If you want to convey the true worth of your brand, you‘ll need to develop a clear, compelling value proposition. Your value prop is the foundation of your messaging. It‘s the core statement that communicates why a customer should buy from you — and it needs to be both persuasive and memorable.
Crafting a great value proposition is especially crucial in the crowded SaaS market. With so many solutions competing for attention, you need to instantly convey your unique value and connect with your specific audience.
The best SaaS value propositions share a few key qualities. According to B2B marketing expert, April Dunford, author of Obviously Awesome, they:
- Resonate with the target audience
- Differentiate from the alternatives
- Can be validated with evidence
- Are easy to understand and remember
Below, we‘ll break down 10 SaaS companies that nail these elements in their value props. Whether you‘re writing your first value proposition or looking to spruce up your existing one, these examples offer plenty of inspiration.
1. Shopify: "The platform commerce is built on."
Shopify is an ecommerce platform that enables online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. Its value proposition targets entrepreneurs and small business owners looking to start an online store or scale their existing retail operations.
The key phrase "The platform commerce is built on" positions Shopify as the leading solution in its category. It suggests Shopify is the dominant player — the go-to ecommerce tool that powers a large portion of online retail.
Shopify reinforces this message by noting that "Millions of the world‘s most successful brands trust Shopify to sell, ship and process payments anywhere." These specific data points (millions of brands) and capabilities (selling, shipping, payment processing) build credibility.
Shopify‘s value prop succeeds by:
- Resonating with its entrepreneurial audience‘s desire for growth and success
- Claiming the leadership position in the market
- Backing up its claims with evidence of widespread adoption and trusted use cases
2. Salesforce: "Bring companies and customers together."
Salesforce is a cloud-based software company that provides CRM, marketing automation, and other business solutions. Its products are geared toward helping companies manage and improve customer relationships.
Salesforce‘s value proposition is aspirational. It elevates the role of its software beyond a sales and marketing tool to something that facilitates human connection. The phrase "Bring companies and customers together" feels people-centric, evoking unity and collaboration.
With this framing in mind, "Integrate marketing, sales, commerce, service, and IT teams from anywhere with Customer 360" takes on more meaning. Customer 360 isn‘t just a suite of business tools — it‘s the means to a more connected, customer-centric organization.
Some 150,000 companies use Salesforce today, highlighting the broad appeal of this type of messaging. Salesforce‘s value prop works because it:
- Taps into companies‘ desire to build strong customer relationships
- Differentiates with an emotional, human-centered tone rather than tech jargon
- Paints a picture of cross-functional alignment that sounds ideal to its busy, enterprise audience
3. Zoom: "The leader in modern enterprise video communications"
Zoom is a video conferencing platform that enables virtual meetings, webinars, phone calls, and chat. Its user base spans startups to global enterprises.
Declaring itself "the leader in modern enterprise video communications", Zoom‘s value prop takes a direct, self-assured tone. This positions the company as the premier solution in a crowded market of video conferencing tools.
Zoom goes on to specify that its "easy, reliable cloud platform" supports "video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars". These additional capabilities showcase the breadth of Zoom‘s offering compared to more limited alternatives.
The emphasis on ease of use and reliability (two of the most important video conferencing features) also sets Zoom apart. This promise is validated by the impressive usage statistics cited on its website:
- 300 million daily meeting participants
- 10 billion annual meeting minutes
- Used by over half of Fortune 500 companies
Zoom‘s value proposition hits the mark because it:
- Exudes confidence and authority in a busy space
- Demonstrates the robustness of its product without losing simplicity
- Chooses differentiators validated by usage data from respected companies
4. Dropbox: "Keep life organized and work moving—all in one place."
Dropbox is a file hosting service that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, and collaboration features. It serves individuals and teams of all sizes.
Rather than just listing product capabilities, Dropbox‘s value proposition focuses on the benefits for the user. The opening line "Keep life organized and work moving" speaks to two of Dropbox‘s core value adds: organizing your files and enabling smoother workflows.
The subheading "Dropbox brings everything—traditional files, cloud content, and web shortcuts—together in one place" elaborates on the "how". It conveys the breadth of content types supported in an intuitive, jargon-free way.
