Customer Research Suite: Jobs, Pains, Gains & Gain Creators

Sevenza Business News Network — Customer Research Suite (Jobs, Pains, Gains, Gain Creators)

Sevenza Business News Network — Customer Research Suite

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Customer Gains — Trigger Questions

Gains describe the outcomes and benefits customers want: functional utility, social gains, positive emotions, and cost savings.

Instructions

Answer any subset of questions below. Print or download this section using the toolbar.

1) Which savings would make your customers happy (time, money, effort)? 2) What quality levels do they expect, and what would they wish for more or less of? 3) How do current value propositions delight your customers? Which specific features do they enjoy? What performance and quality do they expect? 4) What would make your customers’ jobs or lives easier (flatter learning curve, more services, lower ownership costs)? 5) What positive social consequences do your customers desire (look good, increase power or status)? 6) What are customers looking for most (good design, guarantees, specific or more features)? 7) What do customers dream about or aspire to achieve — or what would be a big relief? 8) How do your customers measure success and failure (performance, cost)? 9) What would increase customers’ likelihood of adopting a value proposition (lower cost/investment/risk, better quality)?

Source: Strategyzer – Value Proposition Design (Trigger Questions). © Strategyzer AG.

Customer Jobs — Trigger Questions

Jobs are what customers are trying to get done (tasks to complete, problems to solve, needs to satisfy).

Instructions

Describe functional, social, and emotional jobs. Capture context across the lifecycle.

1) What is the one thing your customer couldn’t live without accomplishing? What stepping stones help achieve it? 2) What different contexts are customers in, and how do activities/goals change by context? 3) What needs to be accomplished that involves interaction with others? 4) What tasks are customers trying to perform in work/personal life? What functional problems are they trying to solve? 5) Are there problems customers have that they may not even be aware of? 6) What emotional needs are customers trying to satisfy? Which jobs would give self‑satisfaction if completed? 7) How does your customer want to be perceived by others, and what can they do to be perceived this way? 8) How does your customer want to feel, and what must they do to feel this way? 9) Track the lifecycle: what supporting jobs surface? Does the user switch roles throughout the process?

Source: Strategyzer – Value Proposition Design (Trigger Questions). © Strategyzer AG.

Customer Pains — Trigger Questions

Pains include anything that annoys customers or prevents jobs from getting done, including risks of bad outcomes.

Instructions

Capture pain points, risks, and barriers to adoption. Prioritize by frequency and severity.

1) What does “too costly” mean (time, money, effort)? 2) What makes customers feel bad (frustrations, annoyances, headaches)? 3) How are current value propositions under‑performing (missing features, performance issues, malfunctions)? 4) What main difficulties and challenges do customers encounter (understanding, doing tasks, resisting jobs)? 5) What negative social consequences occur or are feared (loss of face, power, trust, status)? 6) What risks do customers fear (financial, social, technical)? What could go wrong? 7) What keeps customers awake at night (big issues, concerns, worries)? 8) What common mistakes do customers make (misusing solutions)? 9) What barriers block adoption (upfront cost, steep learning curve, other obstacles)?

Source: Strategyzer – Value Proposition Design (Trigger Questions). © Strategyzer AG.

Gain Creators — Trigger Questions

Gain Creators describe how your products and services create customer gains and produce outcomes customers expect, desire, or would be surprised by.

Instructions

Use these prompts to specify how your offer creates gains.

1) How could your products or services create savings that please your customers (time, money, effort)? 2) How could they produce outcomes customers expect or that exceed expectations (quality levels, more or less of something)? 3) How could they outperform current value propositions and delight customers (features, performance, quality)? 4) How could they make customers’ work or life easier (usability, accessibility, more services, lower cost of ownership)? 5) How could they create positive social consequences (look good, increase power or status)? 6) How could they provide what customers are looking for (good design, guarantees, specific or more features)? 7) How could they fulfill a desire customers dream about (achieve aspirations or get relief from hardship)? 8) How could they produce outcomes matching customers’ success/failure criteria (better performance or lower cost)? 9) How could they make adoption easier (lower cost, fewer investments, lower risk, better quality, improved performance, better design)?

Source: Strategyzer – Value Proposition Design (Trigger Questions). © Strategyzer AG.

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