Most SaaS companies build ICP documents in detail about their ideal buyers, right down to how their buyer persons would spend their free time. This demographic or psychographic information about them is useful and can help them map correlations with other buyer segments. However, it is easy to get tunnel vision and place utmost importance on who your buyer is and lose sight of researching why they would want to buy your product.
JTBD(Jobs-to-be-Done) is a theory that states that customers don't buy products or services for their features or benefits, but rather to achieve a specific job. By understanding the job that your ICP needs to be done, you can create marketing and sales materials that are more relevant and persuasive.
JTBD framework pulls focus away from the customer and onto the customer’s needs, which is more likely to inspire a purchase.
The three areas where JTBD can give you clarity,
Your ICP document will give you insight into,
It is important to build JTBD for all four of them since their pain points/needs would affect the purchase decision. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that your offering not only meets the technical requirements but also aligns with motivations of these four individuals.
For every persona, the following must be defined,
The term ‘jobs’ here refers to what they’re trying to achieve. As an example, for Head of People persona, his core job is to set up processes to hire anyone from anywhere across the globe to have a diverse team and the related jobs would be plan global HR policies, set up local entities, create global onboarding programs etc.
For each persona, you should also map out the journey as stages/phases and place the jobs and related jobs across this journey. For the example we discussed earlier, the jobs can be mapped into stages like Define, Locate, Prepare, Confirm, Execute.
For more complex jobs of your ICP, you can break down the journey into more phases so you don’t miss out any key insight or challenge.
It’s also useful to include qualifiers in the JTBD journey which refers to specific criteria or conditions that need to be met in order for a persona to move from one stage of the journey to the next.
Reach out to existing customers and potential leads for one-on-one interviews. Ask open-ended questions to understand their challenges, goals, and motivations. Focus on moments when they've hired a product/service to solve a specific problem.
Utilise surveys or questionnaires to gather quantitative data on pain points, needs, and preferences from a larger pool of respondents. This can help validate and supplement insights gathered from interviews.
Review customer reviews, testimonials, and social media comments to gain insights into what they value, what they struggle with, and what outcomes they expect.
For each persona, create JTBD statements that capture the core problems they are trying to solve. These statements should be focused on the functional aspects of the job.
A commonly accepted method is to write a clear and concise 4-part sentence, following this structure:
Looking at a fit tech app, they might complete their JTBD statement as follows:
When I want to maintain a consistent workout routine, but I struggle to stay motivated and track my progress effectively, help me by providing personalised workout plans and real-time performance feedback, so I can achieve my fitness goals with confidence and dedication.
This is a critical step to ensure that the insights you've gathered accurately represent customer needs and can guide effective decision-making.
Implement A/B tests to compare different solutions or variations of your product. Measure user engagement, conversion rates, and other relevant metrics to determine which solution resonates best with users.
Analyse usage metrics and data post-implementation. Are users engaging with the new features in the way you anticipated? Are they achieving the desired outcomes?
Re-engage customers you initially interviewed to present the changes and seek their feedback on whether the solutions align with their needs and expectations.
When the hard work is done, only the benefits are left to reap and here are three ways you can put this framework to use from day one:
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