Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) is a customer-centered theory that helps businesses understand why people choose a particular product or service. The key idea is that customers don't just buy products – they hire them to get a job done. Whether it's commuting to work, cooking a quick meal, or organizing tasks, every purchase solves a problem or meets a need.

The “Job” Behind Every Purchase

Think of JTBD as shifting the focus from the customer to the goal the customer is pursuing. For example, someone buying a drill isn’t just buying a tool – they’re trying to make a hole in the wall. The drill is a solution, not the end goal. Understanding the underlying job allows companies to innovate beyond product categories and uncover new opportunities for growth.

Why JTBD Matters in Business

Traditional market research often focuses on who the customer is (age, gender, location) and what features they like. JTBD adds a critical layer by exploring what the customer is trying to achieve in a specific context. This shift can lead to sharper product innovation, more effective marketing, and better alignment between what you offer and what customers truly need.

Here’s why the JTBD approach matters:

• Better innovation: Companies can design solutions that solve real problems rather than adding random features.
• Deeper customer understanding: JTBD uncovers the motivations behind buying decisions, not just behaviors.
• Clearer strategy: Business teams gain clarity on where to focus time and investment.

Take for example a fictional fitness app company. Rather than targeting “busy adults aged 25-40,” JTBD would ask: “What job are users hiring this app to do?” The answer might be: “Help me stay active during a hectic workweek.” This insight could inspire features like quick 10-minute routines, calendar integrations, or motivational reminders – all tied to the user’s real-life goals.

JTBD vs. Traditional Segmentation

Demographics have their place, but they don't always explain behavior. Two customers of different ages and backgrounds can hire the same product for the same reason. JTBD complements traditional segmentation tools and brings richer insight to your market research strategy.

In short, understanding the "job to be done" equips companies to create meaningful solutions, differentiate themselves in the market, and drive sustainable business growth.

At its core, the Jobs To Be Done framework is about understanding what truly motivates your customers. Instead of asking what they bought or liked, JTBD explores what they were trying to accomplish in their lives – the job they hired your product or service to do. This way of thinking reveals deeper consumer insights and makes it easier to design products, services, and experiences that resonate.

Gaining Empathy Through Context

JTBD takes you beyond surface-level insights and into the context of real user needs. These needs aren’t always obvious – they often lie beneath routine behavior or decisions. For instance, if a customer switches from cooking meals at home to using a meal delivery app, the job might not just be “getting dinner.” It could be “saving time after work” or “avoiding decision fatigue in the evenings.”

By diving into context, you build empathy and discover motivations, pain points, and unspoken goals that standard surveys might miss.

Mapping the Customer Journey with JTBD

Every customer journey can be broken down into moments when a job arises, a solution is sought, and a choice is made. JTBD guides you to identify those moments and the thinking behind them. This approach helps you answer questions like:

• What triggered the customer to look for a new solution?
• What alternatives were they considering?
• What expectations or anxieties did they have along the way?

Answering these questions reveals not just what customers are buying, but why. This insight can guide product development, messaging, service delivery, and more.

Looking Deeper at Buying Decisions

The JTBD lens highlights not just rational factors, but also emotional and functional drivers behind buying decisions. A customer might “hire” a product for convenience, confidence, reliability – or to feel accomplished. These drivers help explain decisions that might otherwise seem inconsistent or irrational.

For example, a fictional office supply brand might discover that customers are buying colorful sticky notes not just to organize tasks, but to add a sense of energy or personality to their workspace. That emotional job, once understood, could unlock new messaging or packaging strategies.

Why It’s Good for Business

Understanding customer needs with JTBD leads to real business benefits:

• Improved product-market fit: Offerings are aligned to real-world usage and experiences.
• Clear prioritization: Teams know which problems are most meaningful to solve.
• Simplified decision-making: With shared language around customer goals, alignment across teams improves.

As a tool within consumer insights and market research, JTBD is one of the most effective ways to stay customer-centric – empowering you to deliver not just products, but solutions that meet real challenges, support real progress, and drive long-term business growth.

The Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) approach is best understood through simple, relatable examples. It focuses on the idea that customers 'hire' products or services to make progress in their lives – to get a job done. These jobs often go beyond functional needs and tap into emotional or social outcomes as well.

Let’s walk through a few fictional but realistic scenarios that illustrate the JTBD framework in everyday decision-making.

Example 1: The Morning Coffee

Imagine a commuter grabbing a coffee every morning before work. The product being 'hired' isn't just coffee – it’s solving multiple jobs:

• Help me feel awake and alert for a busy day (functional need).
• Make my morning routine feel pleasant and calming (emotional need).
• Feel like I’m part of a community or culture (social need).

