In the fast-paced world of CPG innovation, it's easy to get caught up in trends, competitive comparisons, or generic consumer profiles. But the most successful products aren’t just clever – they solve real problems in people’s everyday lives. That’s the core strength of the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework: it helps you uncover the real ‘job’ your product is being hired to do.

CPG companies use JTBD in market research and product strategy because it reframes product development around what truly matters to consumers: outcomes and progress. Instead of asking, “Who is the customer?” JTBD asks, “What goal is the customer trying to accomplish when they use this product?” This simple shift leads to much more meaningful insights.

How JTBD Helps CPG Brands Build Smarter Innovations

Brands that integrate JTBD into their market research toolkit gain several advantages:

• Clarity on unmet needs: Discover where current options fall short – even if consumers can’t clearly articulate it themselves.
• More targeted product development: Build features that align closely with what consumers are trying to achieve.
• Insight into switching behavior: Understand why people abandon one product for another, giving clues for positioning and messaging.
• Support for cross-functional teams: Marketers, designers, and product developers stay aligned around consumer outcomes, not just features.

For example, consider a busy parent searching for a healthy snack for their child. The ‘job’ isn’t just to provide nutrition – it could also be about minimizing mess in the car, or ensuring the child actually enjoys it. JTBD helps you uncover these layered motivations, driving more thoughtful product, packaging, and messaging decisions.

Aligning Innovation with Real Consumer Behavior

JTBD isn't just a research method – it’s a way to think about consumer behavior holistically. In CPG innovation, this is especially useful when entering new categories or considering packaging changes. Using Jobs to Be Done allows you to move beyond assumptions and design around real-world use cases.

CPG companies often turn to JTBD during key innovation checkpoints:

• Concept creation for new products
• Rebranding or repackaging
• Expanding into new use occasions or formats
• Refreshing stale SKUs to re-engage lapsed consumers

By adopting a JTBD mindset, teams gain a shared language for innovation rooted in human truths – a valuable asset in a competitive, saturated CPG market.

New product development in the CPG space is both an exciting and high-risk endeavor. Launching new items, formats, or flavors without a clear understanding of what role they play in a consumer’s life can lead to missed expectations – or worse, costly failures. That’s where Jobs to Be Done truly shines.

Using JTBD during product development gives CPG teams a way to anchor innovation efforts in actual consumer goals. Instead of asking, “What product should we make next?” teams start with, “What is our consumer trying to achieve, and how can we help them succeed?”

How JTBD Fuels Better Product Ideas

Jobs to Be Done identifies what consumers are “hiring” a product to do. In the context of CPG, these jobs can be functional (e.g., satisfy hunger), emotional (e.g., feel in control), or social (e.g., appear responsible). Understanding these dimensions during product development ensures teams are solving a real demand – not creating solutions in search of a problem.

Here’s how JTBD supports product development in CPG:

• Idea generation: Brainstorm new concepts that align with uncovered jobs – especially those that are underserved in the current market.
• Prioritization: Narrow down product ideas by evaluating which jobs are most important and unfulfilled for the target audience.
• Feature design: Shape ingredients, formats, and packaging based on what actually helps consumers complete their job more easily.
• Positioning and messaging: Craft go-to-market stories that speak directly to the outcome your product delivers, not just its specs.

For instance, in snack product development, JTBD insights might reveal that parents are not just buying “snack bars.” They’re looking to “keep kids full between after-school activities without spoiling dinner.” This language drives more thoughtful choices in flavor, portion size, and packaging design – far more effective than simply focusing on age group or calorie counts.

When to Apply JTBD in the Development Cycle

JTBD is best applied early in the product development process – ideally before specific solutions are locked in. At this exploratory stage, JTBD blends naturally with consumer insights and qualitative research methods. This ensures brand teams are designing with the end goal in mind from the beginning.

That said, JTBD can be valuable later in the process as well, such as:

• Testing early concepts against defined customer “jobs”
• Validating if a prototype truly addresses the intended outcome
• Gathering feedback to refine positioning or improve usability

By putting customer motivation at the heart of innovation, JTBD reduces guesswork in product development and increases the chance your new product fits seamlessly into your consumer’s life. It’s one of the most reliable market research methods for CPG innovation because it centers on people – not just products.

Consumer needs evolve – and even your most beloved products can benefit from a refresh. Whether it’s updating an ingredient, overhauling design, or refining packaging materials, the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework helps ensure that any change you make connects back to the customer’s job they are trying to get done.

When applying JTBD to a product refresh strategy, the goal is to go beyond surface-level improvements. Instead, it’s about understanding what functional, emotional, or social jobs your product is solving today – and how those may have shifted. JTBD gives you insight into users' triggers and decision-making moments, helping you refresh with purpose.

