One of the most frequent misconceptions about the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework is that it belongs exclusively in the toolkit of product development teams. While JTBD has certainly gained traction in product design and innovation, limiting its use to that department alone misses out on the broader value it can bring to an organization.

At its core, the JTBD framework is about uncovering what people are trying to achieve – their "job" – when they turn to a product, service, or brand. This job might be functional, like organizing a busy schedule, or emotional, like feeling more confident in a professional setting. These insights can inform far more than just product design decisions – they spark clarity for marketing, sales, strategy, and even customer service.

JTBD is a lens – not a department

Organizations that use JTBD across departments are often better equipped to align their efforts around customer goals. For example:

• Marketing teams can craft messages that speak directly to the job the customer is trying to solve – making campaigns more resonant and effective.
• Customer experience teams can identify gaps in the full journey of completing a job, enhancing loyalty and satisfaction.
• Business development teams can spot new market segments by understanding what else customers are hiring solutions to do.

When viewed this way, JTBD becomes a powerful strategic tool that reaches far beyond product features. It helps businesses avoid the trap of building or marketing from an internal perspective and instead focus on the real-world problems their customers are trying to solve.

Real-world JTBD use cases beyond product design

Here are a few JTBD examples that go beyond product development:

Insurance: A provider discovers that consumers don't just want to "buy insurance" – they want peace of mind for their families. Marketing strategies that acknowledge emotional jobs like security and protection lead to stronger brand engagement.

Education: An online learning platform finds that adult learners are hiring classes not just to gain skills, but to change careers. Messaging and new offerings are shaped to support that job, not just content delivery.

Retail: A clothing brand learns that customers are hiring outfits to feel more confident during life changes – job interviews, first dates, milestone birthdays. These motivations influence both assortment and visual merchandising choices.

In each case, JTBD helps shine light on the deeper consumer need – something that’s useful whether you’re selling products, services, or ideas. That’s why at SIVO Insights, we often recommend the JTBD framework to complement broader market research efforts, ensuring every department can tap into rich, actionable customer insights that drive relevance and growth.

Another widespread misunderstanding is the idea that Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) replaces customer personas. At first glance, this belief makes sense: both JTBD and personas are tools designed to help you understand your audience and make more informed business decisions. But in reality, they're not interchangeable – they serve different purposes and actually work better together.

Personas paint a picture of who your customer is. JTBD reveals what they are trying to do and why. Together, they offer a fuller, more actionable view of your audience.

JTBD focuses on context, motivation, and outcomes

Where personas describe demographic and psychographic traits – age, occupation, interests, behaviors – the JTBD framework cuts deeper into the specific tasks or problems customers are trying to solve in specific situations.

For example, a persona might be:

“Samantha, 38, a working mom who values convenience and balance.”

Useful? Yes. But it doesn't tell us why Samantha chooses one grocery app over another.

Now layer in a JTBD insight:

“When Samantha is preparing dinner after work, she’s looking to save time without sacrificing quality. She hires a grocery delivery service to get essentials quickly and cook meals her kids will actually eat.”

Here, we clearly see her job – not just her traits. And that job might be shared by very different people with entirely different personas. JTBD helps break through assumptions by focusing on outcomes instead of labels.

Why you don't have to choose between JTBD and personas

Instead of viewing it as JTBD vs. personas, think of it as JTBD and personas working in tandem. When brands apply both tools together, they gain:

• Depth of understanding: Understand who your customers are AND what they’re trying to achieve.
• Improved targeting: Use personas for segmentation and JTBD to fine-tune messaging based on motivation.
• Better product fit: Design solutions that not only match your audience but also serve a real job in their lives.

At SIVO Insights, we often include both personas and JTBD themes in our custom research outputs. Doing so gives our client partners the dimensional, customer-driven view necessary to inspire everything from new concepts to go-to-market strategies. And since we tailor every research approach to business need, we help identify when each framework is most valuable on its own – and when they’re better together.

For anyone exploring how JTBD fits within a broader customer insight strategy, it’s reassuring to know this: JTBD does not replace personas. It enhances them. With both tools in hand, your brand can move beyond profiling to truly understanding your customer’s real-world priorities and choices.

One of the most common misunderstandings about the Jobs to Be Done framework is that it's solely about functional outcomes – the tasks customers are trying to accomplish. While it’s true that functional needs are part of the JTBD equation, stopping there paints an incomplete picture of what drives behavior. In reality, JTBD goes far deeper, encompassing emotional and social dimensions that are just as important when it comes to decision-making.

Understanding the Three Dimensions of JTBD

The real power of JTBD lies in uncovering how people solve problems in their lives – not only what they want to do, but how they want to feel and how they want to be perceived while doing it.

