BusinessFree
Create a value proposition canvas
Describe your customer and what you offer. Get a filled-in canvas showing where you fit, where you do not, and what to test.
River's value proposition canvas generator fills in both sides of the canvas from what you know. The customer side lists the jobs your customer is trying to get done, their pains and the gains they want. The offer side lists your products and services, how they relieve pains and how they create gains.
You also get fit notes showing which pains and gains your offer addresses and which it misses, plus a list of the assumptions you should test with real customers. Items based on your evidence are kept separate from ones River inferred.
To turn the result into page copy, River's homepage value proposition tool on meetriver.com rewrites your page around a claim competitors cannot repeat.
How Value Proposition Canvases Work
Value proposition canvases have two sides: customer profile and value map. Customer profile describes the customer: jobs they're trying to do, pains they experience, and gains they want. Value map describes your offer: products and services, how you relieve pains, and how you create gains. The useful part comes when you map connections between customer pains and your pain relievers, customer gains and your gain creators. Strong fit means your product directly addresses real customer needs. Weak fit means you're building features customers don't care about.
Customer pains are anything that annoys customers before, during, or after getting job done: obstacles, risks, bad outcomes they fear, or characteristics of current solutions they dislike. Customer gains are outcomes and benefits customers want: functional utility, social gains, positive emotions, or cost savings. Be specific. 'Customers want to save time' is vague. A statement that names who, what task and how much time or money is at stake is specific and actionable.
Use the canvas as strategic tool, not just documentation. When you see customer pains your product doesn't address, that's product roadmap input. When you see customer gains you don't create, that's marketing message you're missing. When pain relievers exist but customers don't know about them, that's communication problem. The canvas shows gaps between what customers need and what you deliver, helping you build better products and tell better stories. Update it regularly as you learn more about customers.
How it works
Describe the customer
Who they are and what you know, plus what you offer them.
River fills the canvas
Both sides are filled in, with each item marked as known or assumed.
Read the fit notes
See where your offer fits the customer and where it falls short.
Test in chat
Ask for interview questions that test the riskiest assumptions.
What you get
- Customer jobs, pains and gains, from what you know about them
- Products, pain relievers and gain creators from your offer
- Fit notes showing which pains and gains you address and which you miss
- Each item marked as evidence-based or assumed
- A list of the assumptions to test in customer conversations
- A separate canvas per segment if you describe more than one
Common questions
Is this the Strategyzer Value Proposition Canvas?
Yes. The canvas was created by Alexander Osterwalder and colleagues at Strategyzer and described in the 2014 book Value Proposition Design. River fills in its standard sections: customer jobs, pains and gains, and products, pain relievers and gain creators.
Do I need customer research first?
It helps a lot. Interview notes, support tickets or reviews give the canvas real content. Without them, River can still fill it in, but marks the items as assumptions so you know what to test.
Can I make canvases for different segments?
Yes. Different customers have different jobs and pains. Describe each segment and River builds a separate canvas, so you can see where one offer fits several segments and where it does not.
What do I do with the canvas?
Use the fit notes to decide what to build or say next, and use the assumptions list to plan customer conversations. Revisit the canvas after each round of interviews.
Create a value proposition canvas
Describe what you need, add any files you have, and your workspace opens with the work already underway.