Strategy and customer value · Source reviewed; not hands-on tested
Customer value fit
Compare a customer’s jobs, pains and gains with the value your offer can actually deliver.
When this is useful
You need a structured decision rather than a universal marketing formula.
Required inputs
Collect specific customer situations, rank the consequences and connect each claimed benefit to a supported capability.
Worked example — fictional
Fictional: an engineer needs to detect a broken deployment before customers report it. Verified alerts address that situation; a generic claim about productivity does not establish fit.
Original worksheet
Download our evidence worksheet; upstream diagrams and proprietary templates are not redistributed.
Put it to work
- Define the decision and gather the stated inputs.
- Apply the method while retaining uncertainty and contrary evidence.
- Choose a next observation and write the conditions for revisiting the decision.
Limits and tradeoffs
Do not fill customer needs from internal imagination or assume every listed feature relieves an important pain.
Worksheet preview
# Customer value fit: original decision worksheet Attribution: Jon Bishop. CC BY 4.0. Framework source: https://www.strategyzer.com/library/the-value-proposition-canvas This is an original worksheet, not a copy of the source artifact. ## Decision What decision must this exercise inform? Who owns it? What evidence would change it? ## Inputs Collect specific customer situations, rank the consequences and connect each claimed benefit to a supported capability. For each input, record: observation | source | date | affected population | confidence | unresolved question. ## Application 1. Define one concrete decision and comparison period. 2. Record evidence separately from estimates. 3. Apply the method and inspect the assumptions that drive the result. 4. State the next observation or test and its decision rule. ## Worked example — fictional Fictional: an engineer needs to detect a broken deployment before customers report it. Verified alerts address that situation; a generic claim about productivity does not establish fit. ## Limits Do not fill customer needs from internal imagination or assume every listed feature relieves an important pain. ## Output Decision: ___ Evidence supporting it: ___ Contradictory or missing evidence: ___ Next action and owner: ___ Revisit when: ___