AI agent products tend to claim a lot. They answer calls, write code, book meetings and run workflows, and the homepage tries to say all of it at once. A buyer who reads that list learns that the product does many things, and learns nothing about whether it is for them.
Most AI agent pages say what the agent can do and never say who it is for. This post walks through a five step method based on April Dunford’s positioning components, with a fill in template and a worked example. It also covers the line most pages leave out: who the product is not for.
Key takeaways
Positioning an AI agent starts with the alternative the buyer uses today, which is often a person or a manual process, not another AI tool.
Narrowing the buyer makes the product easier to understand, not smaller. “Health systems” beats “enterprises.”
Add a Not For Line: one sentence saying who the product is not built for. It builds credibility and saves sales time.
The agent’s job should be described in verbs and in the buyer’s units.
Test positioning with five buyers before you write any copy.
What does positioning an AI agent product mean?
Positioning for an AI agent means deciding what the product is, who it is for and what it competes with, before you write a word of copy. April Dunford describes a five part framework: competitive alternatives, differentiated capabilities, the value those create, the target customers who care most, and the market category that makes the value obvious.
Summaries of her talk with Lenny Rachitsky describe positioning as defining how a product is the best in the world at delivering some value to a well defined set of customers. For an AI agent, “well defined set of customers” does most of the work.
Why agents need this more than other products: the AI startup category is crowded and the labels are loose. “AI agent,” “copilot” and “assistant” are used for very different things. A buyer who cannot place your product in a category they understand will not do the work of placing it for you.
What are the five steps of AI agent positioning?
Work through the five steps in order. Each one narrows the next.
Step | The question | Example for a phone agent |
|---|---|---|
1. Alternatives | What does the buyer do today? | A front desk team answering calls and a voicemail queue |
2. Capabilities | What does the agent do that those alternatives cannot? | Answers instantly, any hour, many calls at once |
3. Value | What does that make possible? | Fewer missed calls, staff time freed for patients in the room |
4. Buyer | Who cares most about that value? | Clinics and health systems with high call volume |
5. Category | What frame makes the value obvious? | “AI phone agent for patient calls” |
A common slip is to start at step 2 and describe the cool thing the AI does. Start at step 1. The alternative defines what “better” means to the buyer.
Pro tip: For many agents, the best competitive alternative is a human team. Position against that, using the buyer’s own cost and quality terms, before you compare yourself with other AI tools.
What is the Not For Line?
The Not For Line is one sentence that names who your product is not built for. It signals that you know your product’s edges, and it helps the right buyer recognize themselves.
It answers a question most pages skip: who is your AI agent for, and who is it not for? Most positioning says who a product is for. Few say who it is not for, which is why a Not For Line stands out. It also saves time, because a mismatched buyer leaves early instead of taking a demo.
Weak (for everyone) | Strong (with a Not For Line) |
|---|---|
“AI agents for every business” | “AI agents for hospital call centers. Not built for retail or ecommerce support.” |
“Automate your workflows” | “Automates finance operations at mid market companies. Not for teams that run on spreadsheets alone.” |
“The AI that works for you” | “An AI notetaker for sales teams. Not a general meeting recorder.” |
The examples above are illustrations, not claims about any real company. Write your own from your real customers.
Be accurate when you write it. A Not For Line that excludes buyers you actually serve will confuse your own sales team.
Also read: Product Messaging for AI Startups: What It Is and When to Hire Help
What does narrowing the buyer look like in practice?
Narrowing means replacing a broad buyer with a specific one and a specific job. We did this in a concept rewrite of Avaamo’s hero, reviewed on October 29, 2026. Avaamo is not a Kraftbase client, and we are not associated with the company.
The older version of the page we reviewed led with “Meet the AI contact center from the future.” Futurism is not an outcome, and no buyer was named. Our concept headline narrowed the buyer to health systems and the result to something a manager counts: “Resolve more patient calls without adding staff.” The subhead named the jobs in verbs: AI agents automate patient calls, appointments and refills.
Element | Before | Concept after |
|---|---|---|
Buyer | Unstated | Health systems |
Job | “Contact center” | Patient calls, appointments, refills |
Outcome | “The future” | More calls resolved without more staff |
Proof | Unclear | A call player and workflow view in the hero |
One caveat: healthcare only framing is a positioning recommendation from our review, not something we know the company wants. Avaamo’s live headline has since changed, so treat our capture as a dated snapshot.
