How to scientifically prove that our product is ‘greener’ than the competition?

Problem

ConstructionCo. sought to create – Sustainability, a key customer value proposition for its products. In order to do this ConstructionCo. came up with value statements that it wanted to communicate to customers. But ConstructionCo. lacked scientific and data-based proof for these claims.

SprintlyWorks team undertook a time-boxed sprint to provide ConstructionCo. with scientific data-backed proofs for 25 ‘green’ value claims of its products.

Situation

The use of ConstructionCo.’s product in the construction industry was quite complex. ConstructionCo.’s potential customers had many alternatives to choose from, and its product had yet to prove its value to the customer from a cost point of view. Thus, ConstructionCo. needed to find relevant case examples where their customers had been able to achieve both sustainability targets and cost savings using similar products.

Key Research Questions

Q1. What are the topics under which the product value claims are categorized?

Q2. Which customer segments and building types are the focus of the value proposition?

Q3. What metrics are the customers interested in that can impact their decision on the choice of material?

Methodology

SprintlyWorks team conducted a three-phase project:

Phase 1 – Product value claim formulation

SprintlyWorks team worked with ConstructionCo.’s management to formulate a list of product value claims. The value propositions with the highest impact on customer decision-making were selected to be validated further.

Phase 2 – Claim validation and use case collection

During this phase, SprintlyWorks team conducted an exhaustive use case research to find and prove selected sustainability claims, from credible sources. Each value proposition was broken down into its components and based on its characteristics a list of use cases was collected. Next, SprintlyWorks team conducted a deep dive into specific use cases that would have a higher impact on the target customers.

Phase 3 – Customer-focused presentation of use cases

In the final phase of the project, the value claims and their respective use cases were presented to ConstructionCo.’s management. The use cases were designed and communicated in a customer-focused manner so that the ConstructionCo.’s salesforce could use it when interacting with their customers’ questions during their sales pitch.

Results

SprintlyWorks team provided ConstructionCo. with 25 data-backed sustainability and business value claims, these are now in use by ConstructionCo. to build a stronger sales case for its product.

This project saved 5-6months of research time and accelerated business development efforts.