Growth Frameworks
Jobs To Be Done

Using Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) When Entering a New Market

Qualitative Exploration

Using Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) When Entering a New Market

Introduction

When businesses prepare to enter a new market, there’s often significant attention paid to operational logistics, pricing, and competitive analysis. But one core question must be answered before any of that truly matters: What are customers in this new market really trying to achieve, and why would they choose your product or service to help them do it? That’s where the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework comes in. JTBD helps uncover the deeper motivations behind customer behavior—focusing on the underlying "job" your product is hired to do in a person’s life. Whether it’s helping them accomplish a task, solve a problem, or achieve a personal goal, JTBD provides a fresh perspective that goes beyond demographics or traditional market segmentation.
This blog post is designed for business leaders, marketers, product managers, and decision-makers who are exploring or planning new market entry. If you’re navigating unfamiliar regions, varied cultures, or emerging customer segments, you probably have questions like: - How do we make sure we truly understand our new audience? - Are there hidden needs we're not seeing yet? - How can we reduce the risk and uncertainty of launching somewhere new? We’ll explore how to use the Jobs to Be Done framework for entering new markets, including actionable insights on understanding local consumer behavior and identifying new usage drivers. The JTBD approach offers a practical and often eye-opening method for conducting market research that goes deeper than surface-level assumptions. By applying these principles, you’ll be better equipped to: - Tailor your product strategy to fit the true needs of your new audience - Gain local consumer insights that fuel smarter decisions - Spot opportunities for business growth based on actual consumer jobs Whether you’re launching in a new country or expanding into a different audience segment, JTBD helps build a roadmap that aligns your offering with what people genuinely want. Let’s get started with understanding how this framework improves your view of local consumer behavior.
This blog post is designed for business leaders, marketers, product managers, and decision-makers who are exploring or planning new market entry. If you’re navigating unfamiliar regions, varied cultures, or emerging customer segments, you probably have questions like: - How do we make sure we truly understand our new audience? - Are there hidden needs we're not seeing yet? - How can we reduce the risk and uncertainty of launching somewhere new? We’ll explore how to use the Jobs to Be Done framework for entering new markets, including actionable insights on understanding local consumer behavior and identifying new usage drivers. The JTBD approach offers a practical and often eye-opening method for conducting market research that goes deeper than surface-level assumptions. By applying these principles, you’ll be better equipped to: - Tailor your product strategy to fit the true needs of your new audience - Gain local consumer insights that fuel smarter decisions - Spot opportunities for business growth based on actual consumer jobs Whether you’re launching in a new country or expanding into a different audience segment, JTBD helps build a roadmap that aligns your offering with what people genuinely want. Let’s get started with understanding how this framework improves your view of local consumer behavior.

How JTBD Helps You Understand Local Consumer Behavior

When businesses enter new markets, one of the most common pitfalls is assuming that consumers will behave the same way they do at home. But local preferences, cultural norms, infrastructure, and day-to-day routines often vary dramatically. This is where the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework shines by helping you uncover the local context behind consumer behavior—starting with the question, "What is the customer really trying to accomplish?"

Why Cultural Context Matters in Buying Decisions

Understanding local consumer behavior begins by recognizing that people make product choices based on their own goals within specific constraints. In one market, a consumer may use a food delivery app to save time after a long workday. In another, it could be due to difficulties with shopping in person or a lack of access to diverse cuisine. The job is similar—solving the dinner dilemma—but the drivers can vary widely.

Traditional demographics like age or income may tell you who your customer is, but JTBD reveals why they act the way they do. This framework allows you to look beyond customer identity and dig into intent: the real-world job they’re hiring your product or service to solve.

Examples of JTBD in Action

Imagine a personal finance app expanding into Latin America. While customers in the U.S. “hire” the app to manage monthly budgets, those in new markets might hire it for entirely different reasons—like tracking informal income sources or providing financial security through alerts and savings nudges. With JTBD, the focus shifts from features to functions that solve actual, local needs.

This approach helps you:

  • Discover real motivations behind purchases and usage
  • Design more relevant marketing messages
  • Adapt UX/UI features to align with local expectations
  • Build more resonant value propositions

Blending JTBD with Market Research

JTBD doesn’t replace traditional market research—it enhances it. Interviews, surveys, and observational studies can all be designed with JTBD-thinking in mind. For example, customer interviews that probe recent usage events can uncover deeper emotional and functional jobs that impact behavior.

At SIVO Insights, we often customize qualitative studies using a JTBD lens. By combining real-world stories with structured inquiry, organizations learn not just what’s happening in a new market—but why it matters. That’s the heart of making true customer-centric decisions.