This user-centric messaging is backed up by specific features mentioned throughout the site, like:
- 256-bit AES encryption and two-factor authentication
- Integration with over 100,000 third-party apps
- Granular sharing permissions and link controls
- Document scanning, searching, and editing capabilities
Dropbox‘s value prop succeeds because it:
- Leads with real user benefits, not just features
- Covers the core functionality concisely and accessibly
- Demonstrates value through supporting features and integrations
5. DocuSign: "Agree better with DocuSign eSignature."
DocuSign is an electronic signature and agreement platform. Its products enable the signing and management of contracts and other legal documents online.
DocuSign‘s value prop hinges on a clever tagline: "Agree better with DocuSign eSignature." In two simple words "agree better", it sums up the core benefit of electronic signatures: reaching agreements faster and more efficiently.
The specificity of "DocuSign eSignature"—as opposed to a generic "electronic signature"—helps it stand out from the many similar tools on the market. And DocuSign asserts its dominance by describing it as "the world‘s #1 way to send and sign from practically anywhere, at any time."
To add substance to these claims, DocuSign cites compelling usage data:
- More than 1 million customers and a billion users worldwide
- An average of 25,000 new registrations per day
- Used by 14 of the top 15 U.S. financial companies and 800+ federal, state, and local government agencies
DocuSign‘s value proposition works well because it:
- Uses a catchy tagline to boil down a key benefit
- Pushes its brand name and product over a generic capability
- Supports its "#1" positioning with social proof and usage stats
6. Canva: "Design like a pro, with ease."
Canva is an online design platform that makes it easy to create graphics and visual content. It offers an intuitive drag-and-drop editor and customizable templates for everything from social media posts to marketing materials.
Canva‘s value proposition centers around easy professional design: "Design like a pro, with ease." This draws a clear contrast to complex, expensive tools like Adobe Creative Suite, which have a steep learning curve.
The subheading spells out the core use case: "Canva is a free-to-use online graphic design tool. Use it to create social media posts, presentations, posters, videos, logos and more." It paints Canva as a one-stop-shop for visual content, showing the range of projects it supports.
Canva‘s homepage is full of specific proof points that illustrate the ease and flexibility of the tool:
- 250,000 customizable templates
- 100+ design types (social media posts, presentations, letters, and more)
- Hundreds of thousands of free photos and graphics
- Collaborate and comment on designs in real-time
- Available on web, iOS, and Android
Canva‘s value prop is effective because it:
- Speaks to a felt need of its target audience (easier design)
- Draws a contrast to the most common alternative
- Demonstrates the benefit (ease of use) through relevant features and use cases
7. Mailchimp: "Grow your business on your terms."
Mailchimp is an email marketing and automation platform. It enables businesses to create, send, and track email campaigns, newsletters, and other customer communications.
"Grow your business on your terms" is an empowering value proposition that puts the customer in the driver‘s seat. It suggests Mailchimp is an accessible, customizable solution that will help you achieve your unique business goals.
The line "Bring your audience data, marketing channels, and insights together so you can reach your goals faster—all from a single platform" highlights Mailchimp‘s key differentiators. Whereas many email tools only provide email features, Mailchimp offers multi-channel marketing tools, audience management, and analytics all in one place.
These claims are backed up by tangible product capabilities cited throughout the site:
- Reach inboxes, social feeds, and more with just a few clicks
- Get AI-powered recommendations to improve results
- Use pre-built segments and tags to target the right people
- Track sales and revenue from each email marketing campaign
Mailchimp‘s value prop hits the mark because it:
- Focuses on the customer‘s goals, not its own product
- Emphasizes key differentiators like multi-channel tools and unified data
- Shows how specific features deliver on the high-level benefits promised
8. Intercom: "The #1 Customer Communications Platform"
Intercom is a customer messaging platform that enables sales, marketing, and support teams to communicate with customers across channels. Its products span live chat, email, in-app messaging, and more.
Intercom‘s value proposition declares it "The #1 Customer Communications Platform". Describing itself as a holistic "Customer Communications Platform"—not just a messaging tool—sets it apart from more limited alternatives. And as in other examples, the "#1" designation suggests category leadership.
The subheading "Build stronger customer relationships through personalized, messenger-based experiences across the customer journey" adds nuance. It clarifies that Intercom isn‘t just for reactive support, but for proactive relationship-building throughout the customer lifecycle.
