Product teams were some of the earliest adopters of the Jobs to Be Done framework – and with good reason. At its core, JTBD offers a way to design better solutions by deeply understanding the real needs people are trying to fulfill when they “hire” a product or service. This goes beyond cataloging features or studying surface behaviors. Instead, it uncovers the context, motivations, and desired outcomes that drive user decisions – the foundation of product innovation.

Solving Real Problems Instead of Building More Features

Many product teams fall into the trap of continuously adding features based on competitor analysis or surface-level feedback. But JTBD helps teams pause and ask a more strategic question: What job is our product truly hired to do? The answer often reveals unmet needs or emotional drivers that traditional user research might miss.

For example, instead of building a faster email client simply for speed, a team using JTBD might discover that users are trying to regain control over their day or avoid dropping the ball at work – shifting the focus toward productivity and peace of mind, not just performance benchmarks.

Using JTBD in Product Development

Here’s how JTBD can work within a product team's process:

• User Research: Conduct interviews or surveys to explore the context in which customers use the product – what triggered the need, what alternatives were considered, and what a successful outcome looks like.
• Customer Insights: Identify the deeper functional, emotional, and social needs that shape decisions. For example, a project management app may be 'hired' not just to track tasks, but to help users feel in control or appear professional.
• Product Strategy: Translate jobs into design requirements by focusing on what customers are trying to accomplish, not just how they do it.

This approach helps teams prioritize features that solve meaningful problems and stand apart in crowded markets. It’s not just user research – it’s user motivation research, and that shift matters.

JTBD as a Tool for Team Alignment

Another benefit of JTBD is how it fosters collaboration. With a clear understanding of the customer’s job, cross-functional teams across design, engineering, and research can work toward a shared goal. It brings objectivity and clarity to brainstorming sessions, MVP planning, and roadmap debates.

Ultimately, by focusing on the job the customer is trying to get done – not just the product being built – product teams unlock a competitive edge. JTBD injects purpose into development decisions and keeps the customer at the heart of innovation.

While product teams use Jobs to Be Done to shape what gets built, marketers use it to communicate why it matters. In today’s crowded media landscape, messaging rooted in JTBD stands out because it talks directly to the customer’s underlying needs and motivations. Rather than generic benefits or buzzwords, it focuses on the outcome people are hoping to achieve – making campaigns feel personal, relevant, and authentic.

Reframing Messaging Around the Job, Not the Product

Traditional marketing often highlights what a product is or does. JTBD helps professionals reframe that conversation around what the customer is really trying to accomplish. This produces messaging that lands with more emotional resonance and speaks more clearly to the decision-making process.

For instance, if someone buys a treadmill, the job might not be "run indoors" – it could be "feel confident again" or "manage stress after work." Knowing this makes a huge difference in how you position and promote the product.

How Marketers Apply JTBD in Strategy

Here are some common ways marketers integrate the JTBD framework into their brand strategy and messaging efforts:

• Persona Building: Go beyond standard demographics by defining audience segments based on the jobs they need to be done – including emotional and social triggers.
• Campaign Development: Craft messaging that focuses on the outcome the customer desires. Instead of “latest tech specs,” frame it as “solve X in less time” or “get peace of mind.”
• Content Strategy: Create blogs, videos, and social content based on common jobs, such as “stay organized as a parent” or “eat healthier with less effort.”

By shaping content around what matters most to customers, marketing efforts feel more helpful and less promotional – often resulting in better engagement and conversion.

Real-World Example: JTBD in Brand Positioning

Consider a brand selling project management software. Instead of positioning it just as “a better way to track tasks,” JTBD might reveal that professionals buy it to “reduce stress when managing multiple teams.” That insight shifts the message from features to outcomes – making it more real and relatable.

Stronger Language, Stronger Connections

Applying JTBD makes marketing messaging more grounded and effective. When your language reflects the actual needs your audience is trying to solve – not just the specs or features of your product – they’re far more likely to pay attention.

At its best, JTBD helps marketers become powerful storytellers. It turns customer insights into meaningful messages that resonate, inspire, and drive action.

User experience (UX) and product design teams have long searched for ways to uncover what customers truly need. The Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework gives these teams a powerful lens: instead of guessing what users might want, JTBD helps them identify the real progress users are trying to make when choosing or using a product. This leads to experiences and products that feel intuitive and deeply relevant.

In the context of user research and UX design, the JTBD framework shifts the focus from surface-level preferences to the root motivations behind user behavior. Rather than asking what a user wants from a mobile app, for example, a UX researcher might explore what job that app is being “hired” to do in the user's life – such as managing daily stress or organizing time efficiently.

What Makes JTBD Useful for UX Teams?

