How do I create a brilliant unique selling proposition?

What do your customers value?

Many small businesses, when working on crafting their unique selling point (hereafter USP), will immediately turn to the competition. To see what they are doing and, often more importantly, what they are not doing can be helpful for coming up with a compelling USP. But before researching your competitors, you have to think about your customer – the people who are going to be browsing your website. You need to deliver your USP in a language that they understand.

Even if what you offer truly is “unique”, it will not matter unless you convince your customers that they should care about your product. This is where you need to implement the “So What?” test. Namely, your USB must explain to the customer, unequivocally, precisely why your product is unique and how it would improve their lives. Spoken in this way, your customer cannot reply with “So What?” because the USP has told them exactly why it will benefit them.

Avoid Marketing Language

You may think that a marketing offer – such as 10% off all first purchases or a 24/7 customer service line – constitutes a USP, but I’m afraid not. They may be effective ways of interesting customers, but they don’t necessarily set you apart from other businesses. In fact, USPs should not be driven by marketing at all. Marketing ploys are ways of attracting interest; USPs are more… existential. They explain the very essence of your business, the reason for its existence.  

As a result, your USP should, in many ways, run through the entirety of your content, always calling out to the customer. Your USPs, unlike slogans at the top of your home page, can be incorporated into your products, your brand, and the wider user experience that you provide to customers visiting your ecommerce website design. USPs cannot be delivered as a ‘hard sell’ – they should be an obvious, frequent feature of your website.

Keep It Simple

There is a popular saying in the business world which goes along the lines of: if you cannot explain an idea inside 30 seconds, you don’t understand the idea well enough – or something to that effect. The same logic applies to your USP. Anything that is either too wordy or too layered will immediately go over the customer’s head. You should be able to convey your USB in one breath, so to speak, rather than having to deliver the thing in clauses.

An online shop selling healthy snacks, for instance, would use powerful phrases like “all natural”, and “wholegrain”, making those words stand out in bold. The message here is clear. Saddleback Leather, as another example, writes of its belts: “They’ll fight over it when you’re dead.” Without even mentioning “belts” or “leather”, they have summed up the essence of their USP in one breath ("our belts last pretty damn long!"). It is something that everyone can immediately understand and appreciate. So, when it comes to conceiving your USP, remember that overthinking can be fatal.