Have you heard of the JTBD theory?
Chronicles of an Afropreneur
Have you heard of the JTBD theory?
When designing a Business Model for a startup or any business at all, a “Value Proposition” is an essential element (I believe you know what this is). This is what has made Uber, Airbnb, Apple, Amazon and similar companies great. They deliver value in ways that differentiate them from the competition.
However, one thing to understand is that customers don’t buy products, they HIRE various solutions at various times to get a wide array of jobs done.
To illustrate this, when you order a Pizza, your first thought was not have been “I want Pizza”. It might have been “I need a fast meal which I don’t have to cook”, “I am having friends over and we need to snack over something”, “I need to satisfy my cheese craving”. All these “thoughts” are your Job-to-be-Done (JTBD). This is essentially the higher purpose for which customers buy a product or service.
Coming up with a differentiated value proposition calls for understanding a customer’s JTBD, understanding the current pains and gains he experiences in fulfilling that JTBD, and then coming up with Pain Relievers and Gain Creators which essentially help form the product, service or solution you take to the market
In plainer terms, you can use the JTBD framework to do the following and more:
Define your market (e.g, a hotel app for people who want to pay for their hotel by the hour)
Help customers get their entire jobs done (the taxi app that also offers hotel/club recommendations, etc)
Help customers get more job done (an app that pairs people who just want half a pizza and they each get half-a-whole pizza delivered)
Targeting a customer segment who will pay the most to get that job done. (This way you communicate only to people that place the highest value on your offering). Think about “price surge” in the Uber app.
Focus your research on getting the customers’ job get done better. This will ensure you are always ahead of the market.
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