Jobs To Be Done is a market research framework that helps businesses uncover the underlying motivations driving customer behavior. Instead of focusing on who the customer is or what they say they want, JTBD shifts the focus to what job the customer is trying to accomplish – that is, the outcome they’re hiring a product or service to help them achieve.

Think of a ‘job’ as a goal your customer is trying to complete. For example, a parent doesn’t just buy a lunchbox – they hire a lunchbox to keep their child’s food fresh, safe, and easy to carry. Understanding this job leads to smarter product design, better messaging, and more meaningful customer engagement.

How the JTBD framework works

The JTBD method starts by looking past traditional categories like age or income level and instead explores context, pain points, and desired outcomes:

• What triggers the customer’s need for a solution?
• What obstacles are they facing?
• What does success look like to them?

By asking these types of questions, businesses can better understand customer needs, leading to more accurate problem solving and product innovation. This approach builds empathy and drives more strategic market research decisions.

Why it matters to businesses

Many organizations spend time and resources developing features or campaigns based on assumptions rather than real-life usage. JTBD helps shift that approach by offering clarity about what customers are actually trying to do. That kind of insight is priceless.

Here’s what businesses stand to gain from using the Jobs To Be Done framework:

• Insightful product development: Know what features truly matter to users.
• Stronger marketing alignment: Speak directly to your customer’s needs and context.
• Focused innovation: Avoid developing solutions nobody asked for.
• Long-term customer loyalty: Continuously meet unmet needs better than competitors.

For companies committed to business growth, the JTBD method offers a clear, data-driven way to uncover valuable consumer insights. It’s one of the most strategic market research frameworks available – and it integrates well with both qualitative and quantitative research methods often used by firms like SIVO Insights.

Every business wants to be innovative. But innovation without a clear understanding of the customer’s real problem can lead companies down the wrong path. It’s surprisingly common for businesses to invest in new features, packaging updates, or even entire product lines – only to discover customers weren’t asking for any of it.

Solving the wrong problem is more than just a missed opportunity. It can create ripple effects across your organization – wasted budgets, missed deadlines, low adoption rates, or poor ROI. Strategic market research can prevent this, and Jobs To Be Done helps businesses get to the heart of the matter before they commit to costly development processes.

Why businesses often miss the real problem

One of the main reasons businesses solve the wrong problems is a lack of clarity around customer motivation. Asking broad or surface-level questions often leads to surface-level answers – things like preferences or product feedback. But unless you understand why the customer wants a solution, you might misinterpret their needs entirely.

For example, a fitness app might launch new tracking features based on user suggestions, assuming those users are trying to get more detailed data. But what if the deeper customer motivation is actually accountability or emotional encouragement? A different approach – like community tools or milestone rewards – might meet the same job in a much more effective way.

What it really costs to get it wrong

Solving the wrong problem can cost more than just money. Consider these common risks:

• Wasted development cycles: Building features customers never use.
• Misaligned marketing: Campaigns that speak to the wrong audience or message.
• Customer frustration: When businesses “solve” a need that customers don’t actually feel, loyalty drops.
• Lost market share: Competitors who understand the job better can step in and win.

Businesses that invest in understanding customer needs with JTBD mitigate these risks early. By uncovering the real job customers are trying to do, brands can center their innovation efforts on what truly matters. Research firms like SIVO Insights often use JTBD as part of a broader toolkit – blending it with qualitative and quantitative data to build a well-rounded picture of customer behavior.

Using JTBD for product development and marketing isn’t about adding more research – it’s about asking the right questions upfront. And when resources are limited, knowing which problem is worth solving gives your team the clarity it needs to move with confidence and purpose.

Understanding what really drives customer decisions

One of the most powerful aspects of the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework is its ability to uncover true customer motivations. Rather than asking, “What does the customer want?” JTBD reframes the question to, “What is the customer trying to accomplish?” This subtle shift reveals deeper consumer insights that go beyond surface-level needs or product preferences.

Customers don’t just buy products – they hire them to perform a specific job in their life. That “job” might be functional (e.g., getting to work), emotional (e.g., feeling confident), or social (e.g., looking good to others). JTBD helps identify those underlying reasons, bringing clarity to market research findings that might otherwise remain fuzzy or misinterpreted.

Why customer motivation matters in business strategy

When businesses misunderstand why people choose their product or service, they risk solving the wrong problem. For example, improving a car’s horsepower might not matter if the real “job” customers are hiring it for is to feel safe transporting their family. JTBD ties together customer needs and product context, showing how and why choices are made.

• Functional motivations: meeting practical, everyday needs (e.g., “I need a quick breakfast on the go”)
• Emotional motivations: fulfilling personal feelings or experiences (e.g., “I want to feel less stressed starting my morning”)
• Social motivations: supporting how customers appear to others (e.g., “I want to be seen as health-conscious”)

Instead of treating buyers as passive demographics, JTBD helps businesses view customers as active agents solving goals in their life. This approach leads to more targeted messaging, better product innovation, and deeper business insights.

Example: The smoothie that people hired for breakfast

A fictional example: a smoothie company saw a sales spike on weekday mornings. Traditional insights pointed to convenience. But using a JTBD lens, they discovered busy professionals were “hiring” the smoothie not just to save time, but to avoid the guilt of skipping breakfast and feel more energized. This led to focused marketing around productivity and wellness – not just speed or flavor – which further boosted engagement.

Recognizing the real reason customers engage with your offering leads to smarter investments, clearer brand positioning, and ultimately more effective problem solving.

What happens when companies start solving the right problem

Using the Jobs To Be Done approach doesn’t just clarify strategy – it drives real results. From startup teams to global enterprises, applying JTBD leads to smarter decisions across product development, marketing, and customer experience. When organizations stop guessing and start truly understanding what people are trying to achieve, they unlock growth opportunities they might never have seen otherwise.

How JTBD translates to business growth

• More focused innovation: Products are created with clear direction toward solving an unmet need – reducing waste on features that don’t matter.
• Improved marketing performance: Messaging connects with people because it speaks directly to their goals and pain points.
• Fewer false starts: Resources are spent where they matter most, minimizing costly pivots and relaunches.
• Greater customer loyalty: When a product truly helps someone succeed in life, they return – and recommend it.

Fictional case: A furniture brand rethinks the home office

Consider a fictional example of a furniture brand observing a rise in home office purchases. Instead of simply designing more desks, their team applied JTBD research. They discovered that people weren’t just buying work furniture – they were “hiring” products to create a boundary between work and personal life. This insight led to modular pieces that could visually and spatially separate zones in a home, solving the actual job customers needed done. Result? Increased product satisfaction and sales post-launch.

From insights to results

These kinds of outcomes are possible because JTBD brings precision to market research frameworks. By identifying the real customer problem, organizations can stop spinning their wheels and start making moves that result in measurable business growth.

Whether you’re launching a new offering or refining an existing one, JTBD always forces the question: “Is this solving what people are really trying to accomplish?” When that answer is yes, the impact becomes clear – in loyalty, satisfaction, and business performance.

How to spot the right moment for Jobs To Be Done thinking

Jobs To Be Done can fit into many types of business conversations – but it’s especially powerful when an organization is trying to understand customer needs at a deeper level. If you're facing gaps in performance or seeing unpredictable consumer behavior, it may be time to rethink how you're identifying and framing problems.

Common business situations where JTBD adds value

Here are a few scenarios where JTBD can offer high-impact clarity:

• Product development stalls: When you’re not sure what features matter or why usage remains low
• Declining customer engagement: When people aren’t connecting with your message or product like they used to
• New market entry: When entering a new category or demographic and needing fast, focused consumer insights
• Innovation planning: When exploring new ideas or offerings and want to ensure they reflect actual human needs

JTBD versus other research methods

While traditional market research often captures what people say or do, JTBD focuses on why they behave that way. It works well alongside other research frameworks – such as surveys or usability tests – because it layers in human context. For example, you can use JTBD research to frame quantitative studies in a more meaningful way or guide follow-up interview questions.

At SIVO, JTBD often complements tools like ethnographic interviews, diary studies, and observational research. With this hybrid approach, businesses not only gather data but interpret it through the lens of purpose and motivation.

Ask yourself: Are we solving for the right thing?

JTBD isn’t just a tool – it’s a mindset. It encourages businesses to pause before proposing solutions and first ask: “What job is the customer trying to do?” If that core question isn’t clear, it may be time to reframe your approach. Used strategically, JTBD brings sharper definition to your goals and helps align teams around outcomes that customers actually care about.