JTBD gives UX teams clarity. By structuring user research around the “job” instead of the user demographic or product features, teams can design experiences based on real-life challenges and goals. This allows them to:

• Identify user struggles and unmet needs during every stage of interaction
• Design user flows and interfaces that solve meaningful problems
• Prioritize features that align closely with what users are actually trying to accomplish

JTBD is especially helpful in reducing bias. Since it focuses on the why behind decisions, it uncovers patterns across user types, revealing that different demographics may actually share the same job to be done – and that’s where UX design can truly scale.

Example: JTBD in Action for a Fitness App

Imagine a product team designing a fitness tracking app. Traditional persona-based research might segment by runner, gym-goer, or beginner. With a JTBD approach, the focus might shift to jobs like: “Help me stay motivated to exercise consistently” or “Help me feel healthier without overwhelming me.” This leads to very different design decisions – interfaces might encourage habit building rather than hardcore stats tracking, or offer gentle reminders rather than intense challenges, based on the job the user needs done.

Ultimately, applying JTBD in user experience design ensures that the product feels like it fits into users’ lives – because it does. It meets the job they’re hiring it to do, intuitively and efficiently.

While the Jobs to Be Done framework began in product development, it’s increasingly becoming a vital tool in brand development and business innovation. Why? Because it helps organizations look beyond product features and focus on what truly drives consumer behavior – the outcomes people are seeking in their lives.

By applying JTBD to brand and innovation strategy, companies can unlock fresh ideas for growth, repositioning, and differentiation. Understanding what job your brand is “hired” to do – even outside of a product context – can guide everything from messaging to product ecosystem strategies.

JTBD in Brand Strategy

Brands thrive when they stand for something meaningful. JTBD research helps uncover what meaningful role your brand plays in a customer’s life. For example, a coffee brand might traditionally position itself around flavor or quality. But with a JTBD lens, it might find that customers hire it for “help me feel ready to take on the day” or “give me 5 minutes of peace during chaos.” Those insights can shape storytelling, visual identity, and even partnerships more effectively than demographics alone.

JTBD in Innovation Strategy

For innovation teams, identifying jobs to be done can spark entirely new offerings. Rather than starting with what your business can make, JTBD invites you to start with what customers struggle with – and then innovate from there. This leads to opportunity areas that may not have been explored previously, particularly in saturated or mature markets.

Some uses of JTBD in brand and innovation strategy include:

• Repositioning: Clarifying the role your product or brand plays as customer needs evolve
• Category Expansion: Identifying unmet jobs that your company could serve with new solutions
• Strategic Messaging: Aligning communication with emotional and functional customer goals

Take beauty brands, for instance. Traditional segmentation might divide users by age or skin type. A JTBD view might reveal underlying jobs like: “Help me feel confident during a major life change” or “Help me maintain a sense of control in a busy life.” These insights don’t just inform product features – they inform the entire brand posture.

By aligning brand and innovation strategies with authentic customer motivations uncovered through JTBD research, companies build relevance and resilience in changing markets. At SIVO, we see JTBD as a strategic compass – one that points toward opportunity by deeply understanding people, not just products.

The Jobs to Be Done framework is no longer just for product managers or innovation leads. Today, it's a versatile tool used by cross-functional teams to better align their strategies with real customer insights. If your role involves building, communicating, or improving anything for customers – there’s a good chance JTBD can support your work.

Roles That Benefit Most from JTBD

Here’s how different functions apply the JTBD framework:

• Product teams: Use it to guide feature prioritization and product roadmaps by identifying which jobs customers are hiring the product to perform.
• Marketers: Use JTBD customer research to shape messaging that resonates deeply with customer motivations, beyond surface-level demographics.
• UX and design teams: Apply JTBD in user experience design to ensure interfaces and interactions serve real user goals.
• Innovation leaders: Spot new opportunities and create offerings rooted in unmet consumer needs and behaviors.
• Brand strategists: Clarify emotional and functional jobs your brand fulfills, informing positioning and storytelling.

In short, any role that touches the customer experience – directly or indirectly – can bring added value by understanding the JTBD perspective.

Why Now?

As markets grow more competitive and customers more selective, truly understanding what drives behavior is a distinct advantage. Market research and customer insights alone are powerful, but pairing them with a JTBD lens brings richer context and more actionable direction.

The JTBD framework also aligns well with agile organizations and design thinking models, making it especially relevant for today’s fast-paced business environments. It provides a shared language across departments and helps unify research, design, marketing, and strategy under one clearly defined goal – helping your customer make progress in their lives.

JTBD isn’t a trend – it’s a mindset shift.

Whether you're launching a product, refreshing a brand, or trying to grow in uncertain markets, Jobs to Be Done gives you a grounded, human-centered way to make decisions that resonate.