To back up its claims, Intercom notes that it powers 500 million monthly conversations and is used by more than 25,000 organizations, including Facebook, Amazon, and Lyft. It also cites specific product capabilities that enable personalized messaging at scale:
- Detailed customer profiles with CRM data, conversation history, and more
- Smart campaign audience building based on user behavior and attributes
- Real-time messaging across email, push, and in-app messages
- Chatbots to automate conversations and send messages at key points in the customer journey
Intercom‘s value prop is persuasive because it:
- Elevates its category and touts its leadership position in it
- Clarifies the range of use cases and teams it supports
- Lends specificity and credibility with customer examples and functionality
9. Gusto: "It‘s time to tame the chaos of payroll, benefits, and HR."
Gusto is a cloud-based payroll, benefits, and human resource management platform. It combines HR, payroll, and benefits management into a single solution.
Gusto‘s value prop leads with a pain point: "It‘s time to tame the chaos of payroll, benefits, and HR." HR administrative tasks like payroll are often burdensome and siloed, so this statement is designed to resonate with teams struggling to keep up.
"One intuitive place to manage payroll, benefits, and more for your teams" positions Gusto as the simple solution. Consolidating core HR functions into one system is Gusto‘s key selling point compared to disjointed point solutions.
The Gusto website expands on how it streamlines HR tasks:
- Automated payroll tax filing and year-end tax forms
- Employee benefits administration and management
- PTO tracking, new hire onboarding, and employee document storage
- Alerts and reminders for important deadlines and compliance requirements
It also cites the impact: customers on average save 11 hours per month using Gusto‘s payroll, benefits, and HR tools.
Gusto‘s value proposition succeeds because it:
- Addresses a known pain point for its audience
- Differentiates with an all-in-one solution
- Demonstrates ease of use and time savings with specific features and metrics
10. Asana: "Organize work, so teams know what to do, why it matters, and how to get it done."
Asana is a web and mobile work management platform. It helps teams organize, plan, and execute their work, from daily tasks to strategic initiatives.
Asana‘s value prop speaks directly to a common team pain point: lack of clarity. The statement "Organize work, so teams know what to do, why it matters, and how to get it done" positions Asana as the antidote to ambiguity and disorganization.
Throughout its site, Asana specifies the benefits and results it enables teams to achieve:
- 1.9X faster for teams to manage and prioritize their work
- 26% less time spent on email and status meetings
- 2X more likely to hit their performance targets
- 24% faster for new employees to reach full productivity
These metrics draw a clear line from product functionality to meaningful outcomes. Asana is designed to make teams more organized, efficient, and aligned—and here‘s the data to prove it.
Additionally, Asana cites an impressive customer roster including Uber, The New York Times, Strava, Autodesk, Airbnb, and more. These logos provide strong social proof alongside the compelling value proposition copy.
Asana‘s value prop is persuasive because it:
- Speaks to the felt needs and goals of its target audience
- Quantifies the benefits and ROI of using its platform
- Builds trust by showcasing well-known customer success stories
The anatomy of a stellar value proposition
Shopify, Salesforce, Zoom, DocuSign, Canva, Mailchimp, Intercom, Gusto, and Asana are all vastly different companies with distinct audiences. Yet they share some core elements that make their value props shine:
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Customer-centricity: Each statement speaks directly to its target user and frames the value around their goals and needs.
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Specificity: From listing key product capabilities to citing usage metrics, these value props go beyond generic promises to convey a depth of value and credibility.
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Differentiation: Every example makes an argument for its unique value compared to alternatives, whether through an explicit callout (e.g. "the #1", "the leader") or by highlighting its most distinct features.
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Clarity: These value props are easy to digest at a glance. The companies avoid jargon in favor of simple, benefits-focused language.
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Validation: Usage data, customer logos, and other supporting points demonstrate the solution is successfully delivering on its promises.
How does your current value prop stack up to these criteria? Consider how you can apply these principles to craft a statement that makes your unique benefits crystal clear to your target buyer.
Your value proposition is the foundation of your messaging and positioning. Investing the time to get it right will pay dividends across your marketing and sales.
Take inspiration from the SaaS companies above and use the tips in this guide to create or refine a value prop that drives your business forward. You‘ve got this!