At its core, Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) is a framework that helps businesses understand the progress customers are trying to make in their lives. The idea is simple but powerful: consumers don’t just buy products or services – they “hire” them to fulfill specific jobs. These jobs can range from practical tasks, like commuting to work, to emotional needs, such as feeling secure or connected to others.

So why does this matter for your business? Traditional market research often focuses on demographic profiles or product categories. But understanding the customer's purpose for buying reveals far more relevant insights. JTBD dives beneath the surface to explain why people act the way they do, enabling organizations to connect with their audience on a deeper level. It’s a foundational change in perspective that unlocks value across the entire customer lifecycle – from concept development to marketing to loyalty-building.

Examples of Jobs Your Customers May Be Trying to Get Done

• A parent looks for a healthy snack to help their child stay focused at school.
• A small business owner needs a tool that saves time on invoicing.
• A recent graduate “hires” a brand of clothing to express professionalism in their first job interview.

When companies understand these types of real goals – or “jobs” – they can tailor their offerings with precision. That’s why using Jobs to Be Done for business growth is such an essential strategy in 2025.

JTBD vs. Traditional Research Approaches

While demographic or psychographic segmentation still offers value, it doesn't always explain behavior. Two people with identical backgrounds may choose different products for very different reasons. JTBD fills that gap by focusing on the situation, motivation, and desired outcome – actionable insights that your business can build on.

As part of a broader market research strategy, JTBD supports:

• Product innovation: Designing solutions that fit unmet needs.
• Marketing alignment: Crafting messaging that mirrors what customers really care about.
• Customer journey mapping: Recognizing key moments where intervention or support truly adds value.

For business leaders, JTBD isn’t just another tool – it’s part of a growth framework that leads to better decisions and stronger performance. The organizations that start asking, “What job is our product being hired for?” are the ones that move closer to what their customers genuinely need – and that’s where real growth begins.

One of the biggest challenges businesses face is knowing what customers really want – not just what they say they want. That’s where Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) shines. At its heart, JTBD is a powerful engine for uncovering customer needs that aren’t always obvious. By shifting the focus to the outcomes people are trying to achieve, JTBD pulls back the curtain on consumer behavior in a way that’s more authentic and actionable.

Behind Every Decision is a “Job” That Needs Doing

Customers don’t purchase based on features alone. They act when a need arises and they’re searching for something that helps them solve it. Take for example someone buying a fitness app. They’re not just after exercise routines – they’re trying to stay accountable, manage stress, or feel confident for an upcoming event. These are all functional, emotional, or even social "jobs" at play.

Traditional market research may capture stated preferences or satisfaction levels, but using JTBD in product development helps teams go further by spotlighting the progress the person is truly trying to make. When you understand the job, you understand the trigger, the desired outcome, and the barriers – and that makes it much easier to design around real opportunity spaces.

Digging Deeper: What Makes a Job Actionable?

At SIVO Insights, we work with companies across industries to conduct qualitative and quantitative research grounded in JTBD. We ask questions such as:

• What sparked the customer’s search for a solution?
• What had they tried before, and why didn’t it work?
• In what context are they “hiring” a product or service?

These questions reveal meaningful insights that can’t be captured by numbers alone. JTBD bridges the gap between data and human understanding – a balance that’s essential in any customer insights or voice of the customer research effort.

JTBD Helps You Spot What Others Miss

Here’s what makes JTBD unique within market research strategies for growth:

• It's context-based – helping you see when and why needs arise.
• It elevates unmet needs – highlighting areas competitors may overlook.
• It aligns teams on customer outcomes – giving product, marketing, and service teams a shared focus.

Whether you're launching a new product line or refining your brand message, how JTBD helps identify customer needs can streamline your priorities. It ensures that your solutions aren’t just built from intuition or internal objectives, but from a deeper truth uncovered directly from the people you serve.

In the next sections, we’ll explore practical ways to apply JTBD across innovation, strategy, and beyond. But even at this early stage, one thing is clear: tapping into real human motivations is the key to breaking through the noise – and building something that truly resonates in 2025.

Innovation doesn’t start with a brainstorming session – it starts with understanding what your customers are actually trying to accomplish. This is where the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework becomes a powerful growth tool. By identifying the underlying causes behind consumer behavior, JTBD helps teams design solutions that meet real, unmet needs – not just demographics or assumed preferences.

JTBD Opens the Door to Purposeful Innovation

Traditional market research often focuses on who the customer is. JTBD digs deeper to explore why the customer makes decisions. In other words, what “job” are they hiring a product or service to help them complete?

