Whether you are an existing business owner or starting a new venture, you may have heard the term Unique Selling Proposition (USP). USP makes you stand out from your competitors with messaging and reinforces the idea that buying from you is going to solve their unique problem.
The global markets are at an all-time high and so is the number of growing businesses. The e-commerce industry is projected to grow by 39% by 2027, so it’s easier for businesses to directly reach their customers and at the same time challenging as their competitors are doing just that.
Unique Selling Proposition can positively influence to get more leads or increase eCommerce sales as it has the power to create a strong impact on your prospect’s mind.
Let’s go deeper and understand why you need it, how you can write it and also see the best unique selling proposition examples.
Table of contents:
- What is a Unique Selling Proposition?
- How to Write a Unique Selling Proposition?
- Unique Selling Proposition Examples
What is a Unique Selling Proposition?
A Unique Selling Proposition meaning by definition is a desirable, exclusive, and believable advertising appeal that is selected as the theme of a campaign.
Let’s break down each element:
- Advertising Appeal: The centre of why and how you are advertising the product/service.
- Desirable: The appeal has to be what exactly your customers are looking for.
- Exclusive: The appeal has to be unique and exclusive from your competition.
- Believable: It has to be realistic and achievable as otherwise, it leads to mistrust and loss of promotional dollar
When you are aware the products/services are unique and you combine them with a proposition that speaks to your customers, you have a USP.
Some of the Unique Selling proposition examples can be:
- Groceries that are delivered within minutes
- No questions asked return policy
- The first eye frame for free
- Eco-friendly straws that are not paper and stay sturdy
Unique Selling Proposition in Marketing
Let’s take a step back and understand the role of Unique Selling proposition has on your current marketing mix and ultimately your Marketing Dollars.
The DAGMAR (Defining Advertising Goals for Measuring Advertising Goals) approach insists that businesses define goals in advertising to help measure the change in the effectiveness of one or more parameters. This is what all your marketing efforts are also leading to.
So, once the goals are defined we move to Advertising Appeal which is the reason why people buy your products/services. The appeal helps to target specific needs with one campaign.
This means you can create a specific Unique Selling Proposition for an appeal, check the effectiveness of campaigns and iterate the USP based on the results.
Some brands have revisited their successful USPs because the results were exceptional. You can learn more about them in Unique Selling Proposition Examples.
Usually, the appeal is quite broad and can be divided into sub-campaigns that focus on different appeals at once.
Some common advertising appeals are:
- Environmental Awareness: Focuses on preserving the environment and awareness among the community.
- Health: Appeals to individuals who are health conscious or want to be more health conscious.
- Profit: Appeals to the money in individual’s pockets by helping them save money, earn more money or keep them from losing money
- Vanity and Egotism: Appeal used for expensive and high-ticket items like cars and luxury goods
How to Write a Unique Selling Proposition
In the marketing world, it’s commonplace for one to “Sell the Sizzle, not the Steak”. Simply put focus on attributes, and feelings rather than just product qualities.
The formula for writing a Unique Selling Proposition that brings in more business is to:
- Define: Define the advertising appeal and the outcome of the USP
- Keep your audience in mind: You know what your audience likes and dislikes. Please stick to it.
- Research: Make sure you are unique and are not copying any other business. Find where your competitors are advertising online.
- Create a Message: What do you want your customers to feel when they read the USP? Get a great content writer to create a message that is crisp, memorable and non-generic. This is a crucial step.
- Test and Iterate: Go one step ahead and do A/B testing to check multiple Unique Selling Propositions. See what is clicking with your audience.
Remember the USP is not just a statement, it’s what you want your audience to feel about you. Take your time, be authentic and you’ll get the best outcomes.
To get a starting point, you can take inspiration from the best Unique Selling Proposition Examples
Unique Selling Proposition Examples
Marketers all over the world have done a beautiful job in writing USPs that helped to change the face of brands
Let’s look at Unique Selling Proposition examples of our favourite brands worldwide:
eCommerce Unique Selling Proposition examples
1. Amazon: The Everything Store
Amazon is a one-stop online store for literally anything one might need. The platform is a marketplace and what better to communicate this than by using A to Z Store or The Everything Store as their USP
When we analyse the USP, it’s short, crisp, to the point and easily transferable. Amazon uses it in their logo, marketing and generating vendor-side campaigns. This allows them to directly market two different sections – customers and vendors with one USP.
2. eBay: Everyone Has A Thing
eBay’s USP Everyone has a thing that appeals to the ‘why’ people come to eBay and also that individuality and your quirks are celebrated here. This appeals to inclusivity and feels like a big welcome to people.
When analysing the USP, the message resonates with the attributes rather than the characteristics of the platform. This USP is used by super niche brands or premium brands to make one feel important.
3. Alibaba: To The Greatness of Small
Alibaba is primarily used by small and medium businesses that are looking to resell their products in other marketplaces. As products are produced in bulk and sell cheaper than others, the USP amplifies the work done by the resellers and calls them ‘Great’
The USP is a fresh take on how value products are seen and emphasises the power of starting small. It’s a great example of how to write a USP for value products/services without mentioning price.
The Campaign was launched during the Winter Olympics by Alibaba and the eCommerce platform managed Olympic stakeholders to engage and connect with fans seeking official Olympic-licensed products.