Understanding these layered needs allows coffee shops to tailor their environment, messaging, and product offerings more effectively – from fast service for on-the-go professionals to personalized drinks for regular customers.

Example 2: Online Fitness Platform

Consider someone signing up for an online fitness program. Their job isn’t just “exercise.” When framed through the JTBD lens, the underlying needs come into view:

• Build healthy habits despite a busy schedule (functional).
• Boost my confidence and reduce stress (emotional).
• Stay connected with a community of like-minded people (social).

By uncovering these jobs, the fitness platform can improve its offering – maybe by adding motivational messaging, flexible workout times, or community boards and challenges.

Example 3: Upgrading a Family Car

When a family shops for a new SUV, they’re not just buying space and horsepower. They might be trying to:

• Ensure their kids are safe and comfortable during road trips.
• Show that they’re responsible and successful.
• Reduce the stress of long commutes or errands.

Recognizing this allows car manufacturers to prioritize features like safety, ride comfort, and prestige – rather than only focusing on engine specs or price.

These JTBD examples for product development show how customer choices can reflect deeper aspirations and problems to be solved. Businesses that use the JTBD framework to discover these insights often create more resonant, useful offerings that drive business growth over time.

The power of Jobs To Be Done lies in its ability to spotlight innovation opportunities that traditional market research might overlook. By focusing on what customers are actually trying to achieve – not just what they buy – businesses can design better products, refine services, and unlock new market potential.

Shifting from Product Focus to People Focus

Too often, businesses fall into the trap of evolving their products with features they think customers want. The JTBD framework flips that by asking, “What progress is the customer really trying to make?” This shift helps teams build around actual user needs, not assumptions.

For example, a project management software company might assume users want more task-tracking features. But digging into the customer journey reveals the real job: helping teams feel in control and aligned across time zones. From this insight, the company could innovate with features that focus on clarity, reminders, and ease of collaboration – not just more to-do lists.

Fueling Breakthrough Ideas

Applying JTBD to innovation efforts often leads to ideas that are more meaningful and differentiated. Companies can:

• Discover unmet or under-served customer needs.
• Reframe competition – not who offers the same product, but who solves the same job.
• Design feature sets, messaging, or entirely new offerings that better align with how customers define success.

JTBD also allows for a clearer prioritization of ideas. Instead of guessing which features will land, teams can ask: “Which jobs are most valuable to our customers – and how well are we helping them accomplish them today?”

Supporting Business Growth

By focusing on the 'why' behind buying decisions, JTBD helps businesses:

• Strengthen existing products by aligning them better with customer outcomes.
• Spot gaps in the market where no one is helping customers make progress yet.
• Design new offerings that fit naturally into existing behaviors and needs.

Whether you're in tech, retail, healthcare, or services, understanding how JTBD supports innovation can bring sharper consumer insights and more targeted, successful solutions. And when paired with qualitative or quantitative market research – like what SIVO Insights provides – it becomes even more powerful.

While the Jobs To Be Done approach is flexible, it’s especially impactful when applied in the right context. So how do you know if JTBD is a good fit for your brand, product, or service?

Recognizing the Right Time for JTBD

This framework can uncover powerful consumer insights at moments of change or uncertainty, such as:

• You’re launching or reimagining a product or service.
• There’s a gap between what you offer and what customers really want.
• You’re experiencing churn or declining engagement but aren’t sure why.
• You want to better segment your market based on motivations, not just demographics.

Essentially, anytime you need a clearer picture of the customer experience or buying decisions, Jobs To Be Done can help you step into their shoes and reframe the challenge.

Industries and Teams That Benefit

While almost any business can apply JTBD, it’s especially useful for:

• Product development teams exploring new features or roadmaps.
• Marketing teams unsure which messaging resonates best.
• Innovation teams seeking a structured way to identify opportunities.
• Service providers looking to improve customer experience touchpoints along the journey.

JTBD is also a highly collaborative tool – it brings together cross-functional teams with a shared language around customer needs and progress-making goals.

When to Pair JTBD With Deeper Market Research

It's worth noting that JTBD is most effective when integrated with broader market research. Techniques like customer interviews, surveys, and journey mapping can uncover the emotional and contextual layers behind user decisions, creating a more complete picture.

At SIVO Insights, we see the JTBD approach as a valuable complement to qualitative and quantitative research methods. It brings clarity to complex behaviors and supports actionable strategies, especially when combined with expert analysis and real human understanding.

If your business is looking to align more closely with customers and fuel better product innovation, JTBD could be the lens that brings hidden needs into sharper focus.