The "Zone of Benefit" framework
How to make your product the obvious choice in a crowded market
People fear change. If you want them to switch to your product, you’ve got to hit what Oji Udezue calls the “Zone of Benefit” to be the obvious choice. Here’s Oji’s breakdown of how.
Product expert Oji Udezue, formerly CPO at Typeform & Calendly, says when launching a disruptive product, you need to deliver FAR more benefit than existing options. This is the “Zone of Benefit.”
This framework helps founders, product managers, and investors decide whether their product is positioned for success–or if it’ll ultimately fail.
Here’s Oji’s framework to create products that get you into the Zone of Benefit:
1. Identify switching costs–what’s holding users back?
Most users won’t leave an existing solution just because yours is better. They stay because switching is hard:
Financial costs
Time investment
Fear of making a wrong decision
“The thing you’re battling is switching costs – the hard costs and the psychological: change aversion.”
To overcome this, you need to calculate 2 things:
The “do nothing” alternative: Inertia is often your biggest competitor
The actual costs: Financial, competitive, emotional barriers
2. Make switching a no-brainer
Being slightly better isn’t enough — you need to be dramatically better.
“People don’t like change. To lure them, you have to deliver something, like, 3x plus benefit.”
Oji points to Calendly, which didn’t just improve scheduling; it replaced inefficiency with a near-instant solution, turning a multi-step back-and-forth into a single-click workflow.
Your product should deliver an upgrade that’s instantly obvious. If customers have to think about whether it's worth switching? They probably won’t.
3. Remove the risk–Reduce the cost of loss
Customers fear making a bad decision—wasting time, money, or credibility–more than no decision.
Remove that fear through things like:
Low-friction onboarding, no long-term contracts, pay-as-you-go pricing, etc.
Freemium or trials
Social proof; build credibility through testimonials and case studies
“If I give you a product that’s 3x better but it has a free plan, or it’s freemium, it has a trial, you can check it out with no cost. Now your boss isn’t mad at you because you made a huge commitment.”
Takeaways
If you’re launching something new, ask yourself:
What will be a user’s hesitations to switch?
Is your product delivering 3x+ value?
Are you making it easy and risk-free to try?
Is adoption built into the experience?
If not, you’re asking customers to change but not giving them a real reason to.
What makes a product feel like a “no-brainer” in a crowded market?
Check out the full conversation with Oji here: