Introduction
What Is the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) Framework?
Understanding the Core Idea Behind JTBD
At its most basic, the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework is a way to understand why customers make the decisions they do. Instead of asking, "Who is my customer?" the JTBD method asks, "What is my customer trying to accomplish?" Think of it as a shift from focusing on identities (age, income, background) to outcomes (goals, challenges, motivations). The concept behind JTBD is simple: people don’t just buy products or services – they “hire” them to get a job done. That job could be solving a problem, making a process easier, or fulfilling a specific need or desire. When that job is no longer being met, the customer looks for an alternative – often leading them to switch brands or solutions.What Makes JTBD Different from Traditional Market Research?
Many traditional market research tools analyze segments based on demographics, behaviors, or usage patterns. While important, those elements don’t always explain the "why" behind a decision. JTBD digs deeper to identify the real drivers behind customer choices. For example, instead of focusing on the fact that a customer is a 35-year-old working parent, JTBD would focus on what they’re trying to achieve – maybe they want to save time during their morning routine or reduce weekday stress. These underlying needs provide more actionable guidance for design, messaging, and innovation.A Simple Example of JTBD in Action (Fictional)
Let’s say a customer buys a blender. From a JTBD lens, they’re not just buying an appliance – they may be hiring that blender to do a job such as helping them eat healthier or save time on breakfast. Understanding that deeper “job” provides more insight than just knowing they bought a blender.Key Elements of the JTBD Framework
- Focuses on progress: JTBD centers on the outcomes people want to achieve.
- Goes beyond personas: It explains behavior by motivation, not labels or age groups.
- Identifies hiring and firing moments: What makes someone choose – or abandon – a product?
- Supports innovation by revealing unmet needs and pain points.
Why JTBD Matters in Market Research
In the context of customer insights and user research, the JTBD approach delivers a richer understanding of real customer needs. Rather than guessing at what features might resonate or which campaigns might succeed, businesses using JTBD can ground their strategies in a real-world understanding of how buyers think – and what they’re actually trying to accomplish.How JTBD Helps You Understand Customers Better
The Power of Looking at Motivation, Not Just Behavior
When it comes to understanding consumer behavior, knowing what people do is helpful – but knowing why they do it is transformative. The JTBD framework gives companies a way to uncover those deeper motivations. This goes beyond surface-level analytics and gets into the true drivers of action. For instance, two people might both download the same budgeting app. But one might be trying to save for a vacation, while the other is managing debt. JTBD helps identify these underlying jobs, leading to more targeted products and messaging that speak to real needs.Uncovering Hidden Customer Needs and Pain Points
One of the biggest benefits of Jobs To Be Done is its ability to reveal unmet or overlooked customer needs – often the very insights that drive successful product development. By listening to how customers describe their struggles, goals, and “workarounds,” businesses can uncover key opportunities. Consider some examples of pain points the JTBD approach can help spotlight:- Products that are functional but don’t fit into a customer’s daily flow
- Tools that work technically but fail emotionally or socially (e.g., make someone feel embarrassed or frustrated)
- Solutions that address part but not the full scope of a customer’s situation
How JTBD Clarifies the Buyer Journey
Instead of seeing the buyer journey as a straight path through awareness, consideration, and purchase, JTBD encourages teams to explore what triggers a customer’s motivation in the first place. For example:Typical JTBD Questions to Explore (Not exhaustive)
- What job were you trying to accomplish when you chose this solution?
- What alternatives did you consider – and why did you switch?
- What was frustrating or missing about your previous solution?
- What made this the “right time” for change?
Supporting Product Strategy and Business Growth
The more you understand your customers’ true intentions, the easier it becomes to align your offerings around them. That’s the JTBD advantage: it connects market research directly to product strategy, marketing execution, and long-term business growth. A fictional case to illustrate: Imagine a company offering home workout equipment initially focused on people wanting to "get fit." Through JTBD research, they discover many customers are actually "trying to stay active during work breaks" or "create healthy habits in a small apartment." This shift allows them to design and position products more effectively, tapping into real-world motivations. Ultimately, JTBD helps organizations not just collect insights, but act on them – by aligning their development, messaging, and experience design with how people live and decide.Examples of JTBD Insights That Drive Business Growth
Real Insights, Real Impact
Understanding customer behavior through the lens of the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework can unlock opportunities for product innovation and strategic growth. Unlike traditional market segmentation, which often focuses on demographics or personas, JTBD seeks to understand the deeper motivation behind why people choose one solution over another.
By identifying the 'job' a customer is hiring a product or service to do, businesses can uncover unmet needs and whitespace opportunities.
Examples That Spark Strategic Change
- Streaming Services: Imagine this: instead of asking “Who uses our app?”, a streaming company might ask, “When and why do people turn to streaming?” One key JTBD insight then revealed that users turned to the app to unwind and feel less alone during dinner. This insight led the brand to develop a “Dinner & A Show” feature that queued comforting content during mealtime slots, boosting both usage and customer satisfaction.
- Healthy Snack Brand: A fictional snack brand uncovered that a key job people hired their product for wasn’t just nutrition – it was about “feeling in control during a hectic day.” This insight inspired packaging redesigns and messaging that reinforced mindfulness and balance, helping them stand out in a crowded market.
- Home Fitness Equipment: A company in the fitness space identified one of the hidden jobs as “reclaiming personal time.” This shifted their strategy from competing solely on equipment specs to positioning their brand around convenience and empowerment, leading to improved market resonance and increased customer loyalty.
These examples illustrate how JTBD insights dig beneath surface-level preferences to tap into emotional and situational drivers. When companies understand what customers are truly trying to achieve – whether that’s a feeling, an outcome, or a workaround to a pain point – they can align product strategy and messaging accordingly.