Identifying New Usage Drivers in Emerging Markets

New usage drivers are often hidden in plain sight. When businesses expand into unfamiliar markets, they sometimes focus heavily on logistics and overlook what causes people to actually need – and choose – their product or service. The Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework helps you spot those unseen motivators by revealing what prompts a customer to take action, especially in regions where expectations, infrastructure, or routines may differ from your current market.

Why Understanding Usage Drivers is Critical

In emerging markets or across new consumer segments, behavior may be influenced by very different triggers. A product used for convenience in an established city might be used for totally different reasons in a smaller or rural area. For example, a telecom service might be chosen for mobility in an urban market but selected in a remote one because it's the only way to reliably communicate with employers or family overseas.

By identifying these usage drivers early, companies can tailor their offerings, messaging, and service design to fit the real circumstances of the people they aim to serve. This approach reduces the guesswork and decreases risk during market entry—from product development to go-to-market strategy.

How JTBD Guides Discovery of Local Triggers

Using the Jobs to Be Done framework, researchers and product teams can explore not just what a customer does, but why they do it—and what triggers the activity in the first place. Common techniques include guided interviews, observational studies, and mapping the full decision-making timeline around a product or service interaction.

Some helpful questions to uncover new usage drivers include:

  • What prompted the customer to seek out a solution?
  • Why now—what changed in their life or environment?
  • What alternatives, if any, were they considering?
  • What obstacles or workarounds do they commonly face?

JTBD Examples in Global Market Expansion

Let’s look at an example. A home air purifier brand entering markets in Southeast Asia might assume clean air is the core benefit. But locals may be "hiring" the product for very different jobs: protecting infants from seasonal haze, preventing illness in multi-generational homes, or even signaling modern status to visitors. By unpacking the full range of jobs, businesses can align brand messaging and feature prioritization more effectively with consumer needs.

Identifying local usage drivers isn’t about rewriting your entire product strategy—it’s about refining it. When done well, JTBD-focused market research reveals opportunities to build greater relevance and grow customer adoption by addressing the true purpose behind the purchase.

At SIVO Insights, our researchers help clients uncover these drivers through customized methodologies that combine JTBD thinking with local context. Whether entering a new country or pivoting within an existing one, recognizing emerging consumer usage patterns helps fuel smarter decisions for sustainable business growth.

Using JTBD Research to Reduce Risk During Market Entry

Understanding Risk in New Market Entry

Launching a product or service in a new market carries uncertainty – unfamiliar customer expectations, cultural nuances, and untested demand can easily derail even the most well-designed strategies. That’s where Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) research becomes a powerful risk management tool. Rather than guess or make assumptions, JTBD allows your business to uncover what truly motivates customer behavior in unfamiliar regions. These insights bring clarity to customer needs and help eliminate blind spots.

How JTBD Minimizes Uncertainty

The Jobs to Be Done framework shifts the focus from demographics to intent. Instead of asking, “Who is my customer?” JTBD asks, “What job is my customer trying to accomplish?” This distinction helps you predict how new customers will engage with your offer based on real-world usage rather than assumed traits.

To reduce risk, JTBD research delivers:

  • Clear understanding of local consumer behavior: You learn how people in a new region think about solutions and what motivates their choices.
  • Identification of unmet needs: JTBD helps map gaps between current offerings and the actual jobs consumers are trying to complete.
  • Validation of demand: Testing your product or service through the lens of relevant jobs boosts confidence that your idea has traction across different buyer segments.

A Smarter Market Entry Strategy

Armed with JTBD insights, you can proactively adapt your market research strategy for expansion by:

– Prioritizing segments based on real customer needs, not just market size
– Designing product features that resonate with regional usage drivers
– Adjusting your messaging and positioning to each segment's job-to-be-done

This approach helps reduce the likelihood of wasting resources on poorly aligned launches. It also minimizes the risk of product ambiguity by rooting decisions in evidence-based consumer insights.

When entering a new market, every decision – from product tweaks to channel strategy – is a potential risk. JTBD replaces assumptions with actionable answers, making the unknown far more navigable and measurable.

Tailoring Your Product Strategy for Regional Needs

Why One Size Rarely Fits All

When expanding to new geographic markets, it’s tempting to replicate what worked before. But global success rarely happens with a copy-paste approach. Different regions bring different jobs – which means consumer motivations, expectations, and cultural contexts shift. To drive business growth through market expansion, your product strategy must reflect the needs of your new audiences.

That’s where JTBD can deepen your understanding of local consumer behavior. By zooming in on what jobs people are trying to complete – and how they’re currently solving them – JTBD uncovers the real drivers behind usage patterns. This helps teams go beyond basic market segmentation to shape offerings that feel purpose-built for a local audience.

