In today’s competitive marketplace, success isn’t solely defined by product features or price points. Instead, the ability to deeply understand customer motivations, behaviors, and pain points plays a pivotal role. Enter the “Jobs to Be Done” (JTBD) framework—an essential methodology for refining positioning and sharpening messaging. Originally popularized by Clayton Christensen, JTBD offers a structured lens through which to view customer needs—not merely in terms of demographics or psychographics but based on the specific jobs customers are trying to accomplish in their lives.
Understanding the “Jobs to Be Done” Framework
At its core, the JTBD framework hinges on a fundamental premise: People purchase products and services to get a “job” done. These jobs aren’t always obvious; they’re rooted in goals, motivations, and the circumstances in which people find themselves.
For instance, someone doesn’t “buy a drill”; they “need a hole in the wall.” It’s a subtle but powerful shift in thinking. Instead of focusing on what consumers buy, JTBD asks why they buy. This simple question can revolutionize how companies approach product development, customer research, and most critically, positioning and messaging.
Why JTBD Matters in Positioning and Messaging
Positioning is about defining how a product or service should be perceived in the market relative to competitors. Messaging, on the other hand, is about communicating that position in a way that resonates with target customers. The JTBD framework strengthens both by grounding them in customer reality.
Here’s how JTBD adds value:
- Customer-Centric Messaging: Shift the narrative from product features to customer outcomes.
- Differentiation: Identify functional, emotional, and social jobs that competitors may overlook.
- Segmentation: Move beyond demographics to classify audiences by the jobs they’re trying to get done.
- Clarity: Avoid vague or generic slogans by focusing on real-world challenges and objectives.
Uncovering Jobs: What Customers Are Really Trying to Do
Jobs fall into two primary categories:
- Functional Jobs: Practical tasks your customer is trying to accomplish. For example, submitting a tax return or organizing personal data.
- Emotional and Social Jobs: These are subtler but equally powerful. Does your product help users feel confident, secure, or socially accepted?
To uncover these insights, companies must engage in qualitative research: interviews, ethnographic studies, and observation. The goal isn’t to ask, “Do you like this product?” but rather, “What were you trying to do before buying this?” and “What would you have done if this product didn’t exist?”
These insights allow companies to speak directly to the context in which customers make choices. It’s a shift from selling products to offering purposeful solutions.
Mapping JTBD Insights to Positioning
Once customer jobs are identified, those insights can be converted into strategic positioning. Think of positioning as the mental shelf your product occupies in the customer’s mind. JTBD ensures that the positioning statement articulates the value in terms that matter to your customer.
An effective positioning statement based on JTBD often looks like this:
“For [target customer] who [has a specific job or problem], our [product/service] delivers [desired outcome], unlike [competition or traditional alternatives].”
Let’s consider an example:
- Traditional Positioning: “Our project management tool has a sleek UI and AI-powered features.”
- JTBD-Informed Positioning: “For team leaders who need to coordinate multiple deadlines across departments without losing control, our tool ensures alignment, visibility, and peace of mind—in one dashboard.”
This JTBD-informed message speaks directly to the user goal, context, and desired outcome. It avoids buzzwords and grounds itself in real-world usage scenarios.
Building Messaging That Resonates
Crafting effective messaging based on JTBD involves translating insights into copy, visuals, and brand tone. This messaging should reflect an understanding of:
- The Core Functional Job: What is the primary task being accomplished?
- The Emotional Landscape: What frustrations, anxieties, or aspirations does the user bring to the task?
- Alternative Solutions: What would users do in the absence of your product?
When your messaging addresses not only the job but also the emotional cost of not completing it effectively, it immediately becomes more compelling. For instance:
“Stop wasting hours juggling spreadsheets. Gain clarity and control with one platform that actually works the way you do.”
Here, the emotional frustration (“wasting hours”) and the desired state (“clarity and control”) are central themes—outcomes that resonate deeply with the intended user because they originate from a real job and a real need.
Practical Steps to Applying JTBD in Your Organization
Implementing JTBD thinking doesn’t require a full overhaul of your operations. Instead, it can be integrated gradually, starting with how your teams approach customer research and messaging strategy.
Here are six practical steps:
- Interview real users: Focus on understanding context, motivations, and alternatives—not just satisfaction.
- Identify recurring jobs: Look for patterns in goals, frustrations, and usage scenarios.
- Map jobs to product benefits: Clearly articulate how your offering helps users get the job done better, quicker, or with more ease.
- Prioritize impactful jobs: Not all jobs are created equal. Focus on those that are most critical and underserved.
- Rework positioning and messaging: Use language that mirrors the customer’s mental model, not internal technical jargon.
- Test and iterate: Use A/B testing and customer feedback to validate that your messaging aligns with real needs.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
While the JTBD framework can be transformative, it’s not without potential pitfalls. Avoiding these common missteps will ensure your team benefits fully:
- Focusing too narrowly on functional jobs: Ignoring emotional and social aspects can flatten your messaging.
- Misinterpreting correlation as causation: Just because users behave a certain way doesn’t mean you understand their job.
- Overcomplicating the message: Clear, simple messages built on JTBD insights are superior to jargon-heavy copy.
Case Study: Airtable’s Messaging Shift
Airtable initially positioned itself as a “spreadsheet-database hybrid,” which, while accurate, didn’t speak directly to users’ jobs. As teams across functions—from marketing to operations—started using Airtable to build collaborative workflows, the company pivoted toward positioning itself as a “platform for building collaborative apps built exactly the way your team works.”
The shift wasn’t just stylistic—it was functional and deeply rooted in observed customer behavior and jobs. By framing their product as the solution to a specific job (creating flexible workflows without engineering support), Airtable achieved greater resonance, broader adoption, and stronger brand clarity.
Conclusion: JTBD as a Strategic Compass
Understanding your customer’s Jobs to Be Done isn’t just an academic exercise; it’s a roadmap to relevance. Positioning and messaging built on superficial product attributes or market trends may yield short-term gains but rarely foster long-term engagement.
By adopting the JTBD framework, companies can:
- Craft positioning that clearly differentiates based on what matters to customers.
- Create messaging that speaks to real-world contexts and aspirations.
- Develop products and services that fulfill unmet needs more effectively than competitors.
Ultimately, when you stop asking what your customers want, and start asking what they’re trying to accomplish, you give your business a chance to not only stand out—but to matter.
