JTBD Theory: Consumer Interviews
Understanding your customer's needs deeply requires specific interviewing skills. Here’s how to get started:
JTBD Theory: The Key to Successful Product Planning
JTBD Theory helps you conceptualize winning products or services before development begins. When applied correctly, it leads to predictable innovation by addressing unmet customer needs.
Solving Customer Needs with JTBD Interviews
Before identifying unmet needs, you must first uncover all customer needs. Many companies struggle with this, often not agreeing on what constitutes a "need." JTBD interviews, however, effectively define and capture these needs.
Focus on the Core Functional Job
JTBD interviews aim to understand the job the customer is trying to get done, not their buying process, purchase day, behavior, or the product itself.
Outcome-Driven Innovation® (ODI)
ODI, a method that predates JTBD Theory, helps uncover the metrics customers use to measure success. These needs are termed customer desired outcomes.
Steps to Conduct JTBD Interviews
Define the Market: Identify the group and the job they are trying to get done.
Create a Job Map: Break down the core job into steps.
Uncover Customer Outcomes: Identify the needs for each step in the job.
Identifying the Job Executor
JTBD interviews focus on three types of customers:
End Users: They use the product to get the job done and provide performance metrics.
Support Team: They handle installation, maintenance, and other consumption chain jobs.
Purchase Decision Makers: They decide which products to buy and help understand the buying process.
Constructing Job Statements
Job statements should be:
Stable over time: They don’t change quickly.
Geographically neutral: They apply everywhere.
Solution-agnostic: They focus on what the customer needs to get done.
Process-oriented: They describe a series of steps.
Asking the Right Questions
“What are you ultimately trying to get done with this product?”
“Are you using multiple products? Why?”
“What’s the final outcome you’re seeking?”
Defining the Market
A market is a group of people plus the core job they are trying to get done, e.g., music enthusiasts trying to listen to music.
Customer Loyalty to Jobs, Not Solutions
Customers are loyal to the job-to-be-done, not the specific product they use.
Understanding Job Characteristics
Creating a “job map” through interviews identifies:
Job boundaries: Where the job begins and ends.
Optimal flow: The most efficient process steps.
Competitive landscape: Non-traditional competitors.
Long-term roadmap: For product development.
Using the Universal Job Map
A core job can have 10-20 steps. Use the Universal Job Map to guide your interviews.
Finalizing the Job Map
Socialize the job map with stakeholders for their input and approval. A visual representation helps clarify the process.
Measuring Success
Desired outcome statements are essential. They are:
Stable over time
Reveal value metrics
Enable evaluation of solutions
Guide new product creation
Prevent misunderstandings
Explain failure causes
Discoverable through research
Identify unmet needs
Unify the organization
Structure of a Desired Outcome Statement
Each statement includes:
Direction of improvement: Usually to minimize time or likelihood of a problem.
Predictive metric: Time or likelihood.
Object of control: What is being improved.
Contextual clarifier: When or for what purpose.
Creating Valid Desired Outcome Statements
Follow these rules:
Use the required structure.
Ensure clarity and unambiguity.
They must be stable, measurable, and controllable.
They should predict job success and be solution-free.
Conducting Effective Interviews
Follow the map logically, focusing on what the customer is trying to achieve or avoid. Avoid discussing product features; instead, focus on the job steps and outcomes.
Conclusion
By conducting JTBD interviews, you can build actionable customer value models that stand out in the crowded field of innovators and marketers. Start using these techniques with the Jobs-to-be-Done Canvas to guide your workshops and discussions, creating a roadmap for understanding and addressing customer needs effectively.
Sources
Here are a few curated links for further reading if you’re interested:
