Testing Solution Desirability (aka Positioning)

Testing solution desirability isn't just about having a great product; it's about positioning it effectively in the market. I remember speaking with an engineer a few years back and he had a profound dislike for anything to do with marketing. He believed that a product should speak for itself and the best product would win in the market. Unfortunately, that's not the case. There are plenty of examples of great products that failed because they weren't positioned effectively.

People have limited time and are inundated with marketing messages. You need to make sure your message is clear, concise and compelling because even if your solution is amazing, if your positioning is off, you won't get the traction you need and your experiments will fail.

Positioning 101

Positioning is the art of defining where your product fits in the market, how it stands out, and why it matters to your customers. April Dunford breaks down positioning into a five step process in her book Obviously Awesome.

1. Who are your competitors?

2. What makes you unique?

3. How is your product useful for customers?

4. Who cares deeply about this product?

5. What market should you focus on first?

At its core, positioning is about creating a message that resonates with your target audience. It's about understanding their pain points and how your product can solve them.

Positioning in Action: Meet ProjectAI

Let’s imagine a hypothetical product, ProjectAI, an AI powered project tracking system. We know that our new AI features will make project scheduling a breeze. But before we invest in building the full, and expensive, product we want to gauge the market interest in the product.

Mistake 1: Feature-Focused Positioning

If we look at our competitors we can see things like Jira, MS Project and others. We are clearly better than them because we have AI in our name! Therefore to attract interest we should lean into our unique selling point (USP) of AI.

We come up with our first slogan: "The most advanced AI-powered project tracking system with real-time collaboration features"

This positioning falls into the common trap of focusing on features rather than benefits. While this highlights a differentiator, it doesn’t explain why it’s valuable to customers.We’re leaving people to connect the dots between what an AI system can do and how that will impact them on a day-to-day basis. When going up against the market leader you need to be more explicit about the value you provide.

Mistake 2: Highlight Value but Lacking Specificity

The team reviewed their customer research and found that project managers were spending up to 40% of their time on admin tasks. The biggest pain points were resource conflicts (when one delayed project created a domino effect across the team), and scope management (hours spent recalculating timelines and budgets when clients requested changes).

This perfectly aligns with the value our AI features can provides because they automate resource allocation and project scheduling. By focusing on the benefits, we can show how our product can help project managers save time and reduce errors.

The team came up with a new slogan: “Reclaim 2 days a week: Let your AI copilot automate away your scheduling headaches”.

This positioning is better as it focuses on benefits, but it's too generic. It could apply to virtually any productivity tool. The attempt to appeal to everyone results in connecting with no one. It's like a restaurant claiming to serve "good food for everyone"—it lacks the specificity that makes it memorable or compelling.

Narrowing in on the market

When looking through the research again, the team noticed that it was design agencies who were the most vocal about the challenges. They had a lot of parallel projects that they were juggling and the resource allocation challenges were harder than for internal project managers because they also had to deal with different stakeholders for each project. The team decided to focus in on this market niche.

AI project planning for agencies
Deliver projects 30% faster with automated resource allocation and client approval workflows

This positioning is much stronger. It zeroes in on a group that deeply values the solution and communicates how ProjectAI supports their specific needs.

Positioning Ladder: Expanding Over Time

I assume your initial reaction will be similar to mine: “Our product is valuable to everyone so it doesn’t make sense to limit our market unnecessarily?”. And the business case probably relies on you getting much more traction as well!

Your vision is likely going to be broader than the initial positioning, but that is not a problem because positioning isn’t static. The initial focus on a niche is part of a larger strategy to land and expand. By winning over one group, you build credibility, learn customer nuances, and refine your product. From there, you can expand your positioning to address adjacent markets.

Let’s use HubSpot as an example. The initial niche was as an inbound marketing tool for small businesses. The decided to do category expansion first by taking over more of the marketing stack, adding marketing automation and Content Management System (CMS) tools to their offering. After this they decided on horizontal expansion into Sales and Customer Support. Today they market as “Software and Tools for your Business”. This positioning would not have worked for them as a small startup but they have built up the brand and customer base to afford to position more generically.

The positioning ladder ensures you don’t dilute your message by trying to reach everyone at once. Instead, you grow credibility and value through strategic focus.

Three Golden Rules of Positioning

1. Be Specific, Not Generic
   The more specific your positioning, the more it resonates with your audience. Generic claims lack emotional impact and fail to differentiate your product.

2. Align with Your Audience’s Needs
   Frame your messaging around the customer’s pain points and desires. Highlight how your solution fits into their world and makes it better.

3. Iterate and Test Continuously
   Positioning evolves as you learn about your audience and market. Use A/B testing on collateral to refine messaging based on real-world feedback.

Conclusion: Positioning for Growth

Testing solution desirability isn’t just about the product—it’s about how you communicate its value. Clear positioning ensures your product stands out in a crowded market, resonates deeply with your audience, and builds a strong foundation for growth.

By starting with a focused niche, you can create messaging and collateral that not only validates desirability but propels your product toward long-term success.