The Jobs To Be Done framework is a way of thinking about customer behavior that focuses on the reasons people hire a product or service to get a particular job done in their lives. It shifts the conversation from "Who is the customer?" to "What are they trying to achieve?"

This shift is important because people don't buy products for the sake of the product itself – they buy them to solve a problem, complete a task, or improve a situation. JTBD helps businesses uncover those underlying motivations, leading to more relevant solutions and impactful innovation strategies.

JTBD explained for beginners

Consider this simplified example: a customer buys a cordless drill. But they aren’t just buying a power tool – they’re hiring that tool to do a job, like hanging a shelf or building furniture. The “job” is not drilling a hole; it’s making their space more functional or organized. Understanding that broader goal can inspire better product features, service models, or messaging.

How JTBD differs from traditional customer research

Traditional customer research often relies on demographics (age, income, gender) or psychographics (interests, values), along with preferences and satisfaction surveys. These methods are useful, but they may not reveal the deeper intent behind customer behavior.

JTBD adds another layer by asking:

• What progress does the customer want to make?
• What’s the context or situation that triggers the need?
• What obstacles stand in the way of success?

By answering these, brands can design offerings that better align with the real-world circumstances and motivations of their customers.

Why it matters for business growth

Applying the JTBD framework helps businesses move beyond assumptions about what customers should want, and toward insights into what they truly need. This leads to more effective:

• Product development, by ensuring new features or innovations solve actual problems
• Customer experience improvements grounded in user context
• Marketing that resonates with real-life motivations instead of surface-level personas

For teams focused on customer insights, innovation strategy, or product planning, JTBD is a useful lens for seeing opportunities that might otherwise be missed. Ultimately, understanding jobs to be done can better position your business to create meaningful value and drive growth.

Knowing your customer is one thing. Understanding what they’re really trying to accomplish – and how you can help them succeed – is what drives real value. The Jobs To Be Done framework helps businesses uncover these deeper motivations, shedding light on how and why people make decisions in their lives. This is the core of meaningful customer research and insight-driven innovation.

JTBD focuses on motivation, not just behavior

Customer behavior is often shaped by complex, sometimes hidden forces. JTBD helps bring those forces into focus by asking, "What job is the customer trying to get done?" Instead of treating every purchase as a transaction, JTBD sees it as part of a bigger story – one about progress, goals, and context.

For example, instead of asking, “Why did Jane switch to our competitor’s service?” the JTBD lens might ask, “What job was Jane hiring that service to do – and how did we fall short in helping her succeed?” That shift changes how you approach customer experience and innovation strategy.

Making customer insights more actionable

The JTBD framework makes customer needs easier to act on because it connects your discovery efforts with strategic next steps. It doesn’t just tell you what users like or dislike – it tells you what problems they’re trying to solve and what’s standing in their way. This leads to more relevant ideas in product development and service design.

For example, a fictional streaming app discovers through JTBD research that customers aren’t just looking for content – they want to relax and feel recharged after a busy day. This insight could lead to innovation that personalizes recommendations for stress relief, improves the interface for quick access in the evening, or promotes curated mood playlists. The product now helps users accomplish their broader goal – not just one task.

Key benefits of using JTBD for understanding consumer needs

• Reveals the hidden drivers behind purchase decisions
• Identifies unmet needs and gaps in your current offerings
• Enables clearer messaging that aligns with users' real-life context
• Guides innovation toward solutions that genuinely matter to customers

By using JTBD to unlock these insights, teams can stop relying solely on assumptions or surveys and start designing experiences based on real customer intent. Not only does this strengthen product-market fit, it fosters long-term loyalty by making your brand feel more helpful, relevant, and human.

Whether you're prioritizing product features, refining a customer journey, or exploring a new market segment, JTBD connects you more closely to consumers – helping you understand them not just as buyers, but as people trying to get things done in their lives.

Traditional market research and the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework both aim to help companies understand their customers – but they go about it in different ways. Understanding the distinction can help business leaders choose the right approach for their product development, customer experience, and innovation strategy planning.

Traditional Market Research Focuses on Who the Customer Is

Classic market research typically looks at customer demographics, purchase behavior, preferences, and satisfaction. It’s structured to answer questions like:

• What age group buys our product?
• How satisfied are customers with our service?
• What brands do customers prefer?

While this kind of customer research is valuable, it often stays surface level. It explains what people are doing, but not necessarily why. This can create blind spots in innovation or new product development.

JTBD Focuses on What the Customer is Trying to Achieve

The JTBD framework shifts the focus from the customer’s profile to their motivation. Instead of asking who the customer is, JTBD asks, “What job is the customer hiring this product or service to do in their life?” This leads to deeper insights because it connects directly to real-world problems, frustrations, and goals that drive decision-making.

