What is Jobs to Be Done? The framework that explains why your customers really buy

Key Takeaways

Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) is a framework proposing that customers don't buy products — they "hire" solutions to solve a specific problem in their lives. It was developed by Clayton Christensen, professor at Harvard Business School.
Between 75% and 85% of new products fail financially (Christensen/Nielsen). The main cause: they don't target a real job the customer needs done.
The "job" isn't what the customer says they want — it's what they actually need to accomplish. The difference between the two explains why traditional surveys fail as an innovation tool.
Companies that understand their customer's job grow 2x faster in revenue (McKinsey) and are 60% more profitable (Deloitte) than those selling from the supply side.
JTBD applies equally to a tech startup, a hardware store, a law firm, or a food company. The framework is universal because "jobs" are universal.

There's a question most business owners believe they've solved but have never actually asked with the necessary depth: why do your customers buy? Not why they say they buy. Not why you think they buy. Why they really make the decision to give you their money instead of spending it on something else — or simply not spending it at all.

The conventional answer is usually some variation of "because my product is good" or "because we have good pricing" or "because they already know us." None of those answers explain why a new customer chose you the first time, or why another who seemed ideal never bought. Jobs to Be Done is the framework that answers that question precisely, and understanding it changes how you sell, communicate, and decide where to invest.

What is Jobs to Be Done?

Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) is an innovation and strategy framework developed by Clayton Christensen, professor at Harvard Business School, along with Scott Cook (co-founder of Intuit) and Taddy Hall. Its central premise: people don't buy products or services. They "hire" solutions to get a job done that they need to resolve in a specific context of their lives.

The concept first appeared in the article "Marketing Malpractice: The Cause and the Cure" published in Harvard Business Review in December 2005. Christensen expanded it in "Know Your Customers' Jobs to Be Done" (HBR, September 2016) and in his book Competing Against Luck (2016), where he argues that innovation doesn't have to be a matter of luck if you understand the job the customer needs done.

The idea sounds simple, but its implication is radical. If the customer isn't buying your product but hiring a solution for a job, then your competition isn't just whoever sells something similar to yours. It's any alternative the customer considers for solving that same job, including doing nothing.

How does it work? The milkshake case

The best-known JTBD example is the study Christensen and Bob Moesta conducted for a fast-food chain (reported as McDonald's) that wanted to sell more milkshakes.

The traditional approach would have been to ask customers what they wanted: more flavors, more sizes, better pricing. The chain had already tried all of that with no results. Christensen proposed something different: observe who was buying milkshakes, when, and under what circumstances.

The team set up in a restaurant for 18 hours and discovered something nobody expected. Nearly half of milkshakes were sold before 8:30 AM, to people alone who bought exclusively that and left in their cars. It wasn't a dessert craving. It was a functional breakfast.

The real "job": "I need something to keep me entertained during a long, boring commute to work, that keeps me full until 10 AM, and that I can consume with one hand while driving."

Seen through that job, the milkshake's competition wasn't other milkshakes. It was bananas (gone in three minutes, don't solve boredom), bagels (dry, need both hands to spread something on them), donuts (crumbs, sugar spike followed by crash), and the option of not eating anything (hungry by 10). The milkshake won because it was thick (lasted 20 minutes through a straw), clean (no mess), substantial (filling), and entertaining (the texture gives you something to do).

When the chain redesigned the milkshake around that job (thicker, with fruit chunks to make it more entertaining, express service for drive-through customers), sales multiplied by seven.

The lesson isn't about milkshakes. It's about the difference between asking the customer what they want (more flavors) and understanding what they need to get done (a long commute without boredom or hunger).

Why do companies that sell from the supply side fail more?

Because they build products and services based on what they know how to do, not on what the customer needs done. Christensen estimated that between 75% and 85% of all new products fail financially because they don't target a real job. Nielsen confirmed that 85% of new consumer products don't survive more than 12 months.

CB Insights analyzed failure reasons for venture-backed startups and found that the number one cause, in 42% of cases, is the absence of real market need. Not lack of funding, not poor execution, not competition. Simply, nobody needed what they were selling.

The pattern repeats across companies of all sizes. A professional services firm that promotes itself by listing its technical capabilities instead of the problems it solves. A food company that launches a new product because "the production line allows it" without validating whether anyone needs it. A business that invests in digital advertising pushing its entire catalog when customers only value two or three products from everything it offers.

The result is always the same: massive sales effort, low conversion, and the feeling that "the market is tough" when the real problem is that the company talks about itself instead of talking about the customer.

How is JTBD applied in practice?

You don't need to be Harvard or have a research budget to use JTBD. The framework boils down to asking yourself three questions about your customers — but asking them seriously.

