What milkshakes can tell you about your customers
Business Report magazine
Feb 19, 2025
As you are designing your Customer Insight system, I’d recommend you check out the work done by Clayton Christensen and his team around his “jobs to be done” theory.
Christensen, a Harvard Business School professor, summarized his theory by saying, “People don’t simply buy products or services, they hire them to make progress in specific circumstances.” To put it simply, they don’t want your stuff; they want how your stuff makes their life better.
One of my favorite applications of their work is the milkshake project Clayton and his team did. They were hired by a fast-food company to increase milkshake sales. No, that company was not Chick-fil-A, and Christensen wouldn’t say who it was. I think I know who it was, and if you live in the US, you may make the same guess after you hear the story.
In America, the vast majority of milkshake sales happen in the evening. It’s considered an evening dessert, consumed with dinner or enjoyed after dinner as a treat. However, this company wasn’t satisfied with that. They had an asset (milkshake machine) that was largely idle all day long. So, in an attempt to increase milkshake sales, they started creating new flavors.
After a lot of testing with customers, they identified a few flavors that people loved. They rolled out the product to all their locations, ran a major national ad campaign, and the customers didn’t really care. Sales went up only a little—and most of them were still in the evening.
Realizing they had missed something, the company leaders brought in Clayton and his team. They didn’t start with the product; they started by watching the customers. Particularly, they wanted to see the few customers who did buy milkshakes during the morning and afternoon.
Who were they? What did they do before, during, and after the milkshake purchase? Where did it fit into their lives? What was the “job” they were “hiring” the milkshake to do?
It turned out that most of the people buying milkshakes in the afternoon were grandparents and parents buying milk- shakes for their children.
The buyer was not the drinker. This insight changed everything. See, these customers weren’t “hiring” the milkshake to taste good. As surprising as it might sound, they didn’t really care what flavor they got. They were hiring the milkshake to make their kids like them! (And maybe to distract them for a little bit too.) They had been saying no all day long and wanted the chance to say yes and be the hero.
I confess, I have done this for my kids. There is a Wendy’s on the way home from my kids’ school, and when I was the one to bring them home, they would ask if they could stop and get a Frosty (the name of their milkshake). Sometimes I said yes because I wanted to make them happy—and make them like me. Of course, sometimes I said no. Why? Because I felt bad about pumping sugar down their throats too often.
What was the brilliant solution to this customer problem? How did this Customer Insight help increase sales? Clayton and his team suggested that this restaurant company make a mini-milkshake. I can say yes to my kids while not feeling so bad about the amount of sugar I’m giving them. Flavor isn’t a factor, because tasting good is not the “job” I’m hiring the milk- shake to do. The flavor had to be just good enough that my kids like it, and the original flavor was good enough for that.
By the way, sales of mini-milkshakes grew substantially, especially before dinner.
What might you learn from observing your customers in action? Do you know what “job” your customers are hiring you to do in their life? Do you know if the person who makes the purchase decision is the same person who will use your service?
