3.16. Jobs To Be Done

Every product or a service is created and has some particular purpose: to grab a bite, to get dressed to get to work, to gain new knowledge, to learn a new trick, etc. At the same time, each product also solves a deeper problem, which is usually depends on not so obvious needs of the buyer. It is for that reason that sometimes it seems that some people act unreasonable and even strange, especially in terms of buying things.

What is ‘Jobs to Be Done’?

The focus of the ‘Jobs to Be Done’ framework is on the understanding of why a person makes a decision to buy a product. There was a lot said about the value of the product; thus, it can be assumed that a person buys not the product itself, but the value that product is going to bring. The customer as if hires the product to work for one.

Indeed, no one buys a skate just as some kind of a thing with a deck, trucks and wheels. No, the customer doesn’t care about that. On the contrary, customers usually buy a skate because of how they would feel, how cool they would look like, and what impression they would make on the opposite gender. Accordingly, in order to grow your business it’s necessary to understand the real motivation of customers and why they are really buying something.

How to Understand True Motivation

Interviews play an important role in the ‘Jobs to Be Done’ framework, because they allow to understand problems, motives, needs, and desires of the customer. Nevertheless, it should be highlighted that it’s not enough to hear what the customer is saying. You must understand what he wants or needs, his real motivation concerning the purchase. Thus, before conducting interviews, it’s necessary to thoroughly think over the questions you are going to ask in order to gain information and not to tailor the customers’ answers to an already developed conception.

You must ask the customer about his real motivation of buying the product, why he bought it, when he bought it, whether he buys that product often or it was a one-time purchase, if he regularly buys that product does he do that at a specific time/place, ask him about one’s behaviour before, during, and after the purchase, and what kind of problem he hopes that problem is going to solve. The mentioned questions are only a suggestion, you can always come up with your own.

Why You Do What You Do

Once upon a time, McDonald’s decided that it is necessary to increase the sales of milkshakes. Without further ado, the McDonald’s team conducted a study by asking 100s of people what improvements should be made (if any) for them to buy milkshakes. The customers were glad to share their opinions and expressed a lot of great ideas related to the taste, color, and viscosity of milkshakes.

The McDonald’s team was super excited to receive all kind of advice, and in anticipation of millions of millions of sales rushed to their office to make the customers’ wishes come true. Can you guess what happened next? Sales did not increase. There were no new sales. Money was spent on understanding the customers’ desires, on implementing the customers’ wishes, on satisfying the customers’ needs, and there were no significant results.

Feeling devastated and surprised, McDonald's asked the ‘Jobs to Be Done’ company to help them. At first, experts did not talk to the customers, but decided to monitor how the purchase of milkshakes takes place. The monitoring lasted for 17 hours, when experts were able to draw 2 conclusions. They noted that there are 2 types of people who buy milkshakes:

In the video below, Clayton Christensen, professor at Harvard Business School, explains this case.

Having come to that solution, experts decided to talk to people and ask them why they were buying milkshakes. Customers could not answer that question. Then experts started asking other questions, such as why they bought milkshakes that day, where they bought milkshakes before, at what time they usually buy milkshakes, and what they do after buying them.

Accordingly, having conducted interviews, experts noticed that customers usually bought milkshakes on their way to work, which usually was about 23 minutes long, and that milkshakes kept the customers occupied while driving and at the same time suppressing feelings of hunger. Experts understood the real motivation of people who bought milkshakes — calories. The customers admitted that some of them tried eating bananas, chocolate bars, and even donuts, but the mentioned snacks either finished too quickly or were too messy to eat while driving. Milkshakes were a perfect match.

Based on the outcomes of the conducted study, McDonald’s team introduced some changes: they changed the sizes of cups to bigger ones; they added pieces of fruits to certain milkshakes to change their taste; milkshake machines were moved closer to the takeaway window to make the process of buying faster. All in all, it was possible to increase the sales of milkshakes by 7 times. The following happened not because the team listened to the customers’ desires and wishes, but because by asking specific questions they understood the real motivation behind buying milkshakes.

Final Words

Sometimes something turns out to be not the way it actually looks like. People working with the ‘Jobs to Be Done’ framework are not only developers or sellers, but also psychologists who need to get as close as possible to understanding the true motives behind purchases in order to create products that will meet the customers’ expectations. Indeed, sometimes this mission seems to be impossible, but by investing some time and efforts, you can actually achieve incredible results.