Value Innovation: How Differentiation and Low Cost Can Happen Together
Most organizations think of improvement as a straight line—either make things fancier and pricier, or strip them down and undercut on price. The real leap comes from breaking this mindset entirely. This is the heart of value innovation: raising value for users while also lowering costs in ways others think impossible.
Take, for example, a local after-school drama club stuck with low attendance. Every year, leaders tinker with the scripts or ask for fancier costumes, only to see costs rise without new faces joining the audience. One day, they ask families which events brought the most laughs and what made people actually show up. Turns out, most came for the creative improvisations and the chance for friends to participate—not the elaborate props.
Pausing to consider, the leaders eliminate three expensive set-building days and introduce “audience challenge” nights, where anyone can jump into a role on the spot. Money and time are saved, excitement grows, and the club suddenly draws both regulars and newcomers. The secret wasn’t just efficiency or flash but deeply considering what people value and what they don’t.
In behavioral economics, this is called breaking the “value-cost trade-off”—refusing to choose between better and cheaper, and instead inventing a new mix. When you map your own efforts and costs honestly, you may find room for unexpected breakthroughs.
Get clear about what you actually offer and where the time and money sink in. Invite your users, friends, or customers to point out what they care about most—forget the rest for a moment. Then, look those features you could drop or scale back right in the eye, and imagine the freedom or relief if you just let them go. Finally, have fun brainstorming one or two totally fresh elements that could create new delight. Try sketching this all as a map. Don’t settle for small fixes—use the space to craft something meaningfully different, without growing your budget.
What You'll Achieve
You build the skills to look past traditional choices, freeing up resources for creativity and real customer value. Externally, you can provide more appealing offerings at lower cost, increasing satisfaction and impact.
Build Your Own Value Innovation Map
List core features and costs of your offering.
On a piece of paper, write down all the main elements you deliver—what you or your product offers—and next to each, the effort, time, or money each costs.
Circle features customers truly value.
Ask friends or users which features they really use or enjoy. Circle only those that people mention most often.
Identify which features or costs you can eliminate or reduce.
Find the elements that are expensive or complicated but little appreciated by customers. Honestly consider what would happen if you dropped or minimized them.
Brainstorm new elements to add or strengthen for customers.
Think about entirely new benefits or creative experiences people want, even if they aren’t common in your field. Add them to your map—don’t worry about how, yet.
Reflection Questions
- Which of my current efforts actually matter most to others?
- Where am I investing time or money just because it’s 'always done'?
- What bold new ideas could I test, even if they’re outside the norm?
- What’s the worst that could happen if I let go of a cherished but low-value feature?
Personalization Tips
- In a school club, remove activities that are costly but unpopular and introduce origin stories, guest speakers, or fun challenges.
- A neighborhood dog-walking service stops offering expensive printed flyers and replaces them with real-time photo updates that owners love.
- An online tutor trims the jargon in lessons but starts each class with engaging stories that students request.
Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant
Ready to Take Action?
Get the Mentorist app and turn insights like these into daily habits.