Jobs to Be Done Reddit Research: Find Real User Needs in 2025

You’ve probably heard the famous story about Clayton Christensen and the milkshake. People weren’t buying milkshakes because they wanted a delicious drink - they were “hiring” milkshakes to make their boring morning commute more interesting. That’s the essence of Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) theory: understanding the real reason customers choose your product.

But here’s the challenge most entrepreneurs face: how do you actually uncover these hidden jobs? Traditional surveys often miss the mark because people aren’t great at explaining their own motivations. That’s where Jobs to Be Done Reddit research comes in. Reddit communities are goldmines of authentic conversations where people discuss their real problems, frustrations, and the solutions they’re desperately seeking.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to leverage Reddit to conduct effective JTBD research, discover what customers are truly hiring products to do, and validate your ideas before investing months of development time.

Understanding Jobs to Be Done Theory

Before diving into Reddit research methods, let’s clarify what Jobs to Be Done actually means. The JTBD framework suggests that customers don’t simply buy products - they “hire” them to make progress in their lives. Every purchase decision is made in the context of trying to achieve something specific.

The framework breaks down into several key components:

• Functional jobs: The practical task someone needs to accomplish (e.g., “I need to track my expenses”)
• Emotional jobs: How someone wants to feel (e.g., “I want to feel financially responsible”)
• Social jobs: How someone wants to be perceived (e.g., “I want my partner to see me as financially savvy”)

Traditional market research asks “What features do you want?” JTBD research asks “What are you trying to achieve?” This shift in questioning reveals opportunities that feature surveys completely miss.

Why Reddit Is Perfect for JTBD Research

Reddit offers something most research platforms can’t: unfiltered, authentic conversations happening in real-time. People come to Reddit specifically to seek advice, share frustrations, and discuss solutions with their peers. This creates an ideal environment for JTBD research.

Here’s why Reddit stands out for Jobs to Be Done research:

People discuss context naturally. Unlike survey responses, Reddit posts typically include the full story - what led someone to their problem, what they’ve tried, and why existing solutions fell short. This context is crucial for understanding the job to be done.

You see real decision-making processes. When someone asks “Should I use Notion or Airtable for project management?” they’re not just comparing features - they’re revealing the job they need done and their specific circumstances.

Frustrations surface organically. People vent on Reddit. Those rants about products that “almost work but not quite” reveal unfulfilled jobs in the market. These frustrations often highlight gaps that your product could fill.

Communities are segmented by context. Different subreddits represent different situations where jobs arise. r/solopreneur reveals different jobs than r/productivity, even when discussing similar tools.

Step-by-Step Guide to JTBD Reddit Research

1. Identify Relevant Subreddits

Start by mapping out where your potential customers congregate. Don’t just look for product-specific subreddits - find communities where people discuss the situations that create the job to be done.

For example, if you’re building a budgeting app, look beyond r/personalfinance. Consider r/povertyfinance (different job: survive until payday), r/financialindependence (job: optimize every dollar), or r/relationship_advice (job: resolve money conflicts with partner).

Create a list of 10-15 subreddits that represent different contexts where your target job might arise. This diversity helps you understand how the job changes based on circumstances.

2. Search for Struggle Moments

Jobs to be done become most visible during “struggle moments” - when someone realizes their current solution isn’t working. Use Reddit’s search functionality to find these moments:

• “frustrated with [current solution]”
• “why is [task] so difficult”
• “looking for alternative to [competitor]”
• “how do you [desired outcome]”
• “struggling to [achieve goal]”

Sort by “relevance” first to see the most upvoted discussions, then by “new” to catch recent conversations. Pay special attention to posts with high engagement - these indicate commonly experienced struggles.

3. Analyze the Job Context

When you find relevant posts, don’t just note the surface-level complaint. Dig deeper into the context using these questions:

• What triggered this person to seek a solution right now?
• What have they already tried? Why didn’t it work?
• What constraints are they working within? (time, budget, skills)
• What would success look like for them?
• What are they anxious about or hoping to avoid?

Read the entire thread, including comments. Often, the real job reveals itself in the discussion, not the original post. Someone might ask about “the best CRM software,” but reveal through comments that they actually need to “stop forgetting to follow up with leads without adding more work to my day.”

4. Look for Job Statements

As you analyze discussions, extract clear job statements following this format: “When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome].”

Examples from real Reddit discussions:

• “When I’m meal planning for the week, I want to use ingredients I already have, so I can reduce food waste and save money”
• “When I’m working remotely, I want to feel connected to my team, so I can combat loneliness and stay motivated”
• “When I’m learning to code, I want to build real projects immediately, so I can stay engaged and see practical progress”

Notice how these statements capture functional needs (use existing ingredients, connect with team, build projects) alongside emotional jobs (reduce waste anxiety, combat loneliness, stay engaged).

Using PainOnSocial for Jobs to Be Done Research

While manual Reddit research yields valuable insights, it’s incredibly time-consuming to read through hundreds of posts and extract patterns. This is where PainOnSocial becomes invaluable for JTBD research.

PainOnSocial analyzes Reddit discussions at scale and structures them specifically for discovering jobs to be done. Instead of spending days manually scrolling through subreddits, you can instantly see the most frequently discussed pain points across 30+ curated communities, complete with:

• Real quotes showing context: See the actual language people use when describing their struggles, which helps you understand both the functional and emotional aspects of the job
• Scoring that highlights intensity: The AI scores pain points from 0-100, helping you identify which jobs people are most desperate to get done
• Evidence with permalinks and upvotes: Track back to original discussions to analyze the full context and see how many people relate to each job
• Patterns across communities: Understand how the same job manifests differently in various contexts (e.g., how “staying organized” means something different to students vs. entrepreneurs)

For JTBD research specifically, PainOnSocial helps you move from individual anecdotes to validated patterns. When you see the same underlying job mentioned across multiple subreddits with high scores and engagement, you’ve found a job worth building for.