Also read: AI Homepage Messaging Mistakes: 7 Fixes From Three Homepage Teardowns
How do you write the positioning statement?
Fill in this positioning statement for AI product pages, then cut every word that does not name a buyer, a job or a result.
For [specific buyer] who [situation or pain], [product name] is a [category in the buyer’s words] that [outcome in the buyer’s units]. Unlike [real alternative], it [key difference]. Not built for [who it is not for].
A filled in example, for an invented product:
For hospital call center managers who lose calls during peak hours, ClearLine is an AI phone agent that resolves routine patient calls without adding staff. Unlike voicemail queues and overflow vendors, it answers every call at once. Not built for retail support.
ClearLine is a made up company used only to show the template. Notice what is missing: no mention of “next generation,” “intelligent” or “autonomous.” The category, the buyer and the result carry the line.
Also read: How to Explain Your AI Product on Your Website
What are the most common mistakes when positioning an AI agent?
Naming every use case. A list of ten jobs reads as no job.
Comparing only with other AI tools. The real competitor is often a person or a process.
Using “autonomous” as a benefit. Buyers want results and control, not autonomy for its own sake.
Skipping the buyer. “Businesses” is not a buyer.
Writing the category last. If the buyer cannot place you, the rest does not land.
Never saying who it is not for. It makes the product look uncertain about itself.
How do you test your positioning before you write copy?
Test it with five buyers in a short conversation, before any page is designed.
Read the positioning statement aloud, without the product name.
Ask: what would you call this, and what do you use today to do it?
Ask: who in your company would care most?
Ask: when would you not use this?
Count how many give the category, the alternative and the buyer you intended.
If fewer than four of five match, revise the positioning, not the headline. Copy cannot rescue a positioning decision the buyer does not recognize.
Pro tip: Their answer to “what do you use today?” is a gift. Use their exact words for the alternative on your page.
Also read: How to Show AI Accuracy and Trust on a Landing Page
To see how we work, read our ORYN AI agent monitoring landing page and Simora AI simulation landing page case studies, or browse all of our case studies.
Keep reading: Product Messaging for AI Startups: What It Is and When to Hire Help, AI Homepage Messaging Mistakes: 7 Fixes From Three Homepage Teardowns and SaaS Website Messaging Audit: A 20 Point Checklist You Can Run in an Afternoon
Can you write your Not For Line today?
Send us your current positioning and we will mark where the buyer, the alternative and the category are unclear. Book a positioning review · See our work
Positioning an AI agent product FAQs
Start with the buyer’s current alternative, then name what the agent does better, the value that creates, the buyer who cares most and the category that makes it obvious. April Dunford’s five part framework covers these components. Then write a one sentence statement and test it with five buyers before drafting copy.
The buyer who feels the pain most and can buy fastest. That is usually a specific role in a specific kind of company, such as call center managers at health systems, not “enterprises.” Choose the segment where your product is clearly better than the alternative, and make that the headline buyer.
A positioning statement is one sentence naming the buyer, their situation, the product category, the outcome and the alternative the product beats. It is an internal tool that guides messaging, not usually the public tagline. Write it first, then derive the headline and subhead from it.
Yes. Kraftbase is a product messaging and UI/UX design studio for AI and B2B SaaS companies, and a design agency for AI startups. We run positioning and messaging work first, then design and build the pages, so the words and the layout come from the same decision.
Yes, briefly. A Not For Line shows you understand the product’s limits, helps the right buyers identify themselves and saves your sales team from poor fit demos. Keep it accurate, and do not exclude buyers you actually serve.
Positioning decides what the product is, who it is for and what it competes with. Messaging is the wording that expresses those decisions on your pages and in your pitch. Positioning comes first, and messaging is built from it.
Lead with one buyer and one primary job, and show others lower on the page or on separate pages. A homepage that lists ten jobs makes it hard for a buyer to see themselves in it. Expand to more use cases once the first one is clear and proven.
About the author
Dhaval Agrawal is the founder and CEO of Kraftbase, a product messaging and UI/UX design studio in Vadodara, India, that helps AI and B2B SaaS teams in the US, UAE and India explain and design what they’ve built.
Sources
April Dunford on product positioning, Lenny’s Newsletter and podcast
Summary of Dunford’s five component framework, transcript notes
Avaamo homepage capture, Oct 29, 2026, Kraftbase concept teardown (not client work)
Positioning review
Can you write your Not For Line today?
Send us your current positioning and we will mark where the buyer, the alternative and the category are unclear.
