Performance-First Values Positioning
Win on customer outcomes before asking values to strengthen the choice
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 95%
Performance-First Values Positioning separates the reason a customer tries a product from the values that may strengthen the relationship. The company first defines a concrete result that competing products do not deliver and tests whether its offer performs at least as well as the alternatives. Ethical attributes such as vegan ingredients, cruelty-free production, or philanthropy remain real operating commitments, but they cannot carry an asterisk that excuses weak performance. Messaging then leads with the strongest customer-facing differentiator and lets values reinforce the purchase. Bodnar says some Thrive customers do not know the products are vegan or that the company gives back, yet buy because the products work. This protects the mission from becoming a substitute for product-market value while allowing purpose to support community and retention.
Origin
Bodnar found that Thrive customers often bought for high performance even when they did not know the products were vegan, cruelty-free, or connected to charitable giving.
Core principles
- 01Customers need a product outcome before a values story
- 02Ethical constraints cannot excuse weaker performance
- 03A brand should lead with its strongest differentiator
- 04Values deepen loyalty but do not automatically create demand
How to run it
- 1
Define the outcome
State what the product does better for the customer. Use an observable benefit rather than a broad claim about being good.
Pro tip Describe the result in the customer's language.
- 2
Hold performance constant
Require the ethical option to match or outperform the alternatives that customers already use.
Watch out Do not ask customers to tolerate poor performance because the company has good values.
- 3
Find the lead differentiator
Determine whether performance, values, or another benefit is the strongest reason for the target customer to choose the product.
Pro tip Different audiences may notice different benefits, so use customer evidence.
- 4
Layer the values story
Explain ethical practices and purpose as additional reasons to trust and remain connected to the brand.
Pro tip Show how the values shape product decisions instead of presenting them as decoration.
- 5
Check the purchase logic
Ask whether the offer would still solve a meaningful problem if the customer missed the values message. If not, strengthen the product case.
Watch out Attention to purpose can hide weak demand if product performance is not measured separately.
In the wild
Unable to use beeswax in products such as eyeliner and eye brightener, Bodnar discarded the conventional formula and explored pigments used in microblading. The ethical constraint became an input to product innovation rather than an excuse for compromise.
→ The brand could offer vegan positioning alongside a differentiated performance claim.
Common mistakes
Selling the mission instead of the result
Purpose may attract attention, but customers still need the product to do something useful and differentiated for them.
Adding an ethical-performance asterisk
A values claim loses force when it is paired with an expectation of inferior performance.
Is it for you?
Best for
Consumer brands that combine a functional product promise with ethical or social values.
Not ideal for
Pure donation programs or advocacy organizations that do not sell a functional product.
From the transcript
“people purchase our products because they're high performance and because they're doing something that they can't get elsewhere”
“it has to actually perform better than the competition”
“you always have to lead with what's going to be your key differentiator”
From the episode
Karissa Bodnar, Thrive Causemetics Founder: Entrepreneurship Gave Me The Freedom To Donate $150M in Value to Over 500 Charities
Karissa Bodnar