Identifying Different Job Types on Reddit

Functional Jobs

These are the easiest to spot because people describe them directly. Look for posts asking “how do I…” or “what’s the best way to…” The key is understanding the constraints and circumstances around the functional job.

Example: Someone asking “How do I organize my notes for research?” might seem like they want a note-taking app. But reading deeper, you might discover they actually need to “synthesize information from multiple sources while writing” (different job requiring different features).

Emotional Jobs

Emotional jobs are harder to spot but incredibly valuable. Look for language around feelings: “I feel overwhelmed,” “I’m anxious about,” “I want to feel confident,” or “I’m frustrated because.”

These emotional jobs often explain why feature-rich products fail. A budgeting app with every feature imaginable might not satisfy someone whose emotional job is “feel in control without feeling restricted.” That person needs a different approach entirely.

Social Jobs

Social jobs appear when people mention others: “my team,” “my boss,” “my clients,” “my family.” Pay attention to phrases like “I don’t want to look like,” “I need to prove,” or “people expect me to.”

A productivity tool might satisfy the functional job of “organize tasks,” but fail the social job of “demonstrate to my manager that I’m on top of everything.” Understanding both jobs leads to better product decisions (maybe you need dashboard sharing features).

Common Mistakes in Reddit JTBD Research

Stopping at Surface-Level Problems

The biggest mistake is taking the first complaint at face value. When someone says “I need a better calendar app,” that’s not the job - it’s a solution they’ve already imagined. Dig deeper: What’s wrong with their current calendar? What’s the specific situation causing problems?

Ignoring Non-Consumption

Some of the best opportunities lie in “non-consumption” - situations where people aren’t using any solution because existing options don’t fit. Look for posts where people describe workarounds, makeshift solutions, or simply giving up on achieving something.

Example: “I gave up on tracking my side project finances because all the tools are too complicated for my simple needs” reveals a job that existing products don’t serve.

Focusing Only on Your Product Category

Jobs to be done transcends product categories. Someone hiring a meditation app might be competing with exercise, journaling, or therapy. Search across diverse subreddits to understand all the ways people try to accomplish the same underlying job.

Validating Jobs to Be Done Findings

Once you’ve identified potential jobs, validate them before building:

Look for frequency. Is this job mentioned repeatedly across different posts and subreddits? One-off complaints might not represent a viable market.

Check for active seeking. Are people actively looking for solutions, or just passively complaining? Posts asking for recommendations or alternatives indicate people ready to “hire” a solution.

Evaluate existing alternatives. What are people currently using to get this job done? If they’re satisfied, you’ll need compelling differentiation. If they’re frustrated with all options, you’ve found opportunity.

Assess willingness to pay. Look for signals about budget. Phrases like “even if it costs money” or “worth paying for” indicate a job people value enough to purchase a solution.

Turning JTBD Insights into Product Decisions

Reddit research gives you rich qualitative data, but you need to translate it into product strategy:

Prioritize jobs by desperation. Focus on jobs where people are most frustrated with current solutions. High upvotes on complaint posts indicate shared desperation.

Design for specific contexts. Don’t try to serve every job. Pick 1-2 specific situations where you can excel. A job done exceptionally well in one context beats a mediocre solution for many contexts.

Use real language in marketing. Your Reddit research provides the exact words people use to describe their struggles. Use this language in your messaging - it resonates because it’s authentic.

Build for progress, not features. Features are means to an end. Focus on enabling the progress people want to make. If the job is “feel confident in my financial decisions,” that might mean fewer features presented more clearly, not more features.

Creating a JTBD Research System

Don’t treat Reddit research as a one-time activity. Build an ongoing system:

Set up saved searches in your target subreddits using keywords related to your domain. Check them weekly to spot emerging patterns or shifts in how people describe their needs.

Create a simple database (even a spreadsheet works) to track job statements, quotes, and links. Tag them by job type (functional/emotional/social) and context. Over time, you’ll see patterns that weren’t visible in individual posts.

Monitor competitors’ mentions not to copy features, but to understand where they’re falling short in serving the job. Comments like “I use [Product X] but I wish it could…” reveal unfulfilled aspects of the job.

Participate authentically in communities when appropriate. Don’t promote - instead, share your own related struggles or ask genuine questions. This builds understanding of the community while providing real-time insights.

Conclusion

Jobs to Be Done Reddit research transforms how you understand customer needs. Instead of guessing what features people want, you discover what they’re actually trying to achieve in their lives. This shifts your entire product strategy from feature competition to progress competition.

The beauty of Reddit is that people are already having these conversations. They’re describing their struggles, sharing their contexts, and revealing the jobs they need done. Your task is to listen carefully, look beyond surface-level requests, and identify patterns in what people are truly trying to accomplish.

Start by identifying 10-15 relevant subreddits where your target customers discuss their challenges. Search for struggle moments and carefully analyze the context around each discussion. Extract clear job statements that capture situation, motivation, and desired outcome. Look for both functional and emotional jobs, and pay special attention to non-consumption opportunities.

Remember: the best product ideas don’t come from asking people what they want. They come from understanding what people are trying to do and building something that helps them make progress. Reddit gives you direct access to those insights if you know how to look.

Ready to accelerate your Jobs to Be Done research? Start listening to what people are really saying on Reddit, and you’ll discover opportunities others are completely missing.