AI agent products tend to claim a lot. They answer calls, write code, book meetings and run workflows, and the homepage tries to say all of it at once. A buyer who reads that list learns that the product does many things, and learns nothing about whether it is for them.
Most AI agent pages say what the agent can do and never say who it is for. This post walks through a five step method based on April Dunford’s positioning components, with a fill in template and a worked example. It also covers the line most pages leave out: who the product is not for.
Key takeaways
Positioning an AI agent starts with the alternative the buyer uses today, which is often a person or a manual process, not another AI tool.
Narrowing the buyer makes the product easier to understand, not smaller. “Health systems” beats “enterprises.”
Add a Not For Line: one sentence saying who the product is not built for. It builds credibility and saves sales time.
The agent’s job should be described in verbs and in the buyer’s units.
Test positioning with five buyers before you write any copy.
What does positioning an AI agent product mean?
Positioning for an AI agent means deciding what the product is, who it is for and what it competes with, before you write a word of copy. April Dunford describes a five part framework: competitive alternatives, differentiated capabilities, the value those create, the target customers who care most, and the market category that makes the value obvious.
Summaries of her talk with Lenny Rachitsky describe positioning as defining how a product is the best in the world at delivering some value to a well defined set of customers. For an AI agent, “well defined set of customers” does most of the work.
Why agents need this more than other products: the AI startup category is crowded and the labels are loose. “AI agent,” “copilot” and “assistant” are used for very different things. A buyer who cannot place your product in a category they understand will not do the work of placing it for you.
What are the five steps of AI agent positioning?
Work through the five steps in order. Each one narrows the next.
Step | The question | Example for a phone agent |
|---|---|---|
1. Alternatives | What does the buyer do today? | A front desk team answering calls and a voicemail queue |
2. Capabilities | What does the agent do that those alternatives cannot? | Answers instantly, any hour, many calls at once |
3. Value | What does that make possible? | Fewer missed calls, staff time freed for patients in the room |
4. Buyer | Who cares most about that value? | Clinics and health systems with high call volume |
5. Category | What frame makes the value obvious? | “AI phone agent for patient calls” |
A common slip is to start at step 2 and describe the cool thing the AI does. Start at step 1. The alternative defines what “better” means to the buyer.
Pro tip: For many agents, the best competitive alternative is a human team. Position against that, using the buyer’s own cost and quality terms, before you compare yourself with other AI tools.
What is the Not For Line?
The Not For Line is one sentence that names who your product is not built for. It signals that you know your product’s edges, and it helps the right buyer recognize themselves.
It answers a question most pages skip: who is your AI agent for, and who is it not for? Most positioning says who a product is for. Few say who it is not for, which is why a Not For Line stands out. It also saves time, because a mismatched buyer leaves early instead of taking a demo.
Weak (for everyone) | Strong (with a Not For Line) |
|---|---|
“AI agents for every business” | “AI agents for hospital call centers. Not built for retail or ecommerce support.” |
“Automate your workflows” | “Automates finance operations at mid market companies. Not for teams that run on spreadsheets alone.” |
“The AI that works for you” | “An AI notetaker for sales teams. Not a general meeting recorder.” |
The examples above are illustrations, not claims about any real company. Write your own from your real customers.
Be accurate when you write it. A Not For Line that excludes buyers you actually serve will confuse your own sales team.
Also read: Product Messaging for AI Startups: What It Is and When to Hire Help
What does narrowing the buyer look like in practice?
Narrowing means replacing a broad buyer with a specific one and a specific job. We did this in a concept rewrite of Avaamo’s hero, reviewed on October 29, 2026. Avaamo is not a Kraftbase client, and we are not associated with the company.
The older version of the page we reviewed led with “Meet the AI contact center from the future.” Futurism is not an outcome, and no buyer was named. Our concept headline narrowed the buyer to health systems and the result to something a manager counts: “Resolve more patient calls without adding staff.” The subhead named the jobs in verbs: AI agents automate patient calls, appointments and refills.
Element | Before | Concept after |
|---|---|---|
Buyer | Unstated | Health systems |
Job | “Contact center” | Patient calls, appointments, refills |
Outcome | “The future” | More calls resolved without more staff |
Proof | Unclear | A call player and workflow view in the hero |
One caveat: healthcare only framing is a positioning recommendation from our review, not something we know the company wants. Avaamo’s live headline has since changed, so treat our capture as a dated snapshot.
