There’s so much theory out there on Jobs to be Done.
It’s not hard to find an Ultimate, 10,000-Word Guide to Jobs to be Done. This article is not that.
This article focuses on applying JTBD to B2B software through a few concrete examples — good and bad.
Hopefully you’ll walk away ready to apply this to your own website.
First up, SimplePractice.
Their current website headline doesn’t imply any outcomes that the customer wants.
The headline should reflect what people are looking for when they come to SimplePractice’s website.
Here’s a better one:
When you dig through customer data on Capterra reviews, you learn that people buy SimplePractice because it makes them look professional to their patients.
Next, Zoho.
Their website gets ~48 million monthly visitors, and their website headline means literally nothing.
“Your Life’s Work, Powered By Our Life’s Work”
*bounces right off the page
Obviously, they have the brand awareness to get away with it. But what’s a headline that could get them more conversions?
As always, when you dig through customer reviews on Capterra, you learn that people buy Zoho because they’re looking for “a free tool that would allow me to try a free version and make the decision to purchase it when the time is come.”
Knowing this, the headline writes itself based on that Job-to-be-done.
Let’s end with a positive example: a company that does masterful work applying JTBD.
They’ve evolved their positioning over time to tackle an evolving problem.
Here’s their old website homepage:
It’s undeniably clear which problem they solve, and who they solve it for.
And now that they’re established in the market, they have the brand awareness to get away with positioning themselves more broadly in the years to come.
They’re current position and JTBD: remote work.
The takeaway: software companies with lower brand awareness couldn’t get away with calling themselves “The all-in-one toolkit for working remotely”, and they should instead focus relentlessly on the unique problem they solve and the unique job they're helping customers get done.