Lesson 7: How to rapidly create meaningful value propositions in your cold email
We’re adding new chapters to this cold email course as they’re released. Join the waitlist to get notified when a new chapter is available.
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to quickly turn your Voice of Customer research and ICP insights into clear, compelling value propositions for your cold email campaigns.
You’ll discover how to combine proven frameworks like Hormozi’s Dream Outcome, Moore’s Positioning Statement, and Jobs To Be Done into a simple, practical structure you can reuse at scale. We’ll also show you how to identify recurring themes in your ICP data and transform them into strong messaging angles that clearly communicate who you help, what outcome you deliver, and why your approach is different.
Hi, welcome to Lesson 7.
In the previous lesson we built your Voice of Customer bank and your ICP sheet.
Today we turn that research into value propositions.
A quick reminder before we start.
Your value proposition is not your copy.
It is one of the source materials your copy will draw from.
First, I want to show you the ICP niches sheet again.
Last time, I moved most of my research snippets into this sheet verbatim.
After that, I merged duplicates and paraphrased some bullets using my own words.
Doing so helped me solidify the research in my memory.
It also made some of the statements shorter.
For instance, I had statements about the wasted hours on manual work.
Some prospects were listing different things they waste time on.
So in the end I could put it all into one bullet point.
“Wasting 12-20 hours/week on manual work (prospecting, copy, personalization, blacklists)”
Alright.
Now that we have processed all our research we can write value propositions.
There are many different value proposition frameworks.
I want to show you three that fit email quite well.
Framework number one is from Alex Hormozi.
It consists of, dream outcome, time delay, mechanism.
A clear reduction of effort and sacrifice.
And, it often includes social proof.
Framework two is Moore’s positioning statement.
It goes like this:
For a target customer. With a problem.
Product name is a product category that has a key benefit.
Unlike primary alternative or status quo our product does this.
Lastly, framework three. Jobs to be Done.
The special thing about this one is that it’s written from the user’s perspective.
When something happens. I want to do a job.
So I can get a result. Without a constraint or fear.
All three have different elements they bring to the table.
Here you can see them all side-by-side.
Now for this course, I took the best elements from each framework.
I want a template that helps me write great cold emails.
One that you can fill out fast.
One that connects well to the ICP data.
So I came up with this combined framework.
When, trigger or situation.
We help, target segment.
Who has pain or struggle.
To achieve a dream outcome.
In, time frame.
Using, mechanism. The how.
Without the main friction or objection they want to avoid.
Now, that’s a long one. But, one important point.
You do not need to fill out all the columns.
All these elements are building blocks.
Sometimes you will fill out most of them, sometimes just the essentials.
What matters is that you can create clear value propositions that are specific to your niche.
Now let’s jump into the value propositions sheet.
On the left you have your niches. Then you give your value propositions a short, relevant name.
Following, we have all the columns from our template.
When. We help. Who. To. In. Using. And Without.
I will explain each one quickly.
When is your moment or sales trigger.
Seed round. Hiring the first sales role. A big competitor enters the market.
We help is your segment. Founder led SaaS. Digital agencies in the US.
And later, when we micro segment, we can narrow down further.
Who contains the pain statement.
This is where the specific language from the ICP sheet can shine.
You can show that you deeply understand the prospect’s pain.
Wasting 12-20 hours per week on manual work.
Sales suffers when I focus on the product.
Low fit customers dilute my roadmap.
To, contains the desired outcome.
What they want, in plain words.
Book demos.
Get a steady flow of meetings.
Talk to the right customers.
“In”, will have a time frame.
Only use it if you can deliver the outcome within this time frame.
If you cannot, leave it empty.
Using is the mechanism.
This matters a lot in sophisticated markets.
Revisit our lesson 5 if you need a refresher.
Naming a unique mechanism helps you cut through the noise of offers and make your claim believable.
It answers, why you, and why this will work.
The “without” part has the main friction or objection they may have.
Hiring an SDR. Juggling tools. Sacrificing deep building time.
Again, you do not need all elements every time.
At the end of the sheet you will see the full value proposition.
It will build a whole sentence using only the fields you fill out.
Also, next to it is a column for notes or quotes.
Put in anything you want to have quickly available here.
Anything relevant that you did not want to cram into the value proposition.
Now, before I show you the two examples I settled on, I want to show you how I got there.
Go to the overview sheet.
It has the ICP niche data but in a cheat sheet format.
I use it to identify themes.
First, I go through each category.
Pains. Fears. Objections. Failed outcomes. And so forth.
I ask one question.
What themes keep repeating.
Then I name them in a quick note column.
For this Seed to Series A SaaS example, these are the themes I identified.
Cold email is dead.
Balancing sales and product.
Pick your customers.
Save founder time.
Cold email ROI is slow.
Feeling lost, inefficient, and out of control.
Cold email as an alternative to ads.
The need for precise targeting.
Feel free to pause the video and study my notes.
Okay, you will notice something.
Some themes may overlap.
That is normal.
The point is not perfect categorization.
The point is to spot repeated patterns that can become value propositions.
Doing this gives you many different ideas for your emails.
These will serve as your foundation for figuring out what resonates with your target.
I see many cold email senders not doing this.
They just send the same message to thousands of prospects.
And with that, they miss the opportunity to test the MOST impactful part of their message.
The offer.
Okay, so for the next lessons, I settled on two value propositions.
Save the founder’s time.
And more of your best customers which relates to being able to target precisely using email.
Let me show you how they look when fully filled out.
First, the founder’s time one.
When you just raised a Seed or Series A round.
We help founder-led SaaS founders.
Who are wasting twelve to twenty hours per week on manual work.
To achieve a steady flow of booked demo meetings.
In under a month.
Using an all in one outreach platform for inboxes, prospects, copy, and replies.
Without juggling multiple tools and sacrificing deep building product time.
And now the one about getting more best customers.
When you just raised a Seed or Series A round.
We help customer centric SaaS founders.
Who keep attracting low fit customers that dilute the roadmap.
To book demos with more of their ideal customers.
In one month.
Using ICP lookalike targeting from your best customers.
Without needing thousands of existing customer samples.
Again, you do not need to fill out every line like this.
I am doing it here to show a fully filled out example.
Now that you have this in a table, you can create additional versions fast.
Copy a row.
Change the who line.
Or change the mechanism.
Or change the outcome.
And you can create ten value propositions in minutes.
This is exactly what I would recommend doing as homework.
Scan your ICP sheet. Identify themes that pop into your head.
Then brainstorm multiple distinct value propositions.
Create some alterations and finally settle on at least 2.
Once you have this, join me in the next lesson.
There, we will make your message even sharper.
Because people decide in different ways.
Some decide with logic.
Some decide with emotion.
Angles will help you take the same value proposition and present it through different lenses.
So it can speak to very different people, without changing the core promise.
See you in lesson 8.