JTBD Patterns > Journey Maps: The Future of Customer Analysis

How Universal Journey Patterns (like the Consumption Chain) deliver superior innovation insight

Apr 25, 2025

Table of Contents

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗺 𝗜 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵?
I want you to see that while JTBD is a method, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 is that it can be applied to almost 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢. You have a choice; you can spend years listening to someone preach about how to do a small part of it, or you can inspire yourself to dive in and solve problems that are never talked about in this small community. 𝗟𝗲𝘁'𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗿.

We've all seen them: complex, colorful customer journey maps meticulously detailing every touchpoint, emotion, and channel. They often represent hours of work, workshops, and sticky notes. But let's be honest, how often do these maps lead to truly groundbreaking innovation or strategic shifts? Too often, they become descriptive artifacts, gathering digital dust rather than driving action.

The core issue? Traditional journey maps excel at describing the current state – how customers interact with existing solutions – but they frequently fail to reveal the underlying Job-to-be-Done (JTBD). They focus on the 'how' of the current process, not the fundamental 'why' behind the customer's effort: the progress they are trying to make, the desired outcomes they are trying to achieve successfully. When maps are tied too tightly to current solutions and touchpoints, they limit our thinking to optimizing the existing process, rather than reimagining it.

What if there was a way to structure our understanding of customer journeys that inherently focuses on the job, transcends current solutions, and provides a more robust foundation for innovation? This is where a novel approach using defined, universal journey patterns, like those found in the Consumption Chain, comes in.

Introducing Universal Journey Patterns: A JTBD Perspective

Instead of viewing every customer journey as entirely unique, this novel approach recognizes that many journeys follow recurring, universal patterns. These patterns aren't arbitrary; they are tied to the fundamental structure of the core functional job the customer is trying to accomplish. A powerful example is the Consumption Chain, which breaks down the customer's experience into core journeys like the Selection Journey, Usage Journey, or Maintenance Journey. These represent distinct, critical phases common across the lifecycle of consuming a product or service.

Framing analysis around these specific, defined patterns aligns perfectly with Jobs-to-be-Done thinking. It shifts the focus from your product's touchpoints to the customer's progress through a recognized structure. Instead of mapping interactions with a specific website during purchase, you map the steps and outcomes inherent in successfully navigating the Selection Journey, regardless of the channel.

How I Get Every Job Done on One Platform

This approach inherently elevates the level of abstraction. Rather than getting bogged down in the specifics of how a customer uses Feature X versus Feature Y today, you analyze the fundamental structure and desired outcomes within the Usage Journey itself. This higher-level view is critical because true innovation often doesn't just improve a step; it changes the pattern itself, perhaps by consolidating journeys (e.g., simplifying the combination of Setup and Customization) or even changing who performs the Maintenance Journey, because a new solution gets the higher-context job done more effectively, often with fewer obvious 'features'.

Why Universal Patterns Offer Superior Insight

Adopting this specific universal pattern approach provides several distinct advantages over traditional methods:

Focus on Outcomes: These defined patterns provide a natural structure for identifying and prioritizing the customer's desired outcomes at each stage (e.g., within the Setup Journey). The conversation shifts from "What features do they use?" to "What outcomes (e.g., Minimize the time it takes to identify the necessary tools and resources for configuration, e.g., software, hardware, manuals, etc., Minimize the likelihood of misinterpreting the configuration instructions, e.g., technical jargon, unclear steps, etc.) must they achieve successfully during setup?" and "How well can they achieve them now?".
Efficiency: Analyzing journeys becomes significantly faster. Instead of starting each mapping exercise from a blank slate, you begin with a validated, repeatable pattern relevant to the core job, like the Acquisition Journey. This allows you to focus energy on understanding unmet outcomes within that structure, guided by the pre-defined metrics.
Predictive Power: By systematically identifying where customers struggle to achieve their desired outcomes (as defined by the metrics) within a universal pattern like the Usage Journey, you can more accurately predict where the most significant innovation opportunities lie.
Strategic Alignment: These universal patterns provide a common language and framework (the Consumption Chain) that can align product development, marketing, sales, and service around the customer's actual job structure and their struggle to achieve outcomes, rather than just optimizing departmental metrics or existing features.
Cross-Industry Applicability: Because these Consumption Chain patterns relate to fundamental consumption activities, the insights gained from analyzing a pattern like the Disposal Journey in one industry can spark ideas or reveal analogous opportunities in completely different sectors.

How to Apply Universal Journey Patterns (The Process)

Integrating these universal patterns into your innovation process involves a shift in perspective and methodology:

