Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) is a customer-centered approach to understanding the real reasons people buy products or services. Instead of focusing on demographic data or simply tracking user behavior, JTBD looks at what job the customer is essentially “hiring” a product to do.

A classic example often used to explain JTBD is this: People don’t really want a drill – they want a hole in the wall. So the "job" is making a hole, and the drill is one possible solution. This way of thinking helps businesses shift focus from products to the outcomes customers are trying to achieve.

Why JTBD Matters for Business Growth

Understanding the actual job your customer is trying to solve empowers innovation. It changes how you think about your market, your competitors, and even your industry as a whole. Instead of assuming you’re only competing with direct alternatives, JTBD reveals you might be competing with entirely different categories.

Let’s say you're a fitness app company. You might think your competition is other fitness apps. But if your customer is actually just trying to feel better and reduce stress, your real competitors might include meditation platforms, sleep aids, or even a walk in the park. JTBD helps uncover these broader dynamics.

Key benefits of JTBD for businesses:

• Deeper Customer Understanding – Go beyond surface metrics to grasp what truly drives decision-making.
• Better Innovation – Design solutions that solve for actual jobs, not assumed wants.
• Competitive Clarity – Discover hidden competitors and areas of opportunity.
• Smarter Product Development – Prioritize features and improvements based on real customer needs.

JTBD also bridges the gap between product teams and marketing teams, uniting them behind a shared insight: what the customer is trying to accomplish. When businesses align around customer jobs, messaging becomes clearer, products become more useful, and strategies become more effective.

Whether you’re launching something new or refining an existing product, understanding the “why” behind customer choices gives you a better blueprint for success. In short, Jobs To Be Done offers a proven way to drive smarter market research, stronger customer insights, and more confident business decisions.

One of the biggest challenges in business today is cutting through the noise and getting to the root of what customers truly need. This is exactly where JTBD excels. Rather than asking customers what they want – which often leads to vague or reactive responses – JTBD uncovers the context, motivations, and outcomes that drive customer behavior.

Understanding the Full Story, Not Just the Transaction

Traditional market research often captures what people did or said they’ll do, but it doesn’t always explain why. For example, surveys might show that customers buy a particular product more often on Mondays, but they don’t reveal the real-life circumstances that trigger the purchase. JTBD digs into these details.

By looking at the customer’s journey before, during, and after the decision, businesses gain a 360-degree view of what problem the customer is trying to solve—and why their chosen solution feels right to them at that moment.

Revealing Motivations and Trade-offs

One of the reasons JTBD customer insights are so valuable is that they surface the emotional and practical trade-offs customers make. For instance, someone switching from an expensive software tool to a simpler one might not just be opting for lower cost—they may be trying to reduce complexity and regain control over their work.

The JTBD framework helps uncover these hidden drivers. It looks at jobs in terms of:

• The functional task (e.g., scheduling meetings faster)
• The emotional goal (e.g., feeling less stressed about time management)
• The social context (e.g., presenting oneself as organized to colleagues)

These nuanced customer needs are often missed by broader data analysis or high-level persona work. By taking time to listen and interpret customer stories in this way, businesses can unlock actionable insights that feel fresh, clear, and grounded in real-world use.

JTBD vs. Traditional Research: A Quick Comparison

While traditional market research methods (e.g., demographic segmentation, usage behavior tracking) still have their place, JTBD focuses on the causal reasons behind behavior. It’s not about who the customer is – it’s about the circumstances driving their choices.

For example:

A company learns that mothers aged 30–40 use their accounting app. That’s helpful, but JTBD asks: What job are these mothers trying to get done? Perhaps it’s "organize my business finances during naptime so I can feel in control and avoid stress at tax time." That’s a powerful insight that informs product updates and messaging in a meaningful way.

By focusing on the job, not just the user profile, businesses can create experiences that connect at a deeper level. And when you understand customer context this clearly, it becomes far easier to generate solutions that stand out in the market.

In a world where customer expectations shift quickly, JTBD gives leaders a grounded framework to respond to changes with empathy, clarity, and precision. It’s an approach rooted not just in what people say, but in what their behavior reveals about what they truly need.

The power of the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework is best understood through real-world situations where customer needs led to unexpected opportunities. While JTBD is often used by major brands to fuel product development and customer-centric strategies, the concepts apply to businesses of all sizes. Here are several fictional but realistic examples that show how JTBD can help uncover hidden drivers of behavior and support business innovation.

A Streaming Service: Competing with Distraction, Not Just TV

Imagine a streaming platform noticing that certain users start shows but rarely finish them. Traditional market research might classify these users by age or geography. But using the JTBD framework, the company discovers that many viewers watch short-form content to relax quickly after work – their job to be done is not to “watch TV,” but to “unwind in 15 minutes or less.” This insight leads to the creation of a curated quick-relaxation playlist, improving engagement and retention.