Learn more about the campaign.
4. Shopify: Make Commerce Better for Everyone
Shopify’s USP is one the best Unique Selling Proposition Examples because it’s dynamic. Instead of appealing to attributes, it employs a promise to keep innovating and making the commerce journey easy for everyone
It is a reflection of Innovativeness and emphasises the fact that they listen to their customers. For the Technical industry, it’s important to list their characteristics in USP and differentiate yourself.
5. Walmart: We Save People Money So They Can Live Better
Writing a USP when you differentiate on price can be tricky, however, Walmart does it without a hitch. The reason is the USP focuses on how the prices are lower rather than just communicating it.
Their customers value both quality and price and Walmart knows how to capture the essence. Their intent to wow customers and maintain transparency shows in the USP.
Clothing Unique Selling Proposition Examples
6. Levi Strauss & Co: Buy Better, Wear Longer
Levi’s is an age-old brand whose campaigns are now focused on environmentalists in their customers and reflected in their USP. If you are a sustainable brand, you can take notes directly from Levi’s.
While analysing the USP, it talks about the ‘why’ of buying from them is better. The answer is the product is quality and it’ll last you a long time. This strategy is especially helpful for brands with a focus on creating a Brand image.
Visit a detailed guide on this.
7. Adidas: Impossible is Nothing
Sometimes your USP is so good, you revisit it after 15 years and still stay relevant. This iconic USP is an expression of Adidas and has become part of its Brand Identity.
What sets it apart is the focus on innovation, inclusivity and sustainability in just three words. This worked as an expression for Adidas and is super helpful for brands who focus on niche or custom Clothes or Jewellery.
Check out the official guide.
8. Uniqlo: Made for All
Uniqlo’s USP is unique in itself as it offers inclusivity for all genders, ages, and ethnicities and condenses into 3 words. Uniqlo’s commitment to providing high-quality, affordable clothing for everyday wear has become a key driver of their success.
The USP is unique as it emphasises the thought behind the existence of the brand. It becomes a part of Brand Identity and customers who resonate with it, start expressing Brand love.
Visit the Uniqlo page for more.
9. Chanel: To be Irreplaceable, One must be Different
The USP was coined by Coco Chanel, founder of Chanel and it exactly describes the working and existence of Chanel. In the world of Luxury, differentiation comes from finer details like stitching styles, and materials used and vary with every launch.
This USP is a part of the brand identity and appeals directly to the vanity and egotism of the customers who are going to buy them. It is a great example of how you attract similar-minded individuals.
10. Nike: Just Do It
Nike’s USP is as iconic as the brand itself because it focuses on the attributes of being an athlete. It positions Nike products as tools for athletes to push themselves beyond their limits.
The USP is not standalone in this case. A lot of marketing push is on creating stories and compelling the target audience to relate to Nike leading to Brand Love. One can take inspiration from Nike to be iconic and stick to their USPs for good.
Food & Drinks Unique Selling Proposition Examples
11. Snickers: You are not you when you are Hungry
The USP appeals to the hunger of their audience and that their product can satisfy the hunger for good. The USP compels one to think of Snickers as a go-to choice to keep for hunger rather than a snack.
The category shift from a usual confectionary to an everyday bar is brilliant. That’s why this USP is used in the bar packaging and all the advertisements. While looking for ideas, keep in mind that Snickers changed its category with one USP.
Learn more about the campaign.
12. Coca-Cola: Taste the Feeling
Coca-Cola’s Unique Selling Proposition talks about the feeling one gets when one drinks Coca-Cola and positions it as a source of enjoyment and happiness. This answers the ‘Why’ and appeals to human emotions in one.
This USP works well for products that are low involvement and whose decision-making is quick. If the USP talks about attributes like feelings rather than characteristics like natural or handmade, the impact is much more profound.
Read the news coverage about this.
13. Starbucks: Our Barista Promise: Love your beverage or let us know. We’ll always make it right
The barista promise from Starbucks lets you customise your coffee drink in more than 170,000 ways. The USP sets the brand apart from competitors by emphasising an offering of customisable drinks.
The USP makes the low involvement decision of getting Coffee to a high involvement one by emphasizing customizability. It works well for brands who are positioned as a premium in their category.
14. Dunkin: America runs on Dunkin
Ben Runs on Dunkin’ starring Ben Affleck (Full Version)
Dunkin appeals to the masses by focusing on quality, value and fast pace which closely resembles the American way of living. The USP captures the entire emotion well, as it focuses on mass rather than a premium segment.
This is one of the balanced Unique selling proposition examples, that relates to its target audience and builds a brand identity. This USP is not campaign-specific and can be used in other marketing media.
Australian Businesses Unique Selling Proposition Examples
15. Australia Post: Your Requests, Our Deliveries
Australia Post stands out as a leading postal and courier service provider in Australia, consistently adding innovative strategies to maintain competitiveness and elevate business standards.
Their latest advertising USP, “You Ask. We Deliver,” resonates strongly, encapsulating their commitment to prompt and reliable service.
Australia Post now offers two two-hour delivery notifications, ensuring customers no longer need to wait indefinitely for their packages.
According to Australia Post (in the above video description), it is for parcels matched to a MyPost account. You ask. We deliver.
