Jobs to Be Done (JTBD)
Understanding why customers "hire" your product by uncovering the functional, emotional, and social jobs they need done. Focuses on customer motivation, not demographics.
When to Use
Use when you need to understand why customers switch to (or from) your product. Best for product development, positioning, and identifying new market opportunities.
Origin & Background
Pioneered by Clayton Christensen (Harvard Business School) and further developed by Bob Moesta and the Rewired Group. The famous "milkshake" case study demonstrated that demographics don't predict purchase behavior.
Framework Steps
Conduct Switch Interviews
Interview recent customers about the moment they decided to switch.
Identify the Job
What functional, emotional, and social progress were they seeking?
Map Forces of Progress
Push (current pain), Pull (desired outcome), Anxiety, Habit.
Define Job Statements
Write "When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [outcome]."
Align Product & Marketing
Redesign features, messaging, and positioning around the job.
Applied Scenarios
JTBD for Competitive Differentiation
Using JTBD to find dimensions of competition your rivals are ignoring, creating differentiation through job-focused innovation.
View application →JTBD for Feature Expansion Strategy
Use Jobs to Be Done to identify the right features for product expansion.
View application →JTBD for Market Entry
Use Jobs to Be Done to validate market entry and find initial customers.
View application →JTBD for New Product Development
Using Jobs to Be Done research to identify unmet needs and design new products that customers are already looking to hire.
View application →JTBD for Pricing Strategy
Using JTBD to design pricing that aligns with the value customers perceive from the job being done, not feature comparisons.
View application →JTBD for Product Positioning
Using Jobs to Be Done to reposition your product around the actual jobs customers hire it for, improving messaging and conversion.
View application →JTBD for Reducing Churn
Using JTBD research to understand why customers "fire" your product and redesign the experience to retain them.
View application →Ehsan Jahandarpour
AI Growth Strategist & Fractional CMO
Forbes Top 20 Growth Hacker · TEDx Speaker · 716 Academic Citations · Ex-Microsoft · CMO at FirstWave (ASX:FCT) · Forbes Communications Council