Aligning Innovations to Customer Preferences: Getting Jobs Done and Empathy for Understanding Customers’ Minds to Avoid Costly Experimentation

Innovation is often heralded as the lifeblood of business growth and competitiveness. Yet, achieving consistent success in innovation remains elusive. According to the McKinsey Global Innovation Survey, while 84% of executives agree that innovation is crucial for growth strategies, a mere 6% express satisfaction with their companies’ innovation performance. This stark contrast underscores a persistent challenge: despite high ambitions, the outcomes frequently fall short in aligning innovations to customer preferences .

The GE Global Innovation Barometer 2018 reveals that 65% of companies prefer to perfect and test innovations extensively before launch, aiming for complete customer satisfaction from the start. However, this approach is costly and time-intensive, as demonstrated by high-profile failures. For example, TATA Motors’ Nano, despite being a low-cost compact car designed to appeal to price-conscious consumers, resulted in a loss of Rs 1,000 crore because consumers did not embrace the product. Similarly, Airbus’ A380, with luxurious onboard amenities like showers, failed to resonate with customer preferences for shorter, point-to-point flights, leading to a staggering $25 billion loss in development costs. Similarly, upon investing $500 million over 28 years in prototyping robot care givers (ASIMO), Honda learned that customers did not like them.  These examples illustrate the high price of learning customer preferences through traditional, resource-intensive methods.

The High Cost of Experimentation for Aligning Innovations to Customer Preferences

One of the common methods to reduce uncertainties around customer preferences is to show a real product, let customers experience it, and gather feedback. While effective, this approach is prohibitively expensive. Companies must, therefore, find more cost-efficient ways to understand what customers truly want.

Empathy and Silent Observation: Low Cost Alternative

Empathy—the ability to understand and share the feelings of another—is a critical tool in uncovering latent customer needs. By putting oneself in the customer’s shoes, businesses can identify pain points and opportunities for innovation without the need for costly product trials. Silent observation of customer behavior can also yield valuable insights. For example, understanding how people interact with products in real-life settings can reveal unarticulated needs that conventional market research often misses.

Inexpensive methods like quick prototyping using paper, wood, or clay allow companies to test concepts and gather early feedback without significant investment. These prototypes serve as tangible representations of ideas, enabling customers to provide actionable insights before full-scale production begins. Such approaches align with the Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) theory, which emphasizes focusing on the task customers aim to accomplish rather than the product itself. However, in many cases such an approach promoted by Design Thinking is not applicable, as experienced by Tata, Honda and Airbus.  

Understanding Jobs-to-Be-Done Theory

The Jobs-to-be-Done theory offers a powerful framework for understanding customer needs. It asserts that customers don’t buy products or services but rather hire them to get a specific “job” done. This perspective shifts the focus from the product to the customer’s desired outcome, making innovation more predictable and effective. Key principles of the JTBD theory include:

1. People buy products and services to get a “job” done. • Example: A smartphone isn’t just a communication device; it’s hired to perform a multitude of jobs—from managing schedules to capturing memories.
2. Jobs have functional, emotional, and social components. • Customers choose products that not only perform a task but also resonate emotionally and socially.
3. Jobs-to-be-Done are stable over time. • While technologies evolve, the core jobs customers need to complete remain constant. For instance, people will always need ways to stay connected, even as communication tools change.
4. Jobs-to-be-Done are solution-agnostic. • The focus is on the job itself, not tied to a specific product or technology.
5. Making the “job” the unit of analysis, rather than the product or customer, ensures success. • This approach removes biases and aligns innovation with actual customer needs.
6. A deep understanding of the job enhances marketing and innovation. • When the job is well-defined, companies can communicate their value proposition more effectively and design solutions that address customer needs.
7. Customers seek solutions that get the entire job done on a single platform. • Products like Swiss Army knives and smartphones succeed because they enable users to complete multiple jobs seamlessly.
8. Defining needs as metrics customers use to measure success makes innovation predictable. • By identifying the criteria customers use to evaluate solutions, companies can design offerings that deliver measurable value.

The Role of Empathy in Getting jobs done

Empathy enhances the JTBD approach by uncovering the emotional and social dimensions of customer jobs. It helps identify latent pains and unmet needs that customers might not articulate directly. For example:

• A consumer purchasing a dishwasher isn’t just looking for clean dishes; they’re seeking convenience, time savings, and relief from household chores.
• A commuter choosing a ride-sharing app isn’t solely focused on transportation but also on reliability, safety, and status.

By deeply understanding these underlying motivations, businesses can craft innovations that resonate on a deeper level, reducing the risk of failure.