Question 1: What job is my customer trying to get done when they buy from me? Not what product they buy, but what progress they want to make in their life or business. An executive lunch restaurant doesn't sell food. It solves the job of "I need to eat something decent in under 45 minutes near the office without spending a fortune." That job definition completely changes how you design the menu, the service, and the price.

Question 2: What alternatives does my customer consider for getting that job done? These are your real competition, not what appears in your industry analysis. The lunch restaurant doesn't compete only with other restaurants. It competes with bringing lunch from home, ordering delivery by app, not eating lunch and grabbing something quick from a store, and the option of the company having a catering arrangement. Each of those alternatives has advantages and disadvantages compared to your offering.

Question 3: What are the functional, emotional, and social dimensions of the job? Every job has three layers. The functional one is practical (eat something nutritious quickly). The emotional one is how the customer wants to feel (not feel guilty about eating poorly, enjoy a moment of pause). The social one is how they want to be perceived (not look like the person who eats at their desk every day). Companies that only solve the functional layer compete on price. Those that solve all three layers build loyalty.

Dimension	Key question	Example (lunch restaurant)
Functional	What do they need to accomplish?	Eat something nutritious in under 45 minutes
Emotional	How do they want to feel?	Satisfied, guilt-free, energized for the afternoon
Social	How do they want to be perceived?	Someone who takes care of themselves, with good judgment

Does JTBD apply to my type of company?

Yes. The framework is universal because "jobs" are universal. Every person and every company has problems they need to solve, regardless of industry.

For a construction company: the customer isn't buying square meters. They're hiring the solution to "I need a safe place where my family can grow peacefully without draining my savings." That explains why price isn't the only variable and why location, financing, and trust in the builder weigh so heavily.

For an accounting firm: the customer isn't buying tax returns. They're hiring the solution to "I need someone to handle this so I don't have problems with the tax authority and can sleep peacefully." Peace of mind is the real job, not the document.

For a B2B software company: the customer isn't buying licenses. They're hiring the solution to "I need my team to stop wasting time on manual tasks that can be automated." If your pitch talks about features instead of time recovered, you're selling from the supply side.

For a food company: the consumer isn't buying a snack. They're hiring the solution to "I need something to kill my hunger at 4 PM without making me feel bad." If your product does that job better than the alternatives (a bag of chips, a coffee, not eating anything), you win. If it doesn't, it doesn't matter how much you invest in packaging.

The Suricata approach to JTBD

At Suricata Labs we use JTBD as the starting point for any conversation about growth. Before discussing sales strategy, channels, or marketing investment, the first question is always: do you have clarity on what job your customer is hiring you to get done?

The honest answer, in most cases, is no. Companies know what they sell but not why people buy from them. And that difference is what explains why some grow with little sales effort while others spend fortunes on advertising with mediocre results.

If you want to explore what your customers' real job is and how that changes your growth strategy, let's talk.

Frequently asked questions about Jobs to Be Done

Does JTBD replace traditional market segmentation?

It doesn't replace it but complements it powerfully. Traditional segmentation groups customers by characteristics (age, income, location). JTBD groups customers by the job they need done, which can cut across all demographic categories. Two people of different ages, incomes, and cities can have exactly the same job. Segmentation tells you who to talk to; JTBD tells you what to say.

How do I discover my customers' "job"?

By observing and conversing, not surveying. Surveys capture what the customer says they want, which rarely matches what they actually need. Christensen recommends observing real behavior (when they buy, in what context, what alternatives they considered) and conducting "switching" interviews where you ask what led them to change from their previous solution to yours. The job pattern emerges from stories, not from answers to closed-ended questions.

Does JTBD work for B2B companies or only B2C?

It works equally well or better in B2B. In business contexts, jobs tend to be clearer because they have a direct financial component: "I need to reduce month-end closing from 15 days to 5" or "I need my salespeople to stop losing opportunities from lack of follow-up." What changes in B2B is that the "customer" is usually a decision committee with different jobs: the manager wants results, the CFO wants cost control, and the end user wants ease of use. A good JTBD application maps the jobs of all actors involved.

What's the difference between JTBD and design thinking?

They're complementary. Design thinking is an innovation process (empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test). JTBD is a framework for understanding demand. You can use JTBD within the "empathize" phase of design thinking to precisely define what problem to solve. JTBD gives you the "what"; design thinking gives you the "how."

Conclusion

Jobs to Be Done is not an abstract academic theory. It's a practical way to stop guessing why your customers buy and start understanding it with precision. Companies that master this framework stop competing on price, stop depending on mass advertising to generate sales, and start building products and services that customers recommend because they solve something that truly matters to them.

The next time you think about launching a product, opening a channel, or changing your sales strategy, start with the question: what job is my customer trying to get done? If you can't answer it clearly, any decision you make afterward is a blind bet.

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What is Jobs to Be Done? The JTBD framework