Value Proposition Canvas 🎁 Prompts

Purpose: The Value Proposition Canvas helps UX teams align user goals with business strategy by unpacking user jobs, pains, and gains relative to the product’s solutions. 

Design Thinking Phase: Define 

Time: 45–60 min session + 1–2 hours analysis 

Difficulty: ⭐⭐ 

When to use: When launching or repositioning a product around clearer valueTo align product strategy with validated user needsPrior to prototyping to sharpen the user–solution fit 

What it is

The Value Proposition Canvas is a strategic tool that visualises the relationship between what your product offers (Value Map) and what users want and need (Customer Profile). Developed by Strategyzer, it structures thinking around product–market fit by making implicit assumptions visible, testable, and designable.

📺 Video by Strategyzer. Embedded for educational reference.

Why it matters

Most UX teams work on delivering solutions — but can skip clarity around the problem, the user's true needs, or how value is perceived. The Value Proposition Canvas bridges that gap. It equips cross-functional teams to co-design with intent, ensuring the offering directly addresses the customer’s reality and not internal assumptions. For UX professionals, it strengthens storytelling, design rationale, and alignment with product and marketing teams.

When to use

• When developing new product features or ventures
• When redesigning legacy tools with uncertain user value
• When qualitative research results need to be synthesised into strategy

Benefits

• Rich Insights: Helps uncover user needs that aren’t visible in metrics.
• Flexibility: Works across various project types and timelines.
• User Empathy: Deepens understanding of behaviours and motivations.

How to use it

Here’s a typical approach for using the Value Proposition Canvas in your design workflow:

• Step 1: Define a target user segment — Be specific. Use personas, behavioural segmentation, or research insights.
• Step 2: Map their ‘Customer Profile’:     
  • Jobs to Be Done: What they’re trying to accomplish
• Pains: Barriers or anxieties during the job
• Gains: Desired outcomes and success signals  
• Step 3: Build the ‘Value Map’:     
  • Products & Services: What you offer to help
  • Pain Relievers: How you alleviate user pains
  • Gain Creators: How you generate value or enable success
• Step 4: Look for Fit — Compare left and right sides. Look for evidence-driven alignment or gaps worth testing.
• Step 5: Prioritise Opportunities — Use insights to guide design sprints, roadmap choices, and messaging experiments.

Example Output

In a fictional scenario, a UX team working on a financial wellness app for freelance workers maps their canvas as below:

• Customer Job: Track inconsistent income and plan savings
• Pain Point: Anxiety and complexity from variable payments
•  Gain: Peace of mind and control over budgeting
• Pain Reliever: Automatic income smoothing, smart alerts
• Gain Creator: A dashboard that projects "safe to spend" levels

The canvas helps them reframe from offering just a budgeting feature to becoming a trusted financial planning partner — shaping both UX copy and roadmap direction.

Common Pitfalls

• Too generic: Vague or high-level user jobs/gains reduce usefulness. Use real user quotes or behaviours.
• Solution-first thinking: Avoid filling in value map without first understanding the customer profile deeply.
• Treating it as a one-off exercise: The canvas should evolve with new research or pivots — not stay idle in figma exports.

10 Design-Ready AI Prompts for Value Proposition Canvas – UX/UI Edition

How These Prompts Work (C.S.I.R. Framework)

Each of the templates below follows the C.S.I.R. method — a proven structure for writing clear, effective prompts that get better results from ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, or any other LLM.

C.S.I.R. stands for:

• Context: Who you are and the UX situation you're working in
• Specific Info: Key design inputs, tasks, or constraints the AI should consider
• Intent: What you want the AI to help you achieve
• Response Format: The structure or format you want the AI to return (e.g. checklist, table, journey map)

 

Level up your career with smarter AI prompts. Get templates used by UX leaders — no guesswork, just results.Design faster, research smarter, and ship with confidence.First one’s free. Unlock all 10 by becoming a member.

Prompt Template 1: “Generate a Customer Profile for Our Target Segment”

Generate a Customer Profile for Our Target Segment

Context: You are a UX researcher synthesising findings from recent interviews with [freelance creatives] using a [digital financial planning tool].
Specific Info: You’ve gathered insights around their [financial stress, pain points, and digital usage habits].
Intent: Summarise the customer profile including Jobs to Be Done, Pains, and Gains.
Response Format: Provide a 3-section output: 1) Jobs to Be Done, 2) Pain Points, 3) Desired Gains.

If data is incomplete, ask what segment or persona data is available.
Then, suggest one area where additional research would help sharpen the value proposition fit.

Prompt Template 2: “Map Our Product Features to User Value”

Map Our Product Features to User Value

Context: You are a product designer reviewing existing features of a [mental health app] for [young adults].
Specific Info: You have a list of 8 top features and want to assess their strategic relevance.
Intent: Evaluate how each feature acts as a Gain Creator or Pain Reliever for the user.
Response Format: Provide a table with 4 columns: Feature, Addresses Which Job, Pain/Gain Addressed, Strategic Fit Score (1–5).