Also read: AI Homepage Messaging Mistakes: 7 Fixes From Three Homepage Teardowns
How do you write the positioning statement?
Fill in this positioning statement for AI product pages, then cut every word that does not name a buyer, a job or a result.
For [specific buyer] who [situation or pain], [product name] is a [category in the buyer’s words] that [outcome in the buyer’s units]. Unlike [real alternative], it [key difference]. Not built for [who it is not for].
A filled in example, for an invented product:
For hospital call center managers who lose calls during peak hours, ClearLine is an AI phone agent that resolves routine patient calls without adding staff. Unlike voicemail queues and overflow vendors, it answers every call at once. Not built for retail support.
ClearLine is a made up company used only to show the template. Notice what is missing: no mention of “next generation,” “intelligent” or “autonomous.” The category, the buyer and the result carry the line.
Also read: How to Explain Your AI Product on Your Website
What are the most common mistakes when positioning an AI agent?
Naming every use case. A list of ten jobs reads as no job.
Comparing only with other AI tools. The real competitor is often a person or a process.
Using “autonomous” as a benefit. Buyers want results and control, not autonomy for its own sake.
Skipping the buyer. “Businesses” is not a buyer.
Writing the category last. If the buyer cannot place you, the rest does not land.
Never saying who it is not for. It makes the product look uncertain about itself.
How do you test your positioning before you write copy?
Test it with five buyers in a short conversation, before any page is designed.
Read the positioning statement aloud, without the product name.
Ask: what would you call this, and what do you use today to do it?
Ask: who in your company would care most?
Ask: when would you not use this?
Count how many give the category, the alternative and the buyer you intended.
If fewer than four of five match, revise the positioning, not the headline. Copy cannot rescue a positioning decision the buyer does not recognize.
Pro tip: Their answer to “what do you use today?” is a gift. Use their exact words for the alternative on your page.
Also read: How to Show AI Accuracy and Trust on a Landing Page
To see how we work, read our ORYN AI agent monitoring landing page and Simora AI simulation landing page case studies, or browse all of our case studies.
Keep reading: Product Messaging for AI Startups: What It Is and When to Hire Help, AI Homepage Messaging Mistakes: 7 Fixes From Three Homepage Teardowns and SaaS Website Messaging Audit: A 20 Point Checklist You Can Run in an Afternoon
Can you write your Not For Line today?
Send us your current positioning and we will mark where the buyer, the alternative and the category are unclear. Book a positioning review · See our work
Positioning an AI agent product FAQs
Start with the buyer’s current alternative, then name what the agent does better, the value that creates, the buyer who cares most and the category that makes it obvious. April Dunford’s five part framework covers these components. Then write a one sentence statement and test it with five buyers before drafting copy.
The buyer who feels the pain most and can buy fastest. That is usually a specific role in a specific kind of company, such as call center managers at health systems, not “enterprises.” Choose the segment where your product is clearly better than the alternative, and make that the headline buyer.
A positioning statement is one sentence naming the buyer, their situation, the product category, the outcome and the alternative the product beats. It is an internal tool that guides messaging, not usually the public tagline. Write it first, then derive the headline and subhead from it.
Yes. Kraftbase is a product messaging and UI/UX design studio for AI and B2B SaaS companies, and a design agency for AI startups. We run positioning and messaging work first, then design and build the pages, so the words and the layout come from the same decision.
Yes, briefly. A Not For Line shows you understand the product’s limits, helps the right buyers identify themselves and saves your sales team from poor fit demos. Keep it accurate, and do not exclude buyers you actually serve.
Positioning decides what the product is, who it is for and what it competes with. Messaging is the wording that expresses those decisions on your pages and in your pitch. Positioning comes first, and messaging is built from it.
Lead with one buyer and one primary job, and show others lower on the page or on separate pages. A homepage that lists ten jobs makes it hard for a buyer to see themselves in it. Expand to more use cases once the first one is clear and proven.
About the author
Dhaval Agrawal is the founder and CEO of Kraftbase, a product messaging and UI/UX design studio in Vadodara, India, that helps AI and B2B SaaS teams in the US, UAE and India explain and design what they’ve built.
Sources
April Dunford on product positioning, Lenny’s Newsletter and podcast
Summary of Dunford’s five component framework, transcript notes
Avaamo homepage capture, Oct 29, 2026, Kraftbase concept teardown (not client work)
Positioning review
Can you write your Not For Line today?
Send us your current positioning and we will mark where the buyer, the alternative and the category are unclear.