What it takes to switch
Using jobs to be done as a framework to identify switching behaviors
Overview
I am a firm believer that customers hire products to get a job done. There are many methods to determine the jobs that customers need done. In conjunction to defining the job to be done, it is important to understand what it would take for users to use your solution to get the job done. In my experience I have come to really like the 4 forces model that Bob Moesta uses to evaluate customer behavior.
The model
I really love this model as it is not just about how your product creates pull, but also what motivates a customer to switch and what prevents them to switch.
The first step is to define the existing behavior and the new behavior. The new behavior is often the solution that you are looking to provide users and where the jobs to be done analysis fills in.
- Push: These are the triggers that cause someone to evaluate something new. This could be could include things like something broke, you moved, or had a new child.
- Pull: These are the benefits of a new solution that would inspire you to switch behaviors. This could be benefits like convenience, protection, save money (see post on elements of value for other ideas).
- Anxiety: These are the inherent fears someone has of switching behaviors. Essentially these are the anti-thesis of the benefits of the pull, which could include fears like learning a new system or the costs might be higher.
- Allegiance: These are the current benefits they get from the current behavior that would prevent a user from switching.
Ideally as you are looking at the behaviors you will map out emotional and social behaviors in addition to the functional behaviors. Maybe it is because I was an engineer, but I find that the inclination for many is to go purely after the functional benefits. The reality is we are irrational humans and thus the social and emotional benefits play a large role.
If you want to listen to Bob Moesta describe this model start listening around minute 5 of the below podcast. Keep in mind it doesn’t matter whether you categorize the forces correctly, as much as it is about identifying the behaviors through the customer journey that led to getting the job done.
Example
We recently completed an extensive analysis where we used a survey to pull out the 4 forces model for our key personas. Below is an example from the survey.
I didn’t include the proportion of users that selected the various statements, but as a result of the survey we were able to prioritize which of the 4 forces was most important to solve for through our product and marketing. You can see from the above there is a mix of functional, emotional and social needs.
The timeline below is a good way to structure your interviews to gain the insight on the four forces. Bob talks about the timeline in the podcast linked above. As we were going through our interviews we did the same thing to pull out the various journeys and behaviors. From these we structured our survey.
This model combined with the jobs to be done helped us create a view of the top opportunities for the company across various project experiences. Our team is now equipped with problems to go solve for our customers. Below is an example output of the priorities we had for one of our core experiences.
In Closing
Understanding the behaviors and needs of your customers is critical to success. There are many ways to get there. My recommendation is to use the 4 forces model as part of your evaluation to understand the needs of your customers. To get comfortable using the model I recommend using with your team on recent decisions people have made in their life. This is helpful to practice before doing a dry-run as a team and then conducting interviews and surveys with users.
I’ll leave with a quote from the guys at Rocketship.fm
“Nothing is purchased by accident” — Bob Moesta
It is up to you to figure out why they purchased it and how you can shape your customer journey to better address your customer needs