• Functional Jobs: These are the straightforward tasks a customer wants to complete (e.g., “I need to prepare a quick dinner”).
• Emotional Jobs: These relate to how the customer wants to feel (e.g., “I want to feel proud of what I served my family”).
• Social Jobs: These address how a customer wants to be seen by others (e.g., “I want my family to think I’m skilled and thoughtful”).

By only focusing on functional needs, teams risk overlooking what truly motivates a customer to choose one solution over another. Emotional and social drivers can be the deciding factor, especially in categories with similar functional offerings.

A Simple JTBD Example

Consider someone buying a reusable water bottle. Functionally, they need to stay hydrated. But emotionally, they may want to feel responsible or healthy. Socially, they may want a product that signals sustainability or aligns with their personal values.

If a brand only targets the functional job of “holding water,” they miss the opportunity to connect on a much deeper level. Recognizing these layers is key to effective product development, brand storytelling, and even market segmentation.

At SIVO Insights, we find that when businesses take into account all types of customer needs – functional, emotional, and social – they gain clearer, more actionable consumer insights. This more comprehensive view is crucial to identifying gaps in the market and developing solutions that stand out.

Another common JTBD myth is that the framework is mainly suited for tech companies or product development teams launching digital apps or software. It's easy to see why – many early JTBD examples came from startups or innovation labs. But in reality, JTBD is relevant far beyond the tech world, offering valuable insights for organizations across all industries.

JTBD in Diverse Industries

The core idea of Jobs to Be Done – understanding what people are really trying to accomplish, and why – is universal. Whether someone is booking a vacation, choosing a banking partner, or selecting a lunch spot, they are all “hiring” a solution for a specific job in their life.

Some real-world JTBD use cases include:

• Healthcare: Understanding why patients choose urgent care over scheduling a doctor’s appointment can reveal emotional drivers like convenience or anxiety reduction.
• Consumer Goods: Digging into why someone buys a protein bar – is it for energy, weight loss support, or to feel in control of nutrition on the go?
• Financial Services: Learning what job a digital budgeting tool is hired to do – perhaps it's not just tracking expenses but also reducing life stress or planning for big life goals.

In all these cases, JTBD helps businesses uncover deeper motivations that go beyond demographics or traditional segmentation.

JTBD for Marketing, CX, and Strategy

JTBD isn’t just for product teams. It’s equally valuable for:

• Marketing teams looking to craft messages that resonate on a human level
• Customer experience (CX) teams trying to improve key touchpoints across a journey
• Strategic planners defining long-term growth opportunities

In fact, many of our clients at SIVO Insights use JTBD in market research to inform positioning strategies, creative briefs, and even channel decisions. When you understand the job your customer is hiring your solution to do, every part of your business – from product to service to brand – can better align to meet that need.

The bottom line? JTBD isn’t just for startups or tech. It’s for any business trying to better understand their audience on a human level – so they can create solutions that truly matter.

One of the key challenges when adopting the JTBD framework is conducting high-quality interviews. A common misconception is that anyone can run a quick customer interview and instantly extract perfect Jobs to Be Done. But the reality is more nuanced – and over-simplifying the JTBD interview process can lead to unclear or misleading insights.

Jobs to Be Done interviews require depth, structure, and skill. While they may appear conversational on the surface, they actually demand well-crafted probing, listening for subtle emotional cues, and translating real-life language into higher-order meaning.

Main Pitfalls of Over-Simplified JTBD Research

When companies try to shortcut the process, they often run into issues such as:

• Surface-level responses: Customers talk in product terms, not in “jobs,” unless guided skillfully.
• Too few interviews: Small sample sizes can lead to biased patterns or premature conclusions.
• Missing emotional or social layers: Without deeper probing, teams focus only on what people say, not what they truly mean or feel.
• Misidentifying the job: If the reasons behind a decision aren’t made clear, businesses may optimize for the wrong job entirely.

These pitfalls can dilute the power of the JTBD framework and make the output less actionable for teams.

How to Approach JTBD Research Thoughtfully

A strong JTBD interview often involves a structured, chronological journey through a customer’s decision-making process – exploring what they were trying to accomplish, what triggered the need, what constraints they faced, and what outcomes they hoped to achieve.

At SIVO Insights, we approach JTBD in consumer research by pairing proven conversation frameworks with experienced moderators who can make sense of what people are really saying – even if they don’t say it directly. We listen not just for the job, but for the context: emotion, anxiety, aspiration, and tradeoffs.

When done right, a JTBD interview yields clear, human-centered insights that inform everything from repositioning a product to creating a new service experience.

JTBD isn’t something to DIY in a hurry. It’s most effective when approached with the same thoughtful design and rigor as any other qualitative research effort – especially when your business decisions rely on getting to the true “why” behind behavior.