On Milkshakes and Case Studies

B2B marketers can learn a lot from the Jobs To Be Done framework about what content resonates and why. Spoiler alert: People don’t order milkshakes at 8 AM as a dessert. Understand the underlying need and you unlock more sales. Same goes for creating better content.

As a B2B marketer, you probably have lots of case studies, whitepapers, and eBooks. But do you know the specific buying job they are accomplishing for the customer? Is it to educate? Or build consensus? How about to grow a career or mitigate risk in a high risk data migration project? Maybe there’s a need to address the fear of making the wrong decision? The latter “emotional needs” warrant a completely different approach to content.

Knowing these jobs to be done will focus the content in the case study or even spur completely new formats or messaging approaches.

One of my favorite stories about the Jobs-To-Be-Done framework for better customer experience and product development is the milkshake story by Clayton Christensen. I heard him tell the full story a couple years ago and it illustrates why a deep understanding of customer buying needs - or buying jobs to be done - is so crucial to create content, products, and experiences that resonate and ultimately grow the business. 

The milkshake story

Christensen and a team of consultants were helping a global fast food chain increase sales, especially around its breakfast menu. The team spent hours observing and interviewing customers in restaurants and noticed that sales of milkshakes spiked in the morning. Why would people order more milkshakes in the morning over hash browns and pancakes? It turns out that many of the people who ordered milkshakes were embarking on long commutes, sometimes to job sites across state lines. 

Ignore emotional jobs to be done at your own peril.

Milkshakes last a long time - longer than other breakfast options - and the cold form-factor even helped people stay awake and alert on their long drives. The consulting team realized their client wasn’t battling a resourceful competitor who was stealing market share with a better breakfast burrito; the shadow competitor was other morning food options that would get the job done better for commuters of keeping them awake and alert. Wouldn’t a banana suffice? Consumed too fast and too mushy. How about a bagel? Too messy and too much fuss involved in eating. 

Why jobs to be done matter for buyer enablement content

The key insight was that fast food customers in the morning had a very specific job to be done and they needed a product that accomplished that job. Many marketers may think they know the jobs that need to be done by their buyers or personas at different stages of the buying journey but could probably benefit from a closer look at the underlying customer need, fear, challenge or job that needs to be done. These are the “Emotional Jobs” to be done according to Tony Ulwick and they are just as important as the “Purchase Decision” jobs. Ignore emotional jobs to be done at your own peril.

Take the classic example of buyer enablement content – the case study.

Most case studies follow some flavor of the Problem -> Action -> Result framework: The client had (business) problem X, the vendor came in with Y solution and client achieved Z result. The assumed job to be done is that the reader needs to see an example of the vendor solving a problem. OK, that is probably one job out of many. How about these very real needs:

• “I need to feel confident this solution won’t get me fired.”
• “I need to feel confident that advocating for this solution won’t risk my career growth at my company.”
• “Any solution needs to deliver value this quarter so we can hit our OKR goals.”

Knowing these jobs to be done will focus the content in the case study or even spur completely new formats or messaging approaches. Call out boxes about the decision, testimonials that focus on a client getting promoted or mitigating risk, and even reorienting and retitling the entire case study around a specific job are all possibilities when viewing content through this lens. 

Maybe the case study will even be read over a breakfast milkshake.