Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want

1.1Customer Profile

Customer Jobs

Jobs describe the things your customers are trying to get done in their work or in their life. A customer job could be the tasks they are trying to perform and complete, the problems they are trying to solve, or the needs they are trying to satisfy. Make sure you take the customer’s perspective when investigating jobs. What you think of as important from your perspective might not be a job customers are actually trying to get done.*

Distinguish between three main types of customer jobs to be done and supporting jobs:

Functional jobs

When your customers try to perform or complete a specific task or solve a specific problem, for example, mow the lawn, eat healthy as a consumer, write a report, or help clients as a professional.

Social jobs

When your customers want to look good or gain power or status. These jobs describe how customers want to be perceived by others, for example, look trendy as a consumer or be perceived as competent as a professional.

Personal/emotional jobs

When your customers seek a specific emotional state, such as feeling good or secure, for example, seeking peace of mind regarding one’s investments as a consumer or achieving the feeling of job security at one’s workplace.

Supporting jobs

Customers also perform supporting jobs in the context of purchasing and consuming value either as consumers or as professionals. These jobs arise from three different roles:

• BUYER OF VALUE: jobs related to buying value, such as comparing ...