Customer Needs, Defined by Purpose
While traditional consumer research might tell you who your customer is, JTBD tells you why they choose – or abandon – a product. These insights can inform everything from service design to channel strategy and marketing. By reframing observations through the “job” lens, businesses stay closer to real customer needs and unlock paths to more sustainable business growth.
Why JTBD Is a Powerful Tool for Product Development
Building Products People Will Actually Use
One of the standout benefits of the Jobs To Be Done framework is its ability to spark better product development decisions. Rather than guessing what features people might like or tracking superficial behavioral trends, JTBD gets to the heart of customer motivations – helping innovators design products that solve real problems in meaningful ways.
Traditional research may look at market gaps or benchmark competitors. But JTBD focuses on a core question: “What progress is the customer trying to make?” This shift frames your product not as a destination, but as a tool that enables customers on their journey.
Focusing on Outcomes Over Personas
In many organizations, product development relies heavily on personas or broad customer profiles. While helpful, these can miss the nuances of real-world decision-making. JTBD uncovers the functional, emotional, and social outcomes a customer is trying to achieve. This leads to deeper insights that go beyond surface-level wants.
For example, a beginner home gardening product might fail if designed solely for -- say -- suburban women ages 40–55. But defining the customer job as “growing something beautiful to feel accomplished” helps designers prioritize features like low-maintenance tools, confidence-building tutorials, and visual progress tracking.
Reducing Product Risk and Enhancing Roadmaps
When products are built around clearly defined jobs, teams can reduce the risk of feature bloat or misaligned roadmaps. JTBD helps product managers and designers:
- Prioritize features based on real user needs, not internal assumptions
- Create product positioning that resonates across customer touchpoints
- Design journeys that reflect actual use contexts, not idealized scenarios
It also integrates well with agile methodologies, providing clarity on the “why” behind user stories and backlogs.
Supporting Strategy at Every Stage
Whether launching a new concept or evolving an existing solution, JTBD can guide decisions throughout the entire product lifecycle. It can help teams decide what to build, what to simplify, or even what to remove – all backed by a stronger understanding of customer needs.
Ultimately, by applying the JTBD lens, businesses unlock a product development approach rooted in empathy, not assumptions – tapping into jobs that real people are trying to get done every day.
Getting Started: How Businesses Can Use JTBD Insights
Practical Steps to Begin Applying the JTBD Framework
Adopting the Jobs To Be Done methodology doesn’t mean abandoning your current market research practices. Rather, it enhances your toolkit by helping you focus on real-world contexts and motivations. No matter your business size or industry, getting started with JTBD is achievable with the right approach and mindset.
1. Frame the Job, Not the Customer
Instead of asking, “What do our customers want?” ask, “What problem are they trying to solve? What job are they hiring a product or service to do?” This subtle but powerful reframe opens the door to richer customer discovery.
2. Start with Customer Interviews
One of the most effective ways to uncover JTBD insights is through qualitative research. Start by conducting in-depth interviews that explore:
- What triggered the customer to look for a new solution
- What outcome they expected to achieve
- What barriers or challenges they faced along the way
- What alternative solutions they considered – and why
This user research can be used to map the buyer journey and identify key moments of friction, motivation, or unmet customer needs.
3. Translate Findings into Actionable Opportunities
Once you identify core jobs, you can translate these into product opportunities, marketing strategies, or even new offerings. Consider questions like:
- Are there underserved jobs where our product could add value?
- What messaging aligns with real customer struggles or goals?
- How can we improve the experience during critical decision points?
JTBD insights provide clarity across teams – from product to sales to brand – because everyone is aligned around customer needs, not assumptions.
4. Partner with the Right Research Experts
While some elements of JTBD can be explored in-house, partnering with a market research provider like SIVO Insights ensures your findings are rooted in reliable, data-driven analysis. With experience across various industries and access to both qualitative and quantitative tools, expert insight partners can help craft the right approach for your business challenges.
Whether you're developing a new product, exploring consumer behavior shifts, or simply trying to better understand your audience, JTBD can serve as a focused, human-centered foundation. And the best part? It's a framework that grows in value over time as you continuously learn and adapt based on evolving customer needs.
Summary
The Jobs To Be Done framework offers a refreshing, powerful way to uncover meaningful customer insights. By shifting from a focus on who customers are, to what they need to accomplish, JTBD reveals the real motivations that drive consumer behavior. Through understanding the ‘job’ your customer is trying to get done, you can uncover hidden patterns, unmet needs, and opportunities that traditional market research might overlook.
From defining product strategy to informing innovation and marketing, JTBD serves as a versatile tool across an organization. With the right research approach – whether qualitative interviews, surveys, or journey mapping – businesses can apply JTBD insights to grow more impactfully.
Whether you're new to customer insights or looking to refine your strategy, the JTBD framework simplifies complex consumer needs and turns them into actionable opportunity. Let it be your guide to more human, useful, and ultimately successful innovation.
Summary
The Jobs To Be Done framework offers a refreshing, powerful way to uncover meaningful customer insights. By shifting from a focus on who customers are, to what they need to accomplish, JTBD reveals the real motivations that drive consumer behavior. Through understanding the ‘job’ your customer is trying to get done, you can uncover hidden patterns, unmet needs, and opportunities that traditional market research might overlook.
From defining product strategy to informing innovation and marketing, JTBD serves as a versatile tool across an organization. With the right research approach – whether qualitative interviews, surveys, or journey mapping – businesses can apply JTBD insights to grow more impactfully.
Whether you're new to customer insights or looking to refine your strategy, the JTBD framework simplifies complex consumer needs and turns them into actionable opportunity. Let it be your guide to more human, useful, and ultimately successful innovation.
