Finding your productized service idea

Freelancers think in services. Productized businesses think in problems. That’s the shift.

Most designers believe that what they sell is design — UI, branding, UX audits, illustrations. But clients don’t buy design. They buy outcomes. They don’t want a new website, they want more conversions. They don’t need a UX audit, they need higher retention. They don’t care about a fancy logo, they want a brand that builds trust and sells.

This is why most designers struggle to sell their services at premium prices. They describe what they do, not the impact it has. And when clients don’t understand the impact, they compare you to the cheapest alternative.

If you want to stop being seen as just another freelancer, you need to package your work around solving a specific, valuable problem. Instead of saying, “I design websites,” say, “I create high-converting landing pages that turn visitors into paying customers.” Instead of offering “brand identity design,” offer “a brand positioning package that makes premium clients choose you over competitors.”

A productized service is a repeatable, specialized offer built around solving a painful, expensive problem — one that businesses are willing to pay for. The more urgent and costly the problem, the easier it is to sell your service.

How to find a profitable problem to solve

Start by looking at the past work you’ve done. What was the real impact? Not just “designed a landing page” or “optimized UX,” but what business metric improved? If you’ve helped increase sign-ups, reduce churn, drive more leads, or boost engagement, you already have proof of the value you bring. That’s the starting point for your productized service.

If you’re not sure what problem to focus on, ask yourself:

• Where do businesses lose money due to bad design?

• What are clients constantly asking for?

• What problem have I solved that had a measurable result?

Let’s say you’ve done UX work for SaaS startups. Instead of saying, “I offer UX/UI design,” think about the problems they actually face. Are they struggling with user onboarding? Are their dashboards overwhelming and leading to churn? Pick one painful issue and craft your service around fixing that specific problem.

A great productized service does three things:

Solves an urgent problem. If a business is losing customers because of bad UX, they’ll pay to fix it.

Has a clear, repeatable process. No custom proposals—just one streamlined workflow.

Produces a valuable outcome. Higher conversions, better retention, stronger brand perception.

Picking One Problem, One Offer, One Client

One of the biggest mistakes designers make is trying to be everything to everyone. Generalists struggle. Specialists thrive. The best way to create a high-value service is to focus on one problem, one offer, and one client type.

• One Problem: A clear pain point that businesses urgently need to fix.

• One Offer: A fixed-scope solution with a predictable process and price.

• One Client: A specific industry or business type that benefits most from this solution.

For example, instead of being a generic web designer, you could be:

• A specialist in conversion-focused landing pages for DTC brands.

• A SaaS onboarding UX expert who fixes activation drop-offs.

• A brand identity designer for early-stage tech startups.

This level of focus makes selling easier because clients immediately understand what you do and why it matters. They don’t have to guess if you’re the right fit.

In the next chapter, we’ll go deeper into how to package and price your service, so clients see it as a no-brainer investment.