JTBD: bringing products back to the “Job” the customer needs to get done

In the process of driving innovation, a common misconception is that companies focus too heavily on their own product features while ignoring the results customers truly want to achieve. In other words, companies often become obsessed with "what they sell," yet rarely think deeply about "why customers buy." The Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) theory is the solution proposed for this fundamental problem.

The core view of JTBD is very direct: customers do not buy the product itself, but "hire" the product to complete a task (Job). Innovation only truly has value when a product can help customers complete a task in a better, faster, lower-cost, or more enjoyable way.

The JTBD theory can be traced back to market behavior research in the 1960s, but it was truly systematized and widely applied by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen and his research team. Through extensive case analysis, they discovered that the success of many disruptive innovations was not due to a company's obsession with technological leadership, but because they accurately identified and satisfied customers' "unmet jobs." Christensen once used the famous "Milkshake Case" to vividly illustrate this: consumers bought milkshakes not for the taste, but because they "satisfied hunger, were easy to drink, and passed the time" during their morning commute. When the company optimized the product around this task, sales naturally increased.

A unique aspect of JTBD is that it shifts demand analysis from traditional demographic characteristics and surface-level preferences to a more stable "task dimension." Demographics change and preferences shift, but people's motivations and standards for completing certain tasks remain highly consistent. For example, the task of "wanting to keep the air at home clean" has existed for decades, and innovation in air purifiers has unfolded around this specific task.

In actual work, JTBD helps us guide innovation thinking with the following key questions:

• What is the task the customer is truly trying to complete?

• What alternative solutions do they currently use to complete this task?

• What unmet or inefficiently met needs exist in these solutions?

• When customers measure the successful completion of a task, which metrics are most important?

Through these questions, companies can move beyond comparing product functions with competitors and turn their attention to the "quality of the result" of task completion.

For example, Didi Chuxing is not simply competing in the "taxi" market, but has redefined the customer's task of "arriving at a destination in the city quickly, safely, and conveniently." By integrating vehicle resources and payment processes through a technology platform, Didi made task completion smoother, thereby winning user favor. Similarly, the success of electric toothbrushes lies not in having more bristles or higher rotation speeds, but in helping users "clean their teeth more efficiently, effortlessly, and thoroughly." When innovation focuses on the task rather than the product itself, competitive advantages naturally emerge.

In our consulting practice, JTBD is often used in the following scenarios: new market exploration, product positioning adjustment, customer journey optimization, and formulating innovation strategies. Especially in industries with fierce, homogeneous competition, JTBD can help companies escape the trap of "feature stacking" and aim directly at the outcome metrics customers truly value.

It is worth noting that JTBD cannot be answered by a simple customer survey questionnaire. Identifying tasks requires a combination of qualitative interviews, contextual observation, and data analysis to uncover customers' explicit and implicit motivations. Only by deeply understanding how customers define "successful task completion" can the direction of innovation be precise.

The revelation brought by JTBD is clear: companies are not selling products, but providing tools for customers to complete tasks. When products are redefined from this perspective, innovation possesses a solid starting point.