From Insight to Adaptation

Insights become impact when they’re applied. JTBD research provides the foundation to:

  • Localize value propositions: Tailor your product messaging to fit the functional, emotional, and social jobs customers want fulfilled.
  • Rethink feature priorities: What features matter most might vary across markets. JTBD highlights the ones that directly help consumers get the job done.
  • Adapt packaging and pricing: Emerging markets or new segments may need smaller sizes or price points aligned with different usage contexts.
  • Inform regional innovation: You may identify needs strong enough to inspire entirely new product development streamlines for specific markets.

Different Jobs, Same Brand Promise

Importantly, tailoring your approach doesn’t mean abandoning brand consistency. Instead, JTBD gives you tools to modify execution while holding onto your core brand identity. The same product can meet very different needs, depending on the job it’s hired for – and that’s where strategic flexibility pays off.

Think of JTBD as a bridge between global brand strategy and local implementation. It helps make sure your product isn't just present in a market, but useful, relevant, and valued because it serves a real purpose in the consumer's life.

Real-World Examples: Applying JTBD When Expanding Globally

Turning Insight Into Impact: JTBD in Real Markets

The Jobs to Be Done framework isn’t just a theory – it has real, measurable value when entering new markets. Below are examples of how global brands could use JTBD to better align with customer needs, increase adoption, and reduce risk as they expanded into new regions or audiences.

Example 1: A Food Brand Enters Southeast Asia

A Western packaged food company planned to launch its healthy snack line in Southeast Asia. Traditional market research showed high interest in healthy products. However, JTBD interviews uncovered an unexpected job: parents were “hiring” snacks not just for nutrition, but to ease guilt during long work hours.

By understanding this emotional need, the company repositioned the product with messaging around “nourishing presence” and changed portions to serve one child per packet – boosting local relevance. The result? Faster in-market adoption and stronger emotional resonance with regional parents.

Example 2: Fintech Expansion into Latin America

A mobile banking app, focused on convenience and cashless living in the U.S., planned a rollout into Latin America. Initial assumptions centered around digital-savvy urbanites. But JTBD research found the dominant job was about safety – people used banking apps to avoid risky in-person cash transactions.

This shift led to product changes like offering SMS-based money transfers and partnerships with local merchants. By aligning to the context, adoption rates more than doubled in key cities compared to markets where such insights weren't applied.

Example 3: Cleaning Products in a Global Context

A brand known for its all-purpose cleaner wanted to scale globally. JTBD work showed that in some regions, the “job” of cleaning extended beyond hygiene – it was also about demonstrating pride and social respect. As a result, packaging and advertising were adapted to highlight visible sparkle and scent, not just sanitation efficacy.

These subtle shifts, grounded in consumer insights, helped the brand outperform competing legacy products already on the shelf.

Why These Examples Matter

In each case, JTBD brought clarity to the “why” behind local behavior – not just what people did, but what they hoped to achieve. Knowing these consumer usage drivers in new regions made for smarter product strategy, clearer messaging, and ultimately, stronger business growth.

Whether you’re planning a full-scale international launch or exploring an adjacent segment, JTBD equips your team with the insights needed to act precisely and with purpose.

Summary

Entering a new market requires more than ambition – it requires deep understanding. The Jobs to Be Done framework helps you uncover local consumer behavior, create value that matters, and build smarter strategies for market entry. By focusing on real usage drivers and the specific jobs customers are trying to accomplish, businesses can reduce risk, shape offerings for regional relevance, and achieve more confident market expansion.

From uncovering unmet needs to tailoring your product strategy and learning from real-world applications, using JTBD in market research offers a foundation for sustainable business growth. It transforms questions into clarity and makes complex decisions more actionable.

Summary

Entering a new market requires more than ambition – it requires deep understanding. The Jobs to Be Done framework helps you uncover local consumer behavior, create value that matters, and build smarter strategies for market entry. By focusing on real usage drivers and the specific jobs customers are trying to accomplish, businesses can reduce risk, shape offerings for regional relevance, and achieve more confident market expansion.

From uncovering unmet needs to tailoring your product strategy and learning from real-world applications, using JTBD in market research offers a foundation for sustainable business growth. It transforms questions into clarity and makes complex decisions more actionable.

In this article

How JTBD Helps You Understand Local Consumer Behavior
Identifying New Usage Drivers in Emerging Markets
Using JTBD Research to Reduce Risk During Market Entry
Tailoring Your Product Strategy for Regional Needs
Real-World Examples: Applying JTBD When Expanding Globally

In this article

How JTBD Helps You Understand Local Consumer Behavior
Identifying New Usage Drivers in Emerging Markets
Using JTBD Research to Reduce Risk During Market Entry
Tailoring Your Product Strategy for Regional Needs
Real-World Examples: Applying JTBD When Expanding Globally

Last updated: May 25, 2025

Curious how a JTBD-driven strategy can guide your next market expansion?

Curious how a JTBD-driven strategy can guide your next market expansion?

Curious how a JTBD-driven strategy can guide your next market expansion?

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