For example, a customer buying a smoothie isn’t just making a food choice. They might be hiring that smoothie to:

• Fuel them during a long commute
• Replace a heavy lunch with a healthier option
• Save time in a hectic schedule

Each of these jobs tells a different story – and opens up different paths for innovation and experience design.

Comparing Results: Use Cases for Each Approach

Here’s a simple way to think about the difference:

• Traditional market research is great for measuring satisfaction, performance, and market size.
• JTBD research excels at uncovering unmet or hidden needs, identifying why people switch between products, and finding new innovation white spaces.

Rather than choosing one over the other, many forward-looking companies use both. Traditional research can validate what’s happening now, while JTBD reveals opportunities for the future – making them complementary tools in your business insights toolkit.

To better understand how JTBD can add value, it helps to see how it plays out in real-world scenarios. Let’s walk through a few fictional but realistic examples across industries to see the kinds of customer insights the JTBD framework can uncover – and how those insights can drive business growth and innovation.

Technology: Boosting Digital Product Adoption

A software company developed a new project management app but struggled with user engagement. Traditional surveys told them people liked the interface, but usage remained low.

Using JTBD research, they discovered that many users were actually hiring the app to help manage work-life balance – not just tasks. They wanted a tool that helped reduce after-hours work stress. With this insight, the company redesigned key features around time-blocking and ‘focus hours’ reminders, aligning better with users’ real jobs to be done.

Retail: Rethinking In-Store Experience

A fashion retailer assumed customers came in looking for stylish outfits. JTBD interviews revealed that many shoppers were “hiring” the store for a confidence boost before events, interviews, or life transitions.

This led to new service offerings like “style confidence consultations” and curated try-on experiences that helped customers feel empowered – not just well-dressed. Sales and positive word-of-mouth both increased.

Healthcare: Improving Patient-Centered Innovation

A health clinic wanted to upgrade its digital appointment system. Rather than simply asking patients about preferences, they used JTBD to explore the root challenges behind no-shows and last-minute cancellations.

They found patients weren’t simply forgetting appointments – they were hiring the system to help them feel less overwhelmed by the process. The solution? A redesigned interface with emotional touchpoints, easier calendar integration, and support prompts related to common fears or confusion.

Coffee Shop (Small Business): Sparking Local Loyalty

A locally-owned café saw declining foot traffic. A JTBD-informed approach revealed that regulars weren’t just buying coffee – they were hiring the café as a break from the chaos of their day. The space symbolized a moment of calm.

With that insight, the owner adjusted the layout to create more quiet nooks, added relaxing music, and introduced “digital-free” times to tune into customer needs. Instead of discounting, they created a deeper emotional value proposition.

These examples show how JTBD can inspire business decisions that go beyond the product itself. Whether you work in tech, retail, healthcare, or services, the framework helps translate customer behavior into relevant, human-centered change.

At SIVO Insights, we help companies make sense of people – what they truly need and why they act the way they do. When it comes to innovation strategy and designing better customer experiences, the Jobs To Be Done framework is one of the tools we use to unlock meaningful, usable business insights.

Our Approach to JTBD Research

Using JTBD, we don’t just ask customers what they want. We explore the context around how they live, work, and make choices. Through qualitative interviews, fieldwork, and structured analysis, we reveal the “hidden jobs” customers are trying to get done in their lives.

Whether you’re launching a new product or optimizing existing offerings, these insights act as a compass for strategic decisions that align with real consumer needs – not just assumptions.

Tailored to Fit Your Business Goals

Our JTBD-informed research can be customized to fit nearly any industry or challenge. For example, we’ve worked with clients to:

• Explore why customers switch between competitors despite high satisfaction scores
• Uncover overlooked needs in mature product categories that seem maxed-out
• Guide UX design updates based on emotional and functional jobs users are trying to complete
• Refine innovation pipelines to focus on opportunities backed by customer behavior

We don’t offer one-size-fits-all solutions. Instead, we bring the right methods – including traditional market research, quantitative tools, or JTBD lenses – based on your unique business objectives.

Why JTBD Drives Sustainable Growth

JTBD lets you see the bigger picture: not just what the customer is doing today, but what motivates them tomorrow. That’s where growth lives.

When leadership teams use JTBD to prioritize ideas and investments, they’re more aligned, focused, and confident in their strategies. From early-stage startups to established global brands, the companies that understand people through this lens consistently make smarter product development choices – and create more value in the long run.

Because at the end of the day, what grows a business isn't simply knowing who your customer is – it's knowing what they're truly trying to achieve. That’s what SIVO delivers through empathy-driven research and expertise in JTBD.