Value Stories Work Better than ROI Claims
Ed Arnold is a Senior Advisor at Ibbaka. See his Skill Profile on Ibbaka Talent.
Ed Arnold has been a product leader at Forrester Research and LeveragePoint. He is an expert on value-based pricing and go-to-market strategies for digital products. Ed is a speaker at the upcoming Professional Pricing Society Spring 2022 Pricing Conference in Chicago April 26-29.
Value Stories Work Better than ROI Claims
To all you product marketers out there: please forgive what I am about to say. Your ICP (ideal customer profile) doesn't care a bit about your product’s ROI (return on investment) claims. I’m sorry, but they really don’t. That doesn’t mean that your ROI claims are wrong, misleading or anything like that.
No, it’s just that prospective customers are kind of tuned out to this kind of claim, even when they ask for client references or case studies. Now this is coming from a guy who has spent half his career quantifying value for his own products and hundreds more on behalf of clients. So I’ve seen first-hand the different ways an ROI claim can hit a speed bump. For example:
“Lies, damn lies, and statistics” - A nod to Mark Twain for that great quote. There is no shortage of ROI claims, a quick Google search on any product category certainly proves that. Naturally not all ROI claims are equally valid; however, from the point of view of a busy potential buyer, these claims are merely background noise and can be quickly dismissed. Those few buyers who are game to discuss your ROI claims are apt to debate or challenge them. Few sales people wish to waste precious time on that fruitless exercise.
Please stop, I’m bored - Even in situations where you have a reasonably solid business case, there is a risk of losing the buyer’s interest in a death-march of financial details. Along with that comes the fearful realization by the buyer that they wouldn’t be able to satisfactorily explain it to their executive committee. Does that buyer trust you (i.e., the seller and the solution) enough to put their neck on the line to make that business case?
Why is this always about you? - Many ROI business cases miss the mark when they cast their product as a superhero who rescues the hapless client. Of course product leaders like me love that narrative. Not so much for the average buyer. We need to always remember that from the customer’s perspective, they are the true hero who skillfully utilizes the elixir (your solution) to slay their dragon (their business challenges).
Your buyer is the true hero of the value story, not your product or solution
I am still firmly committed to the idea that customer value is the best foundation for a winning product strategy. Now more than ever, and particularly for digital products aimed at the B2B enterprise market.
Years ago most of my value consulting was for industrial clients with complex solutions. They focused on value differentiation because they faced enormous competitive pressure in global markets. These same competitive pressures are now in full-force in the maturing SaaS marketplace. As before, value positioning will be a big deciding factor on who survives. Economic history always repeats itself.
Effective value messaging is a must-have in the go-to-marketing playbook.
So it’s really a question of how. We have to look beyond our spreadsheets and product specs - what we really need is a little Hollywood magic.
All of us know that Hollywood movies are the best when it comes to telling a good story. Adapting elements of that craft can help overcome the pitfalls of an indifferent or suspicious buying audience.
That will be the focus of my presentation at this Spring’s Professional Pricing Society Conference. I intend to break down the elements of the classic story arc and provide insights of how to adapt this into a more effective marketing campaign. In my next blog article I plan to give a quick preview of coming attractions.
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