Patterns of Innovation Dynamics

To avoid costly missteps, companies should also study the patterns of innovation dynamics and their connection to the JTBD framework. These patterns include:

1. Incremental vs. Disruptive innovation: • Incremental innovations improve existing products, while disruptive innovations create entirely new ways of getting jobs done. Understanding when to apply each type is crucial.
2. Customer Segmentation: • Grouping customers based on the jobs they need to get done, rather than demographics, leads to more targeted and effective solutions.
3. Platform Thinking: • Creating platforms that address multiple jobs enhances value and customer loyalty. For instance, the smartphone’s versatility has made it indispensable to modern life.
4. Speed and Flexibility: • Quick prototyping and iterative development enable companies to test and refine ideas rapidly, minimizing the cost of failure.
5. Data-Driven Insights: • Leveraging data analytics to identify trends and preferences provides a clearer picture of customer jobs, enabling smarter decision-making.

Examples of Getting Jobs Done by Aligning Innovations to Customer Preferences

Successful innovations often emerge from a deep understanding of customer jobs:

• Dyson’s vacuum cleaners solved the job of efficient cleaning with bagless technology, addressing functional and emotional frustrations with traditional models.
• Spotify fulfills the job of discovering and enjoying music effortlessly, offering a seamless platform that integrates personalization, accessibility, and social sharing.
• Uber Eats gets the job of meal delivery done by connecting consumers to restaurants with convenience and speed, addressing both functional and emotional needs.

In contrast, failures like the Nano and A380 highlight the consequences of neglecting customer jobs. The Nano focused on affordability but ignored the social and emotional components of car ownership. The A380 prioritized luxury over the functional need for efficient travel.

Conclusion: Balancing Empathy and Efficiency

To meet consumer preferences and avoid costly experimentation, businesses must strike a balance between empathy and efficiency. By focusing on the jobs customers need to accomplish, companies can design solutions that deliver real value without unnecessary expenditure. Empathy enables them to uncover latent needs, while the JTBD framework provides a structured approach to innovation.

Ultimately, success lies in making the job—not the product or the customer—the central focus of innovation. By doing so, companies can create offerings that resonate deeply with customers, ensuring satisfaction and loyalty while minimizing the risk of costly failures.

As innovation dynamics evolve, this combination of empathy, silent observation, and jobs-to-be-done theory will remain essential for businesses aiming to thrive in a competitive marketplace.

Key Takeaways from Aligning Innovations to Customer Preferences:

1. Focus on Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD):
   Customers buy products and services to get specific “jobs” done, which include functional, emotional, and social components. By shifting the focus from the product to the customer’s desired outcome, companies can make innovation more predictable and effective.
2. Empathy as a Critical Tool:
   Empathy allows businesses to understand the latent pains and unmet needs of customers. By putting themselves in the customer’s position, companies can uncover emotional and social dimensions of customer jobs that drive innovation success.
3. Cost-Efficient Prototyping:
   Traditional experimentation with real products is expensive. Quick prototyping using low-cost materials (e.g., paper, wood, or clay) provides an effective way to gather early feedback and refine concepts without incurring high costs.
4. Avoiding Costly Failures:
   Learning customer preferences through trial-and-error can lead to massive losses, as seen with TATA Nano and Airbus A380. Identifying and addressing customer needs early through JTBD and silent observation minimizes such risks.
5. Innovation Dynamics and Patterns:
   Businesses should focus on key innovation patterns, such as platform thinking, customer segmentation based on jobs, and iterative development. Innovations that address multiple jobs (e.g., Swiss Army knife, smartphones) or provide seamless platforms are more likely to succeed.

Research Questions about Aligning Innovations to Customer Preferences:

1. How does focusing on the “Jobs-to-be-Done” framework influence the success rate of innovation projects?
   This question seeks to understand whether applying JTBD principles improves predictability and effectiveness in product development compared to traditional customer-centric approaches.
2. What role does empathy play in uncovering latent customer needs, and how can it be systematically incorporated into the innovation process?
   Exploring this would clarify how businesses can formalize empathy as a tool to identify unspoken customer pains and enhance the relevance of their innovations.
3. What are the cost and efficiency benefits of quick prototyping methods (e.g., paper, wood, clay) compared to full-scale product testing in understanding consumer preferences?
   This research would assess the financial and strategic advantages of using low-cost prototyping techniques to refine ideas before full-scale production.
4. What are the key innovation dynamics and patterns that differentiate successful platforms (e.g., smartphones) from failed innovations (e.g., A380 or Nano)?
   This question investigates common factors and strategies behind successful multi-job products and platforms versus those that fail due to misaligned customer needs.
5. How can companies balance solution-agnostic approaches with rapid technological advancements when addressing stable “jobs-to-be-done”?
   This research would explore how businesses can design timeless solutions that adapt to evolving technologies while remaining focused on core customer jobs.