Let's find out how using Angela as an example.
Angela is in her local supermarket. She’s in the toiletries aisle, looking at toothpaste.
A typical marketing customer persona may have this basic information about Angela:
- Age: 36
- Income: $80k
- Location: Surry Hills
- Marital status: Married
- Goal: To buy a reputable brand of toothpaste
- Challenges: Time poor and unfamiliar with all the various toothpaste products available.
This information allows us to segment the customer, in this case Angela, to make it easier to market products to her. But what it doesn’t tell us is what problem she’s trying to solve. In other words, why does why want to buy toothpaste?
If Angela is anything like me the toothpaste aisle in her local supermarket is an overwhelming place, to be visited only in times of dire need. Angela is presented with what feels like hundreds of options; advanced whitening, enamel health whitening, cavity protection, triple action, 2in1 - the list goes on (the paradox of choice anyone?!). I get cold sweats just thinking about it.
Anyway, I digress. The jobs-to-be-done framework is a tool to help us define problems that customers are trying to solve. Essentially the why behind their purchase.
It turns out that Angela’s worried about bad breath, after eating some onion in her salad at lunch. In this case her potential solutions are far broader than just toothpaste. And importantly none of the million toothpaste variants appear to speak to this problem directly. Breath mints, gum and mouthwash could also do the trick.
With an understanding of the “job” that customers find themselves “hiring” a product or service for, you can more accurately create and market products that effectively solve this need.
Watch Clay Christensen, creator of the jobs to be done framework, explaining how it came about. It’s pretty cool actually - it involved a fast food restaurant and a milkshake.
