---
title: JTBD and Switch Interviews — RGM Training
url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/training/marketing-research/jtbd-and-switch-interviews/
updated: 2026-06-10
source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/training/marketing-research/jtbd-and-switch-interviews/
---

[Home](../../../index.html) › [Training](../../index.html) › [Marketing Research](../index.html) › JTBD and Switch Interviews

RGM° · Training

# JTBD and Switch Interviews

Highest-signal research methods. JTBD basics, switch interviews, process.

### What you will learn

1. [Why JTBD](#why)
2. [JTBD basics](#jtbd)
3. [Switch interviews](#switch)
4. [Process](#process)
5. [Advanced playbook](#advanced)
6. [Mistakes](#mistakes)
7. [Checklist](#checklist)

## Why JTBD

JTBD framework focuses on what customers are trying to accomplish, not their demographics. Switch interviews reveal what prompts customers to change solutions. Both are highest-signal research methods.

## JTBD basics

- Functional job.
- Emotional job.
- Social job.
- Forces of progress: push of current, pull of new, anxiety of new, inertia of current.
- Hire / fire framing.

## Switch interviews

- Identify recent switching customers.
- Reconstruct timeline.
- Capture trigger events.
- Identify forces in play.
- Document anxieties overcome.
- Find inertia broken.
- Synthesis across multiple interviews.

## Process

1. Identify recent switchers.
2. Schedule 45–60 minute interviews.
3. Record with permission.
4. Open-ended timeline reconstruction.
5. Probe for specifics.
6. Synthesize.
7. Validate with quantitative if possible.

## Advanced playbook

- Annual JTBD research cycle.
- Bob Moesta switch interview methodology.
- 10–20 interviews per topic.
- Recording and transcription.
- Synthesis published.
- Strategy informed by JTBD.
- Messaging tested against JTBD.
- Product roadmap aligned.
- Customer advisory board complementary.
- Win/loss complementary.

## Mistakes

- JTBD treated as buzzword.
- Switch interviews skipped.
- Demographics over functional jobs.
- Interview methodology weak.
- Synthesis absent.
- Strategy not informed.
- Messaging not aligned with JTBD.
- Product roadmap disconnected.
- Single interview treated as truth.
- External interviewer absent.

## Checklist

- Annual JTBD research cycle
- Switch interview methodology
- 10–20 interviews per topic
- Recording and transcription
- Synthesis published
- Strategy informed by JTBD
- Messaging tested against JTBD
- Product roadmap aligned
- Complementary research methods
- External interviewer for objectivity

## Sources and further reading

- Clayton Christensen JTBD
- Bob Moesta, "Demand-Side Sales"
- Alan Klement, "When Coffee and Kale Compete"
- Tony Ulwick JTBD methodology
- Lenny Rachitsky JTBD interviews
- RGM Growth Foundations ICP module
- Reforge JTBD curriculum
- Forte Labs JTBD
- Re-Wired Group
- Switch interview workshops
- Indi Young customer research
- April Dunford positioning

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Part of the [Marketing Research](../index.html) series.