The Milkshake Question Every Product Manager Should Ask Customers
A Powerful and Practical Tool
We’ve all heard the famous milkshake story — the one Clayton Christensen and his team used to bring Jobs-to-be-Done thinking to life.
A fast-food chain wanted to sell more milkshakes. They tried what most companies try: tweaking flavors, offering promotions, adjusting pricing. The results? No meaningful change.
That’s when Christensen’s team did something different. They focused not on the product, but on the job customers were hiring it to do.
And here’s the part of the story that doesn’t always get the spotlight — the simple, brilliant question that unlocked the real insight:
“If you didn’t buy a milkshake today, what would you have bought instead — and why?”
It’s deceptively straightforward. But that question cut through assumptions and surface preferences. It went straight to what customers actually needed.
What customers said — and what it revealed
👉 A donut — but it’s gone too quickly.
(Need: Stay entertained during the commute.)
👉 A banana — but you’re just as hungry afterwards.
(Need: Stay full for hours.)
👉 A bagel — but it’s hard to spread the cream cheese, and you can’t eat it with one hand.
(Need: Consume with one hand, avoid mess.)
👉 A Snickers bar — but you'd feel guilty.
(Need: Avoid guilt, feel good about the choice.)
👉 Coffee — but it doesn’t satisfy hunger.
(Need: Provide nourishment.)
👉 Nothing at all — but then the commute feels longer and more boring.
(Need: Pass the time, make the drive feel shorter.)
Each answer revealed not just what else they might choose — but why.
Why this question works
When you ask a customer,
“If you didn’t choose this, what would you have chosen — and why?”
you’re not simply mapping competitors. You’re surfacing:
✅ Core jobs — like staying full or making the commute more bearable
✅ Product jobs — like being easy to consume with one hand
✅ Emotional and identity jobs — like avoiding guilt or being a healthy person
It’s how you uncover true priorities — or as Tony Ulwick puts it in Outcome-Driven Innovation, their desired outcomes.
And it’s a reminder for all of us: the best interview questions aren’t complicated or clever. They’re human. They help us understand what our customers care about most.
The layered jobs of a milkshake
It’s easy to assume a product serves a single job. But often, as with the milkshake, it serves many — across different levels, such as in The Jobs-to-be-Done Pyramid method.
🧭 The Jobs-to-be-Done Pyramid™ view:
Product Jobs (Level 1)
Consume with one hand
Avoid mess
Core Jobs (Level 2)
Stay full for hours
Stay entertained during the commute
Identity Jobs (Level 3 & 4)
Be a healthy person
Appear as someone who makes smart choices
Emotional Jobs (Level 5)
Avoid feeling guilty
Feel satisfied and ready for the day
When we listen closely to these kinds of answers, we start to see all these layers — not just the functional, but the emotional and identity dimensions that shape customer choices.
What this means for you
If you’re working on a product, or leading a team, try this in your next customer conversation:
“If you didn’t choose this, what would you have chosen — and why?”
And listen. Because in their answers, you’ll discover:
✔ What they’re really trying to achieve
✔ How they define success
✔ Where your product fits — and where it might be falling short
It’s these moments that help you design with the full picture in mind: function, identity, and emotion. It’s why I developed The Jobs-to-be-Done Pyramid™ — to help teams see these layers clearly and build solutions that resonate on all levels.
Over to you
The next time you grab your morning coffee, snack, or smoothie — take a moment.
What job are you hiring it to do?