Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) is a customer-centric framework that helps businesses uncover the deeper motivations behind why people purchase and use products or services. Rather than focusing solely on what the customer looks like (age, gender, income), JTBD focuses on what the customer is trying to accomplish – their 'job.'

This 'job' could be functional, like keeping a family safe while driving, or more emotional, like feeling confident in a new outfit. The key idea is that customers hire products to get these jobs done in their lives. When a product stops fulfilling that job, consumers might 'fire' it and look for a better alternative.

Why Does JTBD Matter In Market Research?

Traditional market research tools like surveys and focus groups often capture what people say they want. JTBD goes a step further, uncovering what truly motivates decisions – even when those motivations aren’t obvious to the customer themselves. This makes it a powerful method for discovering new growth opportunities and improving product-market fit.

How Businesses Use JTBD

Organizations across industries use the JTBD framework in various ways to fuel innovation and align their product and marketing strategies more closely with customer expectations. Here’s how:

• Product Development: Define features or services that solve real problems customers face
• Marketing Research: Craft messaging around real-world use cases that resonate with target audiences
• Innovation Strategy: Uncover unmet needs and new "job" categories where your brand can win
• Customer Journey Mapping: Understand why, when, and how customers engage with your brand at each touchpoint

At SIVO Insights, we’ve seen firsthand how JTBD can unlock valuable consumer insights. When integrated into a broader marketing research strategy, it brings clarity to decision-making and reveals a path forward rooted in what really matters to your customers.

For example, a fictional health drink company we’ll call VitaPep used JTBD interviews to understand why people were turning to their product. Initially, they thought it was all about energy and nutrients. But the research uncovered something deeper – customers used the drink as a 'mid-day reset,' a mental signal to pause and recharge. This insight led VitaPep to reposition their product in both messaging and design, allowing them to connect more powerfully with their target audience.

That’s the kind of depth that’s possible when JTBD is applied correctly. But as we’ll explore next, using it the wrong way can have the opposite effect.

The Jobs To Be Done framework can be incredibly effective – but only when used with the right mindset and structure. Too often, we see businesses struggle with disappointing results, not because the framework failed, but because it was applied with certain common missteps that compromise the quality of insights.

Below are some of the most frequent mistakes to avoid with Jobs To Be Done when using it to guide market research, customer understanding, or product strategy:

1. Confusing Jobs with Tasks or Features

One of the most common JTBD pitfalls in business is treating 'jobs' as checklists of product features or simple user actions. For example, the job isn’t just 'send an email' – it might be 'communicate effectively with my team while staying organized.' Reducing a job to a task overlooks the deeper motivations and emotional contexts that drive consumer behavior.

2. Leading the Customer with Biased Questions

JTBD interviews require careful phrasing to avoid steering people toward answers. It’s not about asking, “Would you use a tool like this?” but instead exploring what events led them to adopt (or abandon) a solution. Poorly structured interviews can result in misleading data that doesn’t reflect true customer needs.

3. Overlooking the Context of the Job

Context shapes how and why a job arises. A single job – like 'relax after work' – may be fulfilled by a variety of products depending on mood, time of day, or even weather. Forgetting to explore this context limits your understanding and could result in poor product-market alignment.

4. Focusing Only on Success, Not on Struggles

Innovation often lies in what frustrates consumers, not just what pleases them. An effective JTBD approach includes digging into moments of struggle: What wasn’t working? What triggered the search for a new solution? Ignoring these moments means missing the emotion-driven triggers that spark change.

5. Treating JTBD as a One-Time Project

Businesses sometimes treat Jobs To Be Done as a workshop or one-off initiative instead of a continuous input to their product and marketing research strategies. But customer needs evolve. Integrating JTBD into ongoing consumer insights work ensures your innovation strategy stays relevant and responsive.

• Use JTBD alongside traditional approaches, like qualitative and quantitative research, to build a fuller picture
• Revisit and update job definitions periodically to keep pace with market changes

Understanding these core missteps is a great first step to applying JTBD more effectively. When used correctly, the JTBD framework can generate rich, actionable insights that help teams focus on the right problems and opportunities for business growth.

Up next, we’ll continue exploring how to approach JTBD the right way, with practical ways to make your market research efforts more precise and productive.

Start with the True Customer Perspective

Using the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework effectively isn't about mapping features to users – it's about deeply understanding the real-life contexts and motivations behind customer behavior. To get the most from JTBD in market research, your first priority should be shifting the focus from what your product does to what your customer is trying to achieve.

Ask the Right Questions

Consumer insights start with discovery. Valid JTBD research includes talking to real people about their unmet needs, daily frustrations, and desired outcomes. You’re not confirming assumptions – you’re uncovering the emotional, social, and functional drivers that guide decisions. If your research questions focus too much on usage or preferences, take a step back.

