Hey, happy Monday.
JTBD concepts seem airy, intangible, and therefore difficult to understand, yet they are used constantly by those who wish to expand their market share, intercept new customers and increase profits.
This real-life case comes from the, uh, supermarket under the house!
The supermarket has always been a fantastic laboratory for marketing, sales, design and psychology techniques.
Usually my partner and I do our shopping online, but this past week we did an experiment. We went to the store, only we separated and rejoined at the checkout.
We both put Leerdammer cheese in the cart apparently in two different versions.
I bought the one marked PROTEIN individually packaged.
She the one that says LIGHTLIFE packaged in slices.
I said apparently because once we got home, we looked at the back of the package and realized how the product was exactly the same!
Some might even say that this is a scam, but instead let’s try to look at it through the eyes of those at the fair who lose at the three-card game despite knowing the trick. Let us look at it through the lens of JTBD.
JTBD in action
People buy a product as long as it continues to satisfy a definite sense of progress. In this case, “eat a cheese that is compatible with your diet.”
But choices depend on context, and contrast defines value. I use cheese mostly in salads, so it works well for me in chunks; my partner uses it for her sandwiches, so it is more convenient in slices. The context of use has changed our choices.
Now comes the most interesting part.
The contrast between options defines the value of a product and consequently how much they are willing to pay for it. For me, sliced cheese has no value because it would make salads difficult to eat. At the same time for my partner, shredded cheese would make it more difficult to make her sandwich.
I must admit that I did not look at the price difference per kilo-not per package-but I would not be surprised if one of them paid more for their cheese because it was better integrated with their goals.
Doubling market size and profit with JTBD without creating new products
What can we learn from this simple but powerful story?
The company doubled the market without creating a new product
He simply packaged it to intercept a category of customers who otherwise would not have been interested. In Blue Ocean Strategy theory, this specific strategic activity is called “intercepting non-customers.”
Btw, Blue Ocean Strategy is just the commercial brand of the JTBD theory implementation program. Talk about “eating one’s own dog food.” The two experienced INSEAD professors branded the theory–too academic to be of interest to managers–to make it recognizable in the consulting market.
Let me know here if you are interested in reserving a spot in the LIVE course I am preparing where I will also show this among other tactics.
The company has increased profit
Tuning the product to a new JTBD can increase prices while keeping production costs constant for the simple fact that for some customers they do not have enough solutions available and therefore are willing to pay a premium price to achieve certain results.
That is why it is important to understand the core JTBD of your product and connect it to the behavioral evolution of consumers to identify opportunities that competitors have not yet tapped into.
The JTBD framework offers a very precise technique for doing this-I can’t wait to show it to you live.
Optimization vs. Innovation
Too many times the one is confused with the other.
JTBD allows both to be intercepted.
Not all companies have to-or are forced to-innovate. While exciting, it is very expensive!
I urge you not to underestimate the great appeal of optimization that allows you to achieve great results even with limited resources.
In the case I presented to you, an adaptation of the communication was enough. I am sure you could do the same thing simply by finally putting your hand to the communication. Need a hand?
PIXII, a new brand of professional cameras, succeeded in bringing a product to market with a higher price than the average in its category with a particular strategy: it eliminated so many features that competitors took for granted, thus reducing costs and increasing profits. Read the note here.
Looking at the world through the lens of JTBD similarly enables innovation while reducing the risks associated with getting product, market, or both wrong.
We also talked about this with Irene Cassarino in a previous STRTGY Meeting that I invite you to review. Irene suggests acting like detectives and adopting “forensic investigation” techniques to explore new innovation spaces and discover (before competitors) new markets.
In any case, the JTBD is not just a tool for designers or product managers. It serves the entire company. Here are the main areas:
- In product design
- In marketing
- In sales
And it can be applied to services, physical products and Saas.
Let me know if I helped you see your cheese with different eyes,
ALWAYS MAKE PROGRESS ⤴
– Antonio
When OKRs don’t work. Real problems you can fix before it’s too late.
In this live session we will address the thorniest mistakes in detail, put ourselves in a position to hear the ticking before bombs go off, and give instructions for defusing them with ease.
You too will have a chance to raise your hand and tell what obstacles you are facing and get practical advice on how to overcome them.
When necessary, I will show on screen the Make Progress layout with OKRs to show you exactly what page to find the solutions on.
This will be an extremely practical session that we will tell you everything others don’t say-or don’t know-about OKRs.
Don’t miss.
