The answers have little to do with what e-bike manufacturers write on their websites. A tai chi student who wanted to save his commitment. A half-marathon runner who had to learn that a motor isn’t giving up. A married couple who nearly had a crisis because they couldn’t ride at the same speed. A dog owner whose handlebar folded away while she was riding.
Each of these stories shows what becomes visible when you ask the question differently. Not: ‘What do you want?’ – but: ‘What happened?’
A man who was never a cyclist – and bought an e-bike to save his tai chi commitment. Years in the making, decided in a single autumn.
None of this was in a questionnaire. Rainer wouldn’t have put it that way himself – it lies between the lines of a one-hour conversation. What are your buyers telling you between the lines?
After seven years, an email arrives: turn up twice a week – or cancel the standing order and you’re out. Around 15 kilometres from the suburbs into the city centre, and no means of transport will do.
Tried it with the cargo bike: ‘And that was hell.’
In September, with no outside trigger at all, his thinking flips from ‘problem’ to ‘solution’: an e-bike could get him to training again.
‘I’d just had the idea on the loo that an e-bike could solve my problems.’
A friend replies in the chat – and turns the vague idea into a specific brand. From here, the active research begins.
‘Soon you’ll be the talk of the town. Anyone can do VanMoof, but Cowboy …’
Ordered on 18 November – as a business investment with tax depreciation. The bike stands in the living room for two weeks, until a €3,000 garden shed goes up to house it.
‘This isn’t for you. This is my bike. I’m buying it from my business account too. I work hard.’
The first ride had to wait, ‘because the weather was just totally crap’.
→ The decision was made with the tai chi master and among friends – not in the bike shop, not on Google. Are you there when the balance really tips for your customers?
Green = gain · Red = problem. Columns: existing vs. new solution. Rows: drives vs. holds back.
‘Either you come twice a week from now on, or you can cancel your standing order and you’re out.’
‘The cargo bike is rubbish, the car is rubbish and public transport is rubbish too.’
‘the thing is cool, my wife rides one’ (says a friend in the chat)
‘You can also just buy it and write it off.’
‘… it was more like sporadically, once every two weeks or so.’
‘I’ve always been a car person, because I love my freedom.’
‘never wasted a thought on the idea that I’d ever ride one of those things myself.’
‘damn, am I even physically fit enough to ride that sporty on a bike like this?’
‘Ugly bikes, basically, old fat people in fleece, you know, in softshell jackets’
→ A provider can actively move three of these four forces. Do you know which one tips the balance for your buyers?
Every purchase has three layers. The functional one is on the spec sheet – the emotional and social ones tip the balance. Each layer comes with the yardstick Rainer uses to measure progress.
What the ‘packaging’ says so far
Getting to tai chi training regularly and reliably twice a week, without the journey itself becoming an obstacle.
Seeing himself as someone who follows through on his commitment – and allows himself to do something just for himself.
Showing his family that his tai chi commitment is serious and lasting.
‘There’s now a 2,500-euro bike standing out there in this garden shed. And everyone knows that’s the bike Dad bought himself so that he …’
Rainer wasn’t looking for an e-bike – he saved his tai chi commitment. Anyone who markets e-bikes as a means of transport misses exactly these buyers.
The image of ‘ugly bikes, old fat people …’ was the biggest barrier. The purchase became conceivable when a friend said his wife was happy riding one of these bikes – and that they came ‘not only as a step-through but also as a sporty bike’. The test ride on his own doorstep made it concrete.
Buying through the business account cleared the way: buy it and write it off, instead of a leasing process he didn’t understand. For the self-employed, depreciation is the lever that makes it possible to say ‘yes’.
A sports-mad half-marathon runner whose body gives out – first she rejects the e-bike, then she cycles almost every day, on rides of around 30 kilometres. It was never about the bike; it was about identity.
A sports-mad runner who had to rebuild her self-image – none of this was in a questionnaire. What are your buyers telling you between the lines?
She reads that a brand wants to conquer the bike world ‘like Tesla’. For the first time, an e-bike is not a bike for pensioners – but a design object.