Try questions like:

• “What were you trying to get done when you used this product?”
• “What alternatives did you consider, and why?”
• “What made you choose this option over others?”

These open-ended conversations reveal what customers actually hire a product or service to do – their true “job.” This is foundational to applying the JTBD framework the right way in both product strategy and innovation research.

Capture the Full Journey

Effective JTBD insights should trace the entire customer decision-making path. From problem recognition to the moment of purchase and beyond, map every step including triggers, barriers, and evaluation criteria. This helps your teams spot key opportunity areas where solutions are failing to meet expectations.

Differentiate Between Jobs, Tasks, and Features

A common pitfall in applying JTBD is confusing a “task” (like scanning a receipt or setting a reminder) with a “job” (such as staying organized or saving money over time). By distinguishing between these levels, you can unlock higher-order insights that guide more meaningful product development and brand messaging.

Keep the Human Element

While technology and data tools are powerful, interpreting JTBD insights still requires human nuance – your customers interpret and experience their needs emotionally and contextually. Meaningful consumer insights come from pairing research rigor with empathy and active listening.

When done right, JTBD research becomes a powerful tool for uncovering unmet customer needs, accelerating innovation strategy, and influencing smarter business decisions – from marketing to product development.

How JTBD Missteps Can Lead to Missed Opportunities

Sometimes the best way to understand a concept is to compare what works and what doesn’t. Below are simple, fictional examples that illustrate how the JTBD framework can either unlock powerful consumer insights – or fall flat when misapplied.

Scenario 1: A Financial App Launch

JTBD Done Wrong: A financial services company rolls out a budgeting app and assumes users want help “tracking expenses.” Research focuses on features like customizable categories and daily alerts but doesn’t explore deeper motivations. Adoption is weak.

Why It Failed: The team mistook a task (tracking expenses) for a job. They missed the true need – users weren’t looking to categorize payments, they were trying to feel in control of their financial future.

JTBD Done Right: A revised research approach explores the emotional drivers of financial behavior. Interviews reveal that users want to reduce anxiety about money and build habits that signal stability. The app is redesigned to include progress indicators and coaching tips, repositioned using relatable emotional language. Engagement increases significantly.

Scenario 2: Launching a New Beverage

JTBD Done Wrong: A beverage brand assumes consumers want an energy boost, and markets their product as a “high-caffeine” drink. Research focuses only on taste tests and packaging preferences.

JTBD Done Right: In deeper interviews, customers describe needing a pick-me-up that helps them socialize with confidence during long workdays – not just caffeine. This insight reorients the marketing message toward connection and mental clarity. The brand also experiments with added ingredients for mood support. Sales climb, and the brand gains a loyal following.

What We Can Learn

In both examples, the difference lies in understanding the real job customers are trying to get done – not the obvious function. Businesses that apply JTBD the right way dig deeper to reveal emotional and social needs, not just surface-level desires. This leads to stronger product-market fit, more effective marketing research, and long-term business growth.

Applying JTBD to Unlock Growth Opportunities

Once you’ve identified the jobs your customers are trying to get done, the next step is applying those insights effectively. Here’s how to use that information to sharpen your innovation strategy, strengthen product development, and guide more confident business decisions.

Align Stakeholders Around the Customer’s Job

Product teams, marketers, and decision-makers don’t always speak the same language. JTBD research can create a shared understanding of customer needs, which improves strategic alignment and prioritization. Make jobs-to-be-done part of your internal vocabulary to guide roadmaps and brainstorming sessions.

Use JTBD to Spot Innovation Gaps

When viewed through the JTBD lens, gaps in your offering become more visible. If your product helps users only halfway through their journey – or doesn’t address emotional and social jobs – you leave room for competitors. Jobs-mapping can reveal adjacent opportunities and unmet segments ripe for innovation.

Fuel Smarter Product Development

JTBD insights provide a customer-centric lens that helps avoid overbuilding features no one needs. Instead of guessing “what should we make next?”, ask “what is our customer struggling to get done?” This leads to solutions that feel intuitive and benefit-driven – a key ingredient in successful product strategy.

Empower Marketing to Speak Directly to Needs

Once you know the true job behind a purchase decision, positioning your product becomes simpler. Marketing messages can connect with the deeper “why,” not just sell features. This improves relevance, emotional impact, and brand trust.

Keep Iterating and Validating

Customer behavior changes over time. Revisit your JTBD research periodically to keep your insights fresh and aligned with the market. Layer in both qualitative and quantitative methods for a more complete picture. Better insights lead to better decisions, plain and simple.

JTBD isn’t a one-and-done tool – it’s a lens that teams can keep using to stay grounded in real human needs. When used well, it moves market research from informative to transformative, fueling sustainable business growth.