maintain Relationships with Powerfully Integrated Email Tools”

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, Sidekick delivers its users real-time notifications of recipient interactions with the emails they send. Instead of getting technical, the Sidekick team does a brilliant job of explaining the true value of their product.

4. Invision

“Design Better. Faster. Together. / The world’s leading prototyping, collaboration, & workflow platform”

Invision’s value proposition is simple, proud, and powerful. It not only tells you what their SaaS does, but instills confidence in the reader by reflecting confidence in the product.

5. Spotify

“Music for everyone. / All the music you’ll ever need is right here. Your favorite artists, albums, and readymade playlists for every moment.”

What do they do? Supply your favorite albums, artists, and readymade playlists. Who do they service? Everyone. How do they do it differently? They put it all in one place. Well done Spotify.

6. Optimizely

“Make every experience count / One optimization platform for websites and mobile apps”

Optimizely’s skillfully written value proposition manages to be both literal and poetic at the same time. It tells the platform’s visitors what it will do for them functionally, but also makes an emotional connection.

7. Hootsuite

“Get serious about social / Join the 10+ million professionals who trust Hootsuite. Get started for free.”

Hootsuite takes a unique approach by framing their value proposition as a call-to-action and leveraging social proof. If you work with them, you’ll be taking social media seriously and can feel confident in your choice as millions have already found success using it.

8. Skype

“Skype keeps the world talking. Call, message and share whatever you want for free.”

This one’s a little lengthy, but that doesn’t seem to have hindered their success at all. Skype’s value proposition leaves nothing to the imagination about what their users receive from their SaaS.

The second you land on their homepage, it is clear that you’ll be able to call, message, and share files for free anywhere in the world.

9. Shopify

“Shopify is everything you need to sell anywhere”

Shopify is another company that has found success with clarity in their value proposition. They provide all of the tools your business needs to sell (and you can try it for free.) You can’t lose!

10. OneDrive

“One place for everything in your life / Keep all your files and photos in OneDrive. Access and share them from your phone, tablet, and computer.”

The Microsoft cloud storage company’s value proposition is fueled by both emotion and utility. Placing it on top of a playful image of children playing soccer, the organization effectively humanizes their brand in 2 simple statements.