Finding Common Ground: Validating a Unified AI-Powered CX Value Proposition Across IT and Business Buyers

A leading global provider of ERP, Cloud, and AI-powered business software partnered with Phronesis Partners to validate messaging for a new AI-powered CX platform ahead of launch.

The client needed to test market receptivity to three candidate value propositions and determine whether a single message could resonate with both IT and business decision makers. Phronesis delivered insights into message preference, perception, and language effectiveness—ensuring the platform's launch messaging was built on a foundation of data-driven insights.

Objective

With the buying decision for the integrated AI-powered CX platform expected to involve both IT and business decision makers, the client wanted to avoid the cost and complexity of running separate messaging tracks for each audience. The research needed to:

• Test receptivity to three candidate value propositions across the full buying committee
• Determine whether one message could appeal to both IT and business decision makers
• Identify which language and phrases drove clarity, interest, and believability
• Uncover the client's current brand-perception standing in the CX category

Research design and execution

Phronesis designed a quantitative research project to test message performance and inform go-to-market messaging:

• Forced-choice preference: Respondents saw all three value propositions and selected the one they found most compelling overall
• Multi-attribute message ratings: Each proposition was rated on clarity, ability to create interest, distinctiveness, and believability
• Open-ended verbatim analysis: Respondents highlighted the phrases they found most and least compelling, and named the provider they saw as best placed to deliver each promise

Target audience and scope

• 200 US-based decision makers: 140 business decision makers and 60 IT decision makers
• Business respondents spanned Marketing/Digital Commerce (60), Revenue/Sales or Customer Service (50), and Finance (30)
• Respondents represented a range of industries, with more than half in Retail, High Tech, Financial Services, or Professional Services

Results

The study uncovered key insights critical to finalizing a unified value proposition:

• One value proposition emerged as the clear favorite, built around a single autonomous system grounded in live business data—spanning ERP, finance, and supply chain rather than CRM data alone
• IT decision makers showed no strong preference among the three options, meaning the winning message worked with technical audiences without losing its edge with business buyers
• The winning message stood out most on believability and distinctiveness, with IT decision makers rating it slightly higher on these measures despite business buyers being more likely to choose it as their favorite
• The phrase "single, autonomous system" was consistently remembered and seen as compelling, while detailed data-architecture language was less appealing, especially to less technical respondents
• Respondents were more likely to associate each value proposition with other large enterprise software and CRM providers than with the client, pointing to a broader brand-perception opportunity

Impact

The research gave the client a clear, evidence-based answer: instead of creating separate messages for IT and business audiences, it could move forward with one unified value proposition. Key next steps include simplifying technical language around data architecture while preserving the core "single, autonomous system" idea, and briefing messaging and product marketing teams ahead of launch.

By grounding the platform's launch messaging in real buyer feedback, the client is positioned to:

• Move forward with a single, evidence-backed value proposition instead of testing additional options
• Speak credibly to both IT and business decision makers without diluting the message
• Address a broader brand-perception gap as it competes in the CX category