A Healthy Snack Brand: Beyond Hunger

Another example involves a healthy snack brand aiming to expand its product line. Conventional demographic data offers little direction, but JTBD interviews reveal consumers choose snacks not just to satisfy hunger, but to “feel in control of their choices” during hectic workdays. The brand introduces a portion-controlled, mood-boosting snack line marketed around empowerment and wellness, aligned with the emotional JTBD.

A Ride-Share App: Solving for Safety and Certainty

A ride-share company noticed users often requested rides but canceled before pickup. By applying JTBD principles, they uncovered that some travelers weren't trying to get a ride – they were trying to “feel assured they had a safe and guaranteed way home later.” This helped the firm develop a ‘ride reservation’ feature, solving not a logistical problem, but a psychological job: creating peace of mind.

These JTBD examples illustrate how consumer behavior is often rooted in much deeper emotional or functional needs than what surface-level data might reveal. By answering the question “What job is the customer really hiring this product to do?”, businesses can unlock new opportunities for growth and engagement.

The takeaway? JTBD provides a lens into everyday decisions that allows for more human-centered innovation – whether you're launching something new or optimizing what you already offer.

At first glance, Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) might seem similar to traditional market research. Both aim to better understand customer behavior and needs. But while they share this goal, their approaches and outcomes can differ significantly. Understanding those differences can help business leaders decide when and why to use the JTBD framework to uncover deeper opportunities for growth.

Focus on the Customer’s Goal, Not Just Demographics

Traditional market research often segments consumers by age, income, location, or lifestyle factors. JTBD, on the other hand, looks beyond who the customer is and instead focuses on what they are trying to achieve in a specific context. Instead of asking “Who is our customer?”, JTBD asks “What job is this customer trying to get done?”

This shift leads to insights built around purpose and motivation, not just profile attributes.

From Attitudes to Action

Many standard research methods measure preferences or sentiments, such as surveys that ask, “Do you like Product A or Product B?” JTBD digs into the underlying intent: “Why did you choose this solution over others, and what outcome were you trying to achieve?”

This approach uncovers the forces that drive behavior, which can be especially useful for product development and innovation.

A Broader View of Competition

Traditional research often frames competition within a direct market category—e.g., ice cream vs. other frozen desserts. But through a JTBD lens, the “competition” might be something entirely different. If someone buys ice cream to “celebrate a personal win,” then their alternatives might include wine, a night out, or even binge-watching a series. This expansive view helps businesses challenge assumptions and find unmet needs in surprising places.

Complementary, Not Contradictory

It’s important to note that JTBD doesn't replace traditional market research methods—it complements them. Many SIVO Insights clients benefit from blending JTBD interviews with quantitative validation or other tools that provide a holistic view of their market.

Here’s a simple breakdown:

• Traditional Research: Who is the customer? What do they think or say?
• JTBD Framework: What are they trying to achieve? What job are they “hiring” the solution to do?

By combining both approaches, businesses gain not only a detailed understanding of their audience, but also why people behave the way they do in real-life situations. That’s where the insights become truly actionable.

Whether you’re a startup launching your first product or a large company looking to reimagine your customer journey, the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework can provide a valuable lens for understanding customer needs. But how can you tell if it’s the right fit for your specific business challenge?

JTBD Is a Strong Fit When You Need Customer-Centered Innovation

Many companies turn to JTBD when they are:

• Creating a new product or service and want to ensure it resonates with real customer needs
• Seeing stagnant growth and looking for untapped opportunities
• Trying to understand why customers switch between options—or abandon them altogether
• Struggling to differentiate from the competition in a crowded market

JTBD helps reframe problems in terms of outcomes customers want to achieve—not just improving what’s already there, but identifying new ways to solve old problems differently.

When JTBD Might Not Be Enough on Its Own

JTBD is incredibly useful, but like any framework, it works best when applied in context. If your questions are around brand health tracking, large-scale trend forecasting, or highly segmented demographic analysis, other tools—like quantitative surveys or segmentation studies—might be more appropriate initially.

However, JTBD can still layer in alongside these, grounding numbers in real-life narratives and surfacing emotional and functional needs that data alone may not reveal.

It’s Less About Company Size, More About Openness

You don’t have to be a Fortune 500 company to benefit from JTBD. What matters more is your team’s willingness to examine customer behavior in a new way. Small teams gain clarity around what to prioritize; large teams use it to align cross-functional departments around a shared customer vision.

Key Questions to Ask Yourself

To decide if JTBD is right for your business, ask:

• Am I struggling to understand what motivates my customers to choose, switch, or abandon offerings?
• Do I need more than demographic or transactional data to drive meaningful innovation?
• Is my current approach revealing what is happening — but not why?

If you answered yes to any of the above, JTBD may be exactly the tool to help unlock the next phase of business growth.