Over the last year, we’ve done several customer insights projects for clients using the 'Jobs To Be Done' framework. We’ve done this for companies in management consulting, consumer packaged goods, and apparel. Doing 60-minute interviews with one customer at a time and distilling that information has been some of the most interesting work I’ve done in my career. Here’s how we do it and why it’s worth doing.

1. service overview
Jobs To Be Done Customer Insights

2. In a world where technology evolves ever more quickly and opportunities to
communicate multiply, as marketers we can easily get caught up in shiny new
things. So it pays to step back and remember that our work is really all about
serving customers, not trends.
And to best serve customers, we must understand them on their terms. Online
surveys get at the surface and focus groups often mean group-think. But there’s
a different way - one that gets at the heart of why customers choose your brand,
what motivates them, and what they care most deeply about.
rethinking priorities

3. Jobs To Be Done is a brand insights framework that allows us to rethink marketing,
innovation, and content from a customer-first perspective. We conduct in-depth
individual interviews with recent customers to understand the "jobs" they’ve hired
your brand to do. Those conversations provide a wealth of insight for identifying
growth and innovation opportunities while honing in marketing and
communications to speak more directly to customer values and needs.
“People don’t want a quarter inch drill,
they want a quarter inch hole.”
what is “jobs to be done”?

4. There are critical pieces of data that most marketers don’t know about their
customers. The Jobs To Be Done process helps uncover those answers.
● How long do your customers take to find and choose your solution?
● Why did they choose you over other brands?
● How else did they address their needs before choosing your brand?
● Do they hack your products in some way?
● What substitutes do they look to aside from competing brands?
● What habits did your customers have to break before switching brands?
● What questions remain unanswered in their minds?
● What anxieties do they have about the purchase?
do you know?

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SIX BASIC TENETS
People buy products and services to
get a “job” done.
Products and services that win in the
marketplace help partners get a job
done better and/or more cheaply.
A job-to-be-done is stable over time,
making it an attractive unit of analysis.
The job-to-be-done provides a new
way to view the customer journey.
A job-to-be-done is functional and
has emotional and social jobs
associated with it.
A job-to-be-done is always a process
(to make progress).

6. push
Internal forces driving the need to get this
job done. Other options are not good
enough. The emotional and practical
reasons why now is the time to act.
habit anxiety
pull
The everyday routines we perform in lieu of
change. Business as usual. Comfortable
patterns. “That’s how we’ve always done it.”
What we’ll need to leave behind to achieve
meaningful progress.
External influences enlightening us to a new
way to get the job done. Trusted
recommendations. Early adopters and a
“cool factor” sometimes play a role. A vision
of what life could be like.
The hang-ups, fears and skepticism holding
us back from acting to make a change.
Hurdles that may seem too much to
overcome.
This matrix can be your long-term content development guide.
By addressing these elements, you will speak to what matters most to customers.

7. The alternatives customers have used to
get the job done in unusual ways. Hacks,
custom solutions, compromises, surprising
resources, and even coping strategies.
The direct competitors vying for the
customer’s attention that could also get
the job done, and the products or
services customers have already tried.
rivals
substitutes

8. the journey
first action
the moment that
got things moving
the decision
the circumstances
surrounding the
moment of truth
second action
the events that led
up to the decision
since then
are they still in the
market for a better
solution?
initial thought
the spark or
realization to make
a change

9. additional insight
We supplement Jobs interviews with key data sources to ensure we have the
proper context for our insights, including:
● Iconoculture: Proprietary consumer research focused on identifying
trends and shifts in values across generations
● Crimson Hexagon: Online conversation analysis to understand the
broader themes and trends surrounding your brand across social media,
blogs, forums and news sites
We can also follow up this qualitative work with quantitative surveys to validate
specific insights we hear in interviews.

10. ● Address customer questions
and anxieties
● Hierarchy of messaging, how
to prioritize messaging points
across the customer journey
● Education opportunities
● Hacking the product to solve a
different job
● Surrounding themselves with
similar products
● Validating (or deprioritizing) a
new product launch
● Intimate understanding of your
customers - origins, anxieties,
hopes, must-haves
● Behavioral trends and values
● New customer segments
By articulating the job your product or service provides, we are better able to
identify opportunities for:
GROWTH INNOVATION CONTENT
Example
A natural supplement company
discovered the critical role of
mass media coverage in order
for customers to validate and
build trust.
Example
A grass-fed dairy company learned
that their customers actively try to
live more environmentally
conscious lives, indicating an
opportunity for the brand to create
relevant and actionable content.
Example
Working for a minimalist shoe
brand, we discovered
customers were finding ways to
waterproof their shoes on their
own, indicating an opportunity
for the brand to develop a line
of waterproof products.

11. HOW YOUR TEAM USES JOBS
CEO: Blueprint for innovation, accelerate long-term growth, guide overall company strategy, incorporate
findings into corporate communications
CMO/VP: North star for brand strategy, content strategy, and campaign development; align team behind a
common understanding of the customer; guide new product development
Creative Director: Informs look, feel and tone of campaign concepts and creative assets
Marketing Manager: Guides content themes, type and placement; address customer habits and anxieties
directly with content; identify influencers, websites and potential partnerships most relevant to customers
Copywriter: Identifies keywords, phrases, outside resources to shape messaging
Jobs insights allows us to shift the focus from making the numbers to serving customers’ needs, thus
naturally driving the growth we sought in the first place, not through promotion but with real value.
Jobs insights help align the entire marketing team and have value for key roles in the organization:

12. YOU’LL RECEIVE
Summary, analysis, key
findings, and jobs statement(s)
Interview recordings and
transcripts
Research on related trends,
consumer behaviors and
online conversations
Customer journey outlining
needs, questions and content
suggestions at each stage
Personas including narrative,
preferences, use cases, values
Insights driven marketing
imperatives

13. client
feedback “After reading cover to cover twice, I am in awe.
Fantastic work, insights and learnings, thank you.”
“I love this, I feel known.”
"Literally about to cry, this is what we've thought
intuitively so now to see it all adds up & know we're
perfectly positioned -- just, really great job."
"I like how it takes it to a personal level, it makes it feel
relevant. Very dialed in. And I like the play on words."
“I’m sure I’m not speaking for myself when I say, kudos
to you and the team for a stellar presentation this
morning. Very well done.
“
“

14. what progress is your customer trying to
make?