Do you think people buy clothes just to dress up? That’s definitely not the only reason: they may be
looking for self-esteem, status, comfort or a series of meanings and values that a product represents
for them.
Understanding these motivations is an important task for marketing , as it contextualizes all its
actions. And that is why the Jobs to be Done methodology was created.
From this perspective, what matters is not exactly the purchasing behavior of the public, which is
often the focus of marketing research .
The starting point is to identify what the consumer wants to solve in their life and, from there,
understand what product or marketing approach you should use to help them in the best possible
way.
Still not sure what the methodology is? Don’t worry, we’re here to clear up all your doubts! Find out
Keep reading!
What is the Jobs To Be Done methodology?
Jobs to be Done is a methodology saudi arabia telegram data to better understand consumer
behavior by changing perspectives with the aim of making marketing actions more efficient and innovation more predictable and profitable.
It works like a lens through which we look at the competition and consumers differently, focusing on
the needs of customers. With that point of view, we don’t seek to understand what the public wants to
buy: what matters is what they want to solve.
This perspective understands that people do not buy with the product in mind, but rather buy it to
help solve something. “Jobs to be done,” therefore, are life situations that consumers want to change.
- Does an athlete need more motivation to run? Then he or she buys a special shoe for that purpose.
- Does a couple need to get to know each other better? A dinner at a restaurant helps a lot.
- A family wants more stability? Buy your own home.
And there it goes.
In general, all tasks that people need to perform (or jobs they need to solve) have a functional,
social or emotional dimension .
Running shoes, for example, are objectively designed to fit the foot and run. However, a person may
buy them to solve an emotional issue: the motivation that a pair of professional shoes provokes.
It is up to companies, then, to identify what their audience’s motivating factors are and how products
and services can help solve them. By doing this, they have a better chance of creating solutions that will succeed in the market.
Where did it come from?
The concept of Jobs to be Done was make special offers for regular customers. popularized by
Clayton Christensen, known for his studies on innovation and professor of management at Harvard
Business School. His first book, “The Innovator’s Dilemma” (1997), became a classic.
Intrigued by the question of innovation, Christensen questioned in the book why some large
companies failed to launch new products on the market that did not meet consumer expectations.
Based on these reflections, the author wrote an article for the Harvard Business Review in 2005 called
” Marketing Malpractice: The Cause and the Cure .”
The text begins by saying that 30,000 new products are launched every year. Companies invest
heavily in research and technology, but more than 90% of these launches fail in the market. A new
model is needed.
Based on this, it offers us a new perspective to rethink market segmentation and innovation.
The proposition is simple: just look at it from the customer’s point of view and understand that
they just want to get something done in their life. When people know that “a job needs to be done”
(get a job done), they “hire” products or services to get it done.
The task of the marketer, therefore, is to understand what jobs periodically arise in the lives of their
customers and, based on that, design products and experiences that serve to solve them. That is why
this theory began to be called ” Jobs to be done “.
What do McDonald’s milkshakes have to do with JTBD?
An emblematic case that serves to exemplify cambodia businesses directory the application of the
theory was McDonald’s challenge to increase sales of milkshakes in its stores.
What would you do to make that happen? Would you simply conduct a feedback survey?
Would you ask your customers why they weren’t buying or how they would like the product to be
delivered? That way, the company would probably not achieve the desired results.
When Clayton Christensen was called in to guide McDonald’s, his first suggestion was to apply the
“ Jobs to be Done ” method .
One member of his team spent 18 hours simply observing customers.
At what time did people buy milkshakes? What did they bring with them? Were they alone? Did they
consume the product in the store or take it with them? From these observations, they noticed that half
of the milkshakes were sold early in the morning and were brought to the car.
When asked why they did this, customers said they wanted a product that would keep them going
while driving to work and at the same time curb their appetite until mid-morning.
So they didn’t exactly want to buy a milkshake, they wanted something that would solve that
situation.
So McDonald’s started producing a more nutritious breakfast milkshake, with chunks of fruit, that
would last longer and still be nourishing.
In this way, the company not only offered a better product, but also managed to make the work day
more pleasant and efficient for the consumer. And sales consequently increased significantly.
What is the Jobs To Be Done methodology typically used for?
Basically, it is used to better understand consumers.
You might say that this is too simple these days. After all, companies have never had so much data available on consumer behavior.
You can simply use Google to read surveys and articles on a wide variety of topics, or analyze Google
Analytics to collect thousands of pieces of information about your site’s users. It’s also very easy to
create online questionnaires and ask questions directly to the consumer.
Yes, there are countless tools available today. However, launching a new product on the market and
succeeding in sales remains a challenge. Why is this happening?
According to Christensen, companies are going in the wrong direction when it comes to innovation.
The vast amount of data available generates demographic and behavioral information — attitudes,
aspirations and other psychological criteria — that, while useful for segmenting our audience, is not
useful for identifying what really matters: what do consumers need to solve in a given circumstance in their lives?
From this question it is possible to discover the real motivation of consumers and create a strategy to
adapt to it. In this way, the Jobs to be Done method can be used on different fronts.
Choosing a market to enter
Companies and startups analyze market opportunities to take advantage of an unresolved need or
improve an existing solution. To do this, it is necessary to analyze which “jobs” have many people trying to solve them and few companies offering solutions.
EDITOR RECOMMENDED CONTENTS:
What is a startup after all?
Get to know the most successful Mexican startups of the moment
Take a look at the startup scene in Colombia
Lean Startup: A Valuable Methodology for Corporate Growth
Deciding what product to create
The Jobs to be Done methodology is intrinsically linked to innovation. And, when innovating,
companies launch products that do not yet have a history in the market, without knowing what the
impact will be. The JTBD method reduces the risks involved in innovation and creates products that
are in high demand by the public.