Define the Core Functional Job-to-be-Done: Start by clearly articulating the primary job the customer is trying to get done related to the product or service lifecycle. (e.g., Select the best software for team collaboration, Efficiently use the software for daily tasks, Maintain the equipment for optimal performance).
Identify the Relevant Universal Journey Pattern(s): Based on the core job, select the pattern(s) from the defined framework (e.g., Selection Journey, Acquisition Journey, Usage Journey, Maintenance Journey from the Consumption Chain) that best represent the high-level structure of achieving that job.
Note: I’ve already done that for you. If you want the complete done-for-you set of Universal Journeys just join my FREE community and there is a complete package under the Learning tab.
Map Customer Activities & Desired Outcomes to the Pattern Stages: This is where JTBD interview techniques are crucial. For each stage of the selected universal pattern:
- What activities is the customer performing?
- More importantly, what desired outcomes (guided by the pattern's specific metrics, if available) are they trying to achieve? Use outcome-driven language (e.g., within the Selection Journey: Minimize the time it takes to compare viable alternatives, Increase the confidence in the chosen solution's fit, Reduce the effort needed to understand pricing options). Use functional verbs (Minimize, Increase, Reduce, etc.).
Again this is all done for you, but you’ll find all of the tools I used to create these in the community as well. So, you can tweak or recreate them as much as you want. FREE.
Analyze for Unmet Outcomes & Opportunities: Evaluate how well customers can achieve their desired outcomes (measured against the defined metrics) with current solutions within each stage of the universal pattern. Where is the struggle greatest? Which outcomes are poorly satisfied or completely unmet during the Usage Journey, for example? These gaps represent fertile ground for innovation.
Ideate Solutions Focused on Better Outcomes: Brainstorm solutions specifically targeted at helping customers achieve their unmet outcomes more effectively, efficiently, or reliably within the pattern's structure. Crucially, ask: Can we abstract away the complexity? Can a new solution streamline the Acquisition Journey so much that it feels effortless compared to competitors?

Case Study Snippet (Illustrative)

Consider a company selling home appliances. They were analyzing the job of Choosing a new refrigerator. Traditionally, they mapped website visits, store visits, and feature comparisons.

By applying the Selection Journey pattern from the Consumption Chain, they shifted focus. Using JTBD interviews structured around this journey, they uncovered significant unmet outcomes related to "Minimize the uncertainty about whether the refrigerator will fit in the available kitchen space" and "Reduce the effort required to assess long-term energy consumption costs."

This insight led them away from simply adding more pictures online (an activity focus) towards developing AR tools for virtual placement and interactive energy cost calculators integrated early in the Selection Journey (an outcome focus), directly addressing the customers' struggle within that universal pattern.

The Future: Higher Levels of Abstraction & Innovation

Focusing on these specific universal JTBD patterns fundamentally changes the innovation game. It moves us from merely optimizing the path customers currently take to redesigning the journey itself based on its inherent structure within frameworks like the Consumption Chain.

The most powerful innovations often occur when a new solution addresses the core job at a higher level of abstraction. Think about subscription services that bundle Acquisition, Usage, and Maintenance into a single predictable fee, abstracting away separate decisions and efforts. A new solution might address the outcomes within the Maintenance Journey so effectively (e.g., through self-diagnostics or automated service) that it significantly reduces the customer's burden and differentiates the product. Understanding the universal patterns allows innovators to see these opportunities for abstraction.

By analyzing struggles within universal patterns like the Setup Journey or Disposal Journey, we can identify opportunities to:

Automate complex setup procedures.
Provide proactive support during initial usage.
Simplify or incentivize responsible disposal.
Offer trade-in programs that streamline acquisition and disposal.

Moving Beyond Description to Strategy

Traditional journey maps offer a snapshot of 'what is'. This novel approach using specific Universal JTBD patterns, like those in the Consumption Chain (Selection, Purchase, Acquisition, Setup, Usage, Maintenance, Disposal), provides a blueprint for 'what could be'. By focusing on the underlying job structure defined by these patterns and measuring success against defined desired outcomes (using their metrics), you gain:

Deeper, more actionable insights.
Faster, more focused analysis.
Stronger strategic alignment.
A clearer path to disruptive innovation.

Stop letting your journey maps be passive descriptions. Start using the structure of these universal patterns, grounded in JTBD and focused on outcomes, to actively uncover unmet needs and design the future of how customers achieve their goals successfully.

Why Me?

I’ve been trained by the best in Outcome-Driven Innovation. Part of that training involved how to understand what the future should look like. As a result, I’ve taken what I’ve learned and begun innovating so I can get you to the outcomes you’re seeking faster, better, and even more predictably. Anyone preaching innovation should be doing the same; regardless of how disruptive it’ll be.

How am I doing this?

I’ve developed a complete toolset that accelerates qualitative research to mere hours instead of the weeks or months it used to take. It’s been fine-tuned over the past 2+ years and it’s second-to-none (including to humans). That means we can have far more certainty that we’ve properly framed your research before you invest in a basket of road apples. They don’t taste good, even with whipped cream on top.
I’m also working on a completely new concept for prioritizing market dynamics that predict customer needs (and success) without requiring time-consuming and costly surveys with low quality participants. This is far more powerful and cost effective than the point-in-time surveys that I know you don’t want to do!

I believe that an innovation consultant should eat their own dog food. Therefore, we must always strive to:

Get more of the job done for our clients
Get the job done better for our clients
Get the job done faster for our clients
Get the job done with with fewer features for our clients
Get the job done in a completely different and novel way for our clients
Get the job done in a less costly manner for our clients

You could be an early tester of the latest developments, but at a minimum take advantage of an approach that is light years ahead of incumbent firms that are still pitching a 30 year old growth strategy process.

All the links you need are a few paragraphs up. Or set up some time to talk … that link is down below. 👇🏻

Mike Boysen - www.pjtbd.com
Why fail fast when you can succeed the first time?

📆 Book an appointment: https://pjtbd.com/book-mike