This shift in focus uncovers new value creation opportunities, especially when existing categories feel saturated. It encourages innovation that is tied directly to customer motivation, resulting in offerings that feel more intuitive, relevant, and compelling.

How JTBD Fuels Business Growth

Using JTBD thoughtfully can lead to exponential returns on product innovation, customer engagement, and long-term market strategy. Here’s how:

• Sharper product development: Design features that align with solving the customer’s most important problems, reducing wasted investment on low-impact features.
• Stronger brand differentiation: When your product uniquely fulfills a core job better than competitors, you become the go-to brand for that need.
• Better marketing messaging: Communicate your value based on outcomes customers care about, not just product specs.

By tying your innovation strategy to real customer needs – rather than trends or assumptions – you make growth more sustainable and less reactive.

JTBD as a Growth Framework

In 2025 and beyond, more forward-looking companies are putting growth frameworks like JTBD at the center of their strategy. This allows them to prioritize investments, respond to shifting markets, and build voice of the customer techniques into every stage of business planning.

Ultimately, JTBD works because it helps you stay close to your customers – and when businesses prioritize true customer insights, business growth follows naturally.

Understanding the concept of JTBD is one thing – seeing it in action is another. To bring this framework to life, let’s walk through some simplified examples that show how different industries use Jobs to Be Done to drive smarter market strategy and product innovation.

Example 1: A Beverage Brand Seeking Afternoon Relevance

A popular soft drink brand discovered that sales were flat in the afternoon, despite wide availability. Traditional demographic targeting yielded few solutions – so they turned to JTBD.

Through consumer insights research, they uncovered a key job: “Help me perk up and stay focused to finish my day.” Their original positioning focused on taste and refreshment, missing this emotional and functional need.

By aligning marketing and product messaging with this late-day job, they launched new formats and campaign strategies – leading to a lift in both relevance and revenue.

Example 2: A Fitness App Understanding Motivation

An emerging fitness app wanted to grow user retention. Rather than only segmenting by user age or fitness level, the team conducted effective market research to explore the jobs users were hiring the app to do.

They uncovered that some users weren’t actually focused on fitness – they wanted to stay emotionally grounded or build daily momentum. The app adjusted onboarding and content to better fit those jobs, boosting engagement across new groups.

Example 3: Financial Services and Life Transitions

A bank wanted to design new digital tools for young adults. JTBD interviews revealed a common job: “Help me feel in control during uncertain life transitions.”

Rather than pushing products like checking accounts or credit cards generically, the bank repositioned services around moments that matter – such as graduating, moving, or starting a new job – leading to higher trust and adoption.

What These Stories Show

Across industries, these examples prove that JTBD helps organizations see customers not as segments, but as people with real motivations. By tapping into these deeper needs, you can design offerings that go beyond the obvious and deliver lasting value.

It’s about understanding not just what your customer buys, but why they choose it – and how you can help them succeed.

Whether you're a startup building your first product or a global brand refining your strategy, adopting the Jobs to Be Done mindset begins with curiosity: What are our customers really trying to get done?

Start by Listening, Not Guessing

The foundation of JTBD is listening to the voice of the customer. That means moving beyond surface-level surveys or assumptions and engaging customers in open-ended conversations.

Instead of asking “What features do you want?” ask questions like:

• “What was going on in your life when you decided to try our product?”
• “What problem were you trying to solve?”
• “What made you choose us instead of other options?”

This kind of research typically starts with qualitative methods, such as JTBD interviews, but can be supported by quantitative tools to validate and prioritize the findings.

Build a Cross-Functional Understanding

Successfully implementing JTBD requires alignment across teams – from product to marketing to insights. Consider these starting points:

Map Out Customer ‘Jobs’

Start identifying key jobs your customers are trying to accomplish. These often fall into three categories:

• Functional jobs: The practical task (e.g., get a quick meal, manage money)
• Emotional jobs: How they want to feel during or after (e.g., confident, relaxed)
• Social jobs: How they want to be perceived (e.g., informed, respected)

Use Jobs as a Roadmap for Growth

Once jobs are clear, they can guide decisions across your business:

• Product teams can prioritize features that deliver on core jobs
• Marketing teams can craft messaging that speaks to real motivations
• Customer experience teams can refine touchpoints to support the job, not just the transaction

Partner with the Right Research Experts

If you're new to JTBD, working with a partner like SIVO Insights can help you implement effective market research strategies for growth. We tailor designs that surface the consumer insights for innovation specific to your industry, brand, and goals.

Whether you’re building a strategy around using JTBD in product development or looking for a beginner guide to Jobs to Be Done, establishing these practices now will set you up for stronger business growth in 2025 and beyond.