Ask if user segment or pain/gain list is still evolving.
Then suggest which features may need a UX case study or A/B test.

Prompt Template 3: “Design Research Questions to Validate a Value Proposition”

Design Research Questions to Validate a Value Proposition

Context: You are planning a research sprint to test the value of a [habit-tracking AI assistant] for [remote tech workers].
Specific Info: The prototype offers real-time nudges and motivational messages.
Intent: Generate testable research questions tied to specific user jobs, pains, and gains.
Response Format: Provide a list of 5–7 qualitative questions and 2 task-based validation scenarios.

If segmentation or job focus is vague, prompt for refinement.
Then suggest one usability signal that would support or refute the hypothesis.

Prompt Template 4: “Highlight Jobs or Gains Missing from Our Current Product”

Highlight Jobs or Gains Missing from Our Current Product

Context: You are analysing the experience of a [loyalty platform] used by [grocery shoppers on tight budgets].
Specific Info: You suspect your core features are focused on transactional benefits, not emotional or functional gains.
Intent: Identify overlooked opportunities in the customer profile that your product doesn’t currently address.
Response Format: List 3 Jobs, Pains or Gains that deserve higher priority and ideas for how to tackle them.

Ask what primary jobs have been validated already.
Then suggest a "wild card" user behaviour that could signal hidden value.

Prompt Template 5: “Compare Two Value Propositions Side by Side”

Compare Two Value Propositions Side by Side

Context: You’re preparing a pitch deck comparing two possible approaches for a [language learning platform].
Specific Info: One is gamified and daily-feedback based, the other focuses on peer-to-peer learning.
Intent: Objectively compare the user fit of each approach using the Value Proposition Canvas.
Response Format: Provide a side-by-side comparison table across all six canvas areas.

Ask if there’s existing research or assumptions you should factor in.
Then recommend which hypothesis should be tested in a prototype first.

Prompt Template 6: “Write UX Copy That Reinforces the Value Proposition”

Write UX Copy That Reinforces the Value Proposition

Context: You are a UX writer creating onboarding messaging for a [goal-setting app].
Specific Info: The app helps young professionals build micro-habits with small wins.
Intent: Craft copy that highlights Gain Creators without being salesy.
Response Format: Show 3 options for welcome text, each with a rationale linked to user Gains.

Ask if tone of voice or brand principles should be considered.
Then suggest an alternative CTA style grounded in user emotions.

Prompt Template 7: “Create Canvas-Based Personas”

Create Canvas-Based Personas

Context: You’re preparing vision artifacts for a cross-functional planning session.
Specific Info: You want to visualise 2 personas based entirely on the Value Proposition Canvas.
Intent: Create short-form personas that integrate jobs, pains, and gains directly.
Response Format: Provide 2 personas with name, role, key job, top pain, and top gain using sentence format.

Ask if existing personas should be adapted or reinvented.
Then suggest one way to share these with stakeholders interactively.

Prompt Template 8: “Audit Landing Page Content for Value Fit”

Audit Landing Page Content for Value Fit

Context: You are evaluating a landing page redesign for a [subscription food service].
Specific Info: The site focuses heavily on pricing and logistics.
Intent: Identify areas where value messaging can better match actual jobs, pains, or gains.
Response Format: Annotated list of 4–6 copy sections with suggestions for alignment or improvement.

Ask for a link or core messaging doc if content is unavailable.
Then suggest one A/B test suggestion to increase message resonance.

Prompt Template 9: “Facilitate a Canvas Workshop with Stakeholders”

Facilitate a Canvas Workshop with Stakeholders

Context: You are leading a value proposition alignment workshop with product and marketing leads.
Specific Info: The team has different opinions about who the product is really for.
Intent: Plan a collaborative session using the Value Proposition Canvas to drive alignment.
Response Format: Provide a workshop outline with agenda, roles, and activity prompts (90 mins total).

Ask what prep work or pre-reads are realistic.
Then suggest a follow-up artefact you can send post-workshop.

Prompt Template 10: “Turn a Canvas into UX Storytelling Slides”

Turn a Canvas into UX Storytelling Slides

Context: You need to present customer insights and product vision to execs and non-designers.
Specific Info: You’ve completed a Value Proposition Canvas for [first-time home buyers].
Intent: Translate insights into a 5–slide narrative focused on user value and positioning.
Response Format: Provide slide titles, core point per slide, and one supporting visual idea per slide.

Ask if the audience skews commercial, technical, or user-focused.
Then recommend one metaphor or story device to strengthen narrative flow.

Recommended Tools

• Strategyzer Value Proposition Canvas Tool
• Whimsical – Visual Collaboration for UX Mapping
• Miro – Stakeholder Workshop Kit
• Affinity – Research Repository Platform

Learn More

• NNGroup: UX Research & Design Articles
• Interaction Design Foundation – Topics
• Google Design Sprint Kit