The 9 Building Blocks of the Business Model Canvas

The Business Model Canvas consists of 9 essential building blocks. But what are the 9 fields of the Business Model Canvas and what does each one mean? This article will give a rough overview of each of the 9 fields. For a more in-depth description of each, just click on the related links below

Customer Segments:

In the “Customer segments” field, enter who your customers are. Try to answer here for whom you create added value with your product. Who will use this product? Who is the target group? Is it about a niche or mass market? Is segmentation required to effectively target different customer groups? Further information and more in-depth explanations can be found in the main article: Customer segments

Value proposition:

The central field of the Business Model Canvas is the value proposition. Here you should enter a prioritized list of suitable value propositions for each customer segment. Do not think about functions and features of your product! Instead, start from the problem and then find things (services or products) that would benefit the customer and solve or alleviate his problem.

Go to the main article: Value proposition

Revenue streams:

Every company needs income to be viable. Therefore, it is important to think about suitable revenue streams in time. Usually, paying customers are the core of a business model. Then you have to ask yourself, how much are your customers willing to pay? More specifically, what value is each customer segment willing to pay for? How often are they willing to pay? What pricing models do you want to offer your customers? What payment methods do you plan to support?

For a more detailed description of revenue streams, go to the main article: Revenue streams

Channels:

The “Channels” field summarizes both the communication channels and the delivery channels (“Distribution”). That is, here you enter the channels through which you communicate with customers and through which the product is to be sold. the product is to be sold. The combination of these two channels is often criticized because they are very different elements of a business model. Many therefore consider these two points separately. But basically, try to answer the following questions here: Which channels do your customer segments want to be reached through? Which channels work best? How do you make your product known? In the end, this field should contain a list of communication and sales channels linked to the customer segments or personas.

Go to the main article: Channels

Customer relations:

In the Customer Relations field, you enter how you want to acquire new customers and how you want to retain them. The customer relationships should be tailored to each customer segment and will be built through the different channels. One of the most important questions you should ask yourself is whether the chosen type of customer relationship fits your business model. This is because it has a major impact on the overall customer experience.

Basically, there are many ways to attract, nurture and retain customers. Some of them are:

• Providing high-quality products and services to ensure customer satisfaction.
• Offering attractive discounts and special offers to entice customers
• Maintaining personal relationships with customers through regular contact and individual attention
• Offering free customer service and support to ensure customers always get help when they need it
• Creating a welcoming and pleasant atmosphere in stores or online to encourage customers to linger
• Offering customer loyalty programs and rewards to reward customers for remaining loyal customers.

Go to the main article: Customer relations

Key Activities:

The next step is to define the most important activities. What things do you need to do, or even be good at, to best deliver on your value proposition? In the end, this field should contain an overview of all key activities, linked to the respective value propositions and key resources. and the key resources, of all key activities.

Go to main article: Key activities

Key partners:

Not every activity necessarily has to be performed by you or your company. On the contrary, it often makes more sense financially or strategically if certain activities are done by someone else. In the “Key Partners” field, you can list which key partners you would like to work with and what core competencies they bring to the table. Examples of partners are: Suppliers, research partners, distributors, sales partners, freelancers,..etc.

Go to the main article: Key partners

Key resources:

Key resources describe the most important assets of your company that are necessary for the business model to function. What people, materials, intellectual resources, and budget does the company have or need? Key resources can be material, financial, intellectual or human.

Go to the main article: Key resources

Cost structure:

In the Cost Structure field, you should list the most important costs incurred in operating this business model. These include some of the more obvious costs such as manufacturing costs, rent, salaries, but also areas such as marketing activities. These costs are relatively easy to calculate once key resources, key activities and key partnerships have been identified.

Go to the main article: Cost structure