In today’s fast-paced business environment, understanding your customers’ needs and motivations is more critical than ever. The Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework has emerged as a powerful methodology for uncovering what drives customer behavior and how businesses can innovate to meet those needs. By focusing on the "job" customers are trying to accomplish, rather than just their demographics or preferences, JTBD provides actionable insights that can transform your market research efforts.
To help you get started, we’ve compiled a list of the top JTBD tools and techniques that can supercharge your market research and help you uncover the hidden opportunities in your market.
Before diving into the tools and techniques, let’s quickly recap what JTBD is all about. The Jobs-to-be-Done framework shifts the focus from who the customer is to what they are trying to achieve. It’s not about selling a product or service—it’s about helping customers make progress in their lives.
For example, a customer doesn’t buy a drill because they want a drill; they buy it because they need a hole. By understanding the "job" the customer is hiring your product to do, you can design better solutions, improve customer satisfaction, and identify untapped market opportunities.
JTBD interviews are a cornerstone of the framework. These in-depth, qualitative interviews help you uncover the underlying motivations, struggles, and desired outcomes of your customers. The key is to ask open-ended questions that dig deep into the customer’s decision-making process.
Pro Tip: Use the "Switch Interview" technique to explore what caused a customer to switch from one solution to another. This can reveal valuable insights about unmet needs and pain points.
Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI) is a JTBD-based approach that quantifies customer needs and prioritizes them based on importance and satisfaction. By conducting ODI surveys, you can identify which "jobs" are underserved in the market and focus your efforts on addressing those gaps.
Tool Recommendation: Platforms like Strategyn’s ODI software can help you design and analyze these surveys effectively.
The JTBD Canvas is a visual tool that helps you map out the customer’s job, including the functional, emotional, and social dimensions. It’s a great way to organize your findings and ensure you’re considering all aspects of the customer’s experience.
How to Use It: Start by defining the core job your customer is trying to accomplish. Then, break it down into smaller tasks, desired outcomes, and potential barriers.
While customer journey mapping is not exclusive to JTBD, it pairs perfectly with the framework. By mapping out the steps a customer takes to complete a job, you can identify pain points, inefficiencies, and opportunities for innovation.
Pro Tip: Focus on the "struggling moments" in the journey—these are often where the biggest opportunities lie.
JTBD statements are concise descriptions of the job your customer is trying to accomplish. They typically follow this format:
"When [situation], I want to [job], so I can [desired outcome]."
For example:
"When I’m commuting to work, I want to listen to educational podcasts, so I can learn new skills during my downtime."
Creating JTBD statements can help you align your team around a clear understanding of the customer’s needs.
Traditional market segmentation focuses on demographics or psychographics, but JTBD encourages you to segment your market based on the jobs customers are trying to accomplish. This approach often reveals new customer groups that were previously overlooked.
Example: Instead of targeting "millennials," you might target "people who need a quick, healthy breakfast on busy mornings."
Every job has competing solutions, whether they’re direct competitors, workarounds, or even doing nothing at all. By analyzing these alternatives, you can identify what makes your solution unique and where it falls short.
How to Do It: Compare your product or service to the alternatives based on how well they help customers achieve their desired outcomes.
JTBD metrics focus on measuring progress rather than traditional KPIs like sales or market share. For example, you might track how quickly customers can complete a job or how satisfied they are with the outcome.
Why It Matters: These metrics provide a more customer-centric view of success, helping you refine your offerings to better meet their needs.
The JTBD framework goes beyond surface-level insights to uncover the deeper motivations behind customer behavior. By focusing on the "why" behind the "what," you can:
Incorporating JTBD tools and techniques into your market research strategy can provide a fresh perspective on your customers and their needs. Whether you’re conducting interviews, mapping customer journeys, or analyzing competing solutions, the JTBD framework offers a structured approach to uncovering actionable insights.
Ready to take your market research to the next level? Start by exploring one of the tools or techniques mentioned above, and watch as your understanding of your customers—and your ability to serve them—grows exponentially.
What’s your favorite JTBD tool or technique? Share your thoughts in the comments below!