How Customer Interviews Unlock Powerful Innovation with Jobs-to-be-Done?

In today's highly competitive business environment, understanding your customer is absolutely crucial. While traditional methods often focus solely on what customers purchase, Anthony Ulwick's "Jobs to be Done" theory delves deeper. His book emphasizes the power of in-depth customer interviews to uncover the fundamental reason a customer chooses a product or service - the underlying "job" they are trying to accomplish.

Define the job, not the situation

Focus on what the customer decides to do in a given situation, not just the situation itself. For example, rather than studying the situation of being bored during a commute, look at what customers choose to do in that situation, like stopping at a restaurant for breakfast. Similarly, when waiting in line at a doctor's office, consider what customers choose to do with their smartphones, such as staying informed or paying bills. These actions represent the actual Jobs-to-be-Done.

How Customer Interviews will help us uncover the "Jobs"?

Imagine you sell hammers. You might think your customers simply want hammers. But through customer interviews, you might discover a variety of "jobs" your hammer helps with:

• Hanging pictures (needs a precise, lightweight hammer)
• Building furniture (needs a sturdy framing hammer)
• Demolishing walls (needs a powerful sledgehammer)

Each job has distinct needs and desired outcomes. By understanding these jobs, you can:

• Develop targeted products: Create hammers specifically designed for each job, catering to different customer segments.
• Focus on outcomes: Prioritize features that deliver the desired outcomes customers crave, like a lightweight and easy-to-control hammer for hanging pictures.
• Uncover unmet needs: Identify opportunities for innovation by discovering jobs where current solutions fall short. Perhaps there's a need for a multi-functional hammer that adapts to different jobs.

Conducting Powerful Customer Interviews

Ulwick advocates for a specific approach to customer interviews for Jobs-to-be-Done:

• Focus on situations: Instead of asking directly about products, explore specific situations where customers hire a product (the job to be done).
• Uncover the "why": Go beyond surface-level answers. Ask "why" questions to understand the underlying motivations and desired outcomes.
• Listen actively: Pay close attention to emotional language and frustrations customers express. This reveals the true "job" they are trying to get done.

Extracting Jobs from Interviews

Once you have interview data, use job mapping to organize it. Identify recurring situations and desired outcomes. Group these together to define distinct job types.

For example, multiple interviews might reveal customers who:

• Need to hang pictures quickly and easily without damaging walls.
• Want to create sturdy furniture but lack carpentry experience.
• Require a tool for heavy-duty demolition projects.

These situations and desired outcomes point to three distinct jobs your hammer could potentially help with.

Moderating a Customer Interview for Jobs-to-be-Done

Here's an example of how to moderate a customer interview to uncover the jobs your product is helping with:

Introduction & Icebreaker:

• Thank the customer for their time and participation.
• Start with a light icebreaker question to build rapport.

Warm-up:

• Ask the customer to tell you about a recent situation where they used your product (or a similar product in the category).

Digging Deeper:

• Probe deeper using "why" questions: Why were you in that situation? What were you trying to accomplish? What challenges did you face?
• Avoid leading questions that suggest your product as the solution.

Uncovering the Job:

• Pay close attention to the emotional language and frustrations the customer expresses.
• What was the ideal outcome they were hoping for?
• How did your product (or a similar product) help them achieve that outcome (or not)?

• Moderator: "I understand. What were you hoping to achieve by hanging the pictures?"
• Customer: "I wanted to personalize the space and create a cozy feeling in the living room."
• Moderator: "Interesting. What challenges did you face while hanging the pictures?"
• Customer: "It always seems to take forever to find the right spot, and then I worry about hammering holes in the wall and damaging the paint." (Notice the frustration?)
• Moderator: "Finding the right spot and avoiding wall damage sounds frustrating. What would have made the picture hanging process ideal for you?"
• Customer: "Honestly, if it could be quick and easy, without any worries about messing up the walls, that would be amazing!"

The user isn't just hiring a hammer (or picture hanging service) - they are trying to get the job of personalizing their space done in a quick, easy, and damage-free way. This insight is valuable for product development. The ideal hammer might be lightweight and easy to use, or perhaps there's an opportunity to innovate with a different hanging solution altogether.

The Power of Understanding

By using customer interviews to uncover the jobs your product helps with, you gain a super deep understanding of what people really need. This superpower lets you:

• Make products that solve real problems.
• Focus on the most important improvements.
• Build stronger relationships with your customers by helping them get things done!

Conclusion

Customer interviews are a powerful tool in the Jobs-to-be-Done framework. By focusing on the "why" behind customer choices, you can unlock valuable insights and drive successful innovation that resonates with your target market. So, grab your interview hat and start uncovering the jobs your customers are truly trying to get done.

Remember, this is just a starting point! Think of it as practice. As you get more comfortable with customer interviews, you'll get better at figuring out people's deepest needs. You can even combine this with other interview tricks, like the "5 Whys" method , to get the best results. There's no one right way to do it - find what works best for you and your team!

If you'd like to discuss anything about "Jobs to Be Done" or how to implement customer interviews more effectively into your workflow, feel free to reach out. Let's embark on this journey of exploration and innovation together.