JTBD for Packaging Design Decisions

Packaging plays a vital role in brand perception and usage experience. Are consumers seeking convenience, sustainability, or improved clarity on nutrition? JTBD guides packaging innovation by helping teams uncover exactly what users hire packaging to do. For example, if consumers are “hiring” your snack bar’s package to be leak-proof and pocket-friendly on the go, you may reconsider bulky wrappers or unclear opening cues.

Common packaging-related jobs include:

• “I want to keep the product fresh for longer.”
• “I need to identify the healthy option quickly.”
• “I want minimal mess when my kids use this.”

Understanding these job types can guide upgrades in resealability, material choices, and visual hierarchy. This approach eliminates guesswork and ties product tweaking directly to what matters most to consumers.

JTBD Helps Prioritize What (and What Not) to Change

Sometimes brands refresh products or packaging because of internal reasons – but without a clear understanding of consumer jobs, the effect might feel disconnected. The JTBD framework introduces customer insight into your decision-making process, so every update serves a defined need, rather than distracting from what already works.

For example, a beverage company considering a label redesign used JTBD insights to understand that the current label was “hired” by consumers because of its simplicity and bold flavor cues. The result? A subtle packaging update that preserved key visual elements while improving legibility and sustainability – all validated through consumer feedback rooted in deep market research for CPG.

Whether revitalizing formulation, changing formats, or rethinking your packaging, JTBD gives CPG brands a smart filter to evaluate product development decisions with their customers' real-world needs in mind.

Expanding into a new product category is a powerful growth lever – but can feel like a high-stakes gamble without solid insight into what your consumers truly need. The Jobs to Be Done framework minimizes risk by helping you spot unmet jobs that can be solved by new offerings within or beyond your current footprint.

JTBD is especially valuable in the early exploration stage of category expansion. Rather than simply asking, “What else can we sell?”, JTBD prompts the more strategic question: “What else are our customers trying to accomplish that we could help with?”

Identifying Adjacencies with JTBD

JTBD insights allow you to move from product-centric to customer-centric thinking. For example, if you currently offer morning nutrition shakes and learn through JTBD work that customers are also “hiring” other foods to manage afternoon energy, you might explore on-the-go protein snacks or functional hydration linked to that same job.

This creates stronger internal alignment around CPG product strategy because innovation is not chasing trends randomly – it's grounded in clear consumer motivations across different contexts.

Benefits of Using JTBD for Category Expansion in CPG

• De-risks new launches: By validating demand based on specific unmet jobs
• Supports portfolio coherence: Ensures new items align with brand promise and customer values
• Reveals unexpected opportunities: Sometimes customers are solving the same job with an entirely different product category you hadn’t considered entering

For instance, a home cleaning brand might discover that consumers are “hiring” air fresheners not just for odor control, but to create a calming or motivating home environment. That opens up a new lens on potential adjacencies in wellness or aromatherapy – all traced back to fulfilling an emotional job.

Rather than relying exclusively on competitive mapping or demographic data, JTBD brings a layer of consumer insight that captures the why behind purchasing behavior. This is critical when extending into white space or entering a new aisle altogether.

With JTBD, CPG companies stay rooted in trusted market research methods while unlocking fresh paths for innovation. Category expansion becomes not just a business opportunity, but a logical next step in better serving your customer.

Knowing when to use Jobs to Be Done in product development can make all the difference between innovation that fizzles and innovation that thrives. The JTBD framework isn’t a one-time technique – it’s a flexible lens you can apply across different phases of your CPG innovation cycle.

Where JTBD Fits in the CPG Innovation Journey

Here’s how JTBD typically maps onto key milestones:

• Discovery & Opportunity Identification: Use JTBD early to uncover unmet jobs and white space. This gives context for ideation and ensures you’re solving a real consumer problem, not just chasing a trend.
• Concept Development: As ideas materialize, JTBD helps vet which ones best align with top-priority jobs. It also uncovers emotional jobs, often missed in traditional data, that can differentiate your product.
• Prototyping & Testing: JTBD provides a framework to assess how well your prototype delivers on the intended job. If a job is around “simplifying weeknight dinner,” for example – does the new frozen meal format actually deliver ease, speed, and satisfaction?
• Go-to-Market & Messaging: JTBD also supports JTBD marketing. You can tailor your product positioning and messaging around the job it solves – creating more emotional resonance and clarity for your target audience.

Integrated, Not Isolated

JTBD works best when used in concert with other market research for CPG approaches. While JTBD reveals the underlying needs, pairing it with qualitative and quantitative research helps validate scale and refine execution. The result is a fully customer-centric innovation process that balances insight with action.

For example, a CPG beverage brand used JTBD to identify that consumers were “hiring” their product to stay focused during afternoon slumps. By integrating this insight into product development and packaging, along with sensory testing and flavor preference data, they launched a line that nailed both functionality and experience.

In short, the best time to apply JTBD in CPG innovation is often early – but the value extends through launch and beyond. Use it like a compass to keep every decision grounded in what your customers are really trying to achieve.