‘They look like really ugly trekking bikes.’ – that applied to all the others, not to this one.
After a slipped disc and worn knees, the doctor tells her straight: no more jogging, tennis, badminton – a complete rethink.
‘Come on, girl, calm down, look how old you are. And to be honest, with you it’s pure wear and tear – you have to completely rethink things now.’
On the test ride, her knee gives her no trouble. That evening, a friend confirms that the bike suits her.
‘I waited a bit to see whether it would hurt or twinge again – it didn’t’
‘It suits you, it suits your Tesla, it suits your house, it suits you.’
She buys the clean step-through model – and today cycles almost every day, on rides of around 30 kilometres.
On her first ride, she was in tears: ‘Wow, you used to run this and now you’re sitting on a bike like this.’
But then: ‘Hey, you’re 53, what do you even want?’ And she keeps riding.
→ The balance tipped at the doctor’s and with a friend – not in advertising. Are you there when the balance really tips for your customers?
Green = gain · Red = problem. Columns: existing vs. new solution. Rows: drives vs. holds back.
‘And then my whole world collapsed.’
‘Every time you get a swollen knee, every time I trudge off to the doctor.’
‘But those really old bikes from back then, with nothing on them – I think they’re great.’
‘It’s just such a comfortable sitting position, one that I don’t get from the other bikes …’
‘And I kept getting back on the bike.’
‘God, come on, go do some real sport.’
‘I’d never buy something like that.’
‘… so as not to make a fool of myself as an athlete, because everyone knows me as a runner’
‘For other people that’s like a small car. So I really had to think: do I do this? Is it worth it? Are you really beyond repair?’
→ For Gloria, the biggest barrier was the stigma, not the price. Do you know the biggest barrier for your buyers?
Every purchase has three layers. The functional one is on the spec sheet – the emotional and social ones tip the balance. Each layer comes with the yardstick Gloria uses to measure progress.
What the ‘packaging’ says so far
Finding a physical activity she can do every day, despite worn knees and her slipped disc.
Still seeing herself as an active athlete despite her physical limitations.
‘It really brings tears to my eyes, because I think, you used to …’
Not appearing to her friends as someone who has let herself go – the bike as an expression of her style, not a sign of age.
The e-bike has to feel like an upgrade, not like giving up. Anyone selling ‘comfort’ loses this segment.
Only the sports doctor made the switch acceptable. Partnerships with doctors reach exactly this buyer.
Without a design statement, she doesn’t even start considering it.
Five or six years with the same folding e-bike – until the material fails and she lands on the tarmac. She isn’t buying a bicycle. She’s buying a safe way to walk her dogs.
She isn’t buying a bicycle but a tool for her dogs – none of this would show up in a product survey. What are your buyers telling you between the lines?
While she is riding – with two dogs on the lead – the plastic folding mechanism fails. She falls onto the tarmac.
‘Landing on asphalt is of course not exactly fun.’
‘Because I needed the bike for my dogs, too.’
A well-reviewed dealer shows her the new model and offers a test ride. She sleeps on it.
‘There’s no alternative to it.’ – compact 20-inch e-bikes are a narrow market.
Better brakes, a sturdier frame, a safer feeling. After a night to think it over, she buys.
‘I can just decide, just like that. … I don’t have to ask Mummy any more.’
Something a flat test ride can’t reveal: uphill, the new bike has less power. And uphill power is exactly what her hilly dog-walking route needs.
‘I don’t want to go faster, you know, I just want more torque.’
→ Her reason to buy was safety for the dogs, not technology. Do you know the real job behind your customers’ purchase?
Green = gain · Red = problem. Columns: existing vs. new solution. Rows: drives vs. holds back.
‘this bar then basically folded to the side and I took a bit of a tumble …’
‘an accident like that – it’s not something you get out of your head that easily’
‘You sit on it better. You sit more upright. And of course the frame is sturdier.’
‘The ride – it’s got thick, much thicker tyres. So you also feel you’re riding more safely.’
‘… I actually loved the old one. And if I hadn’t crashed with it, it would of course still be my bike.’
‘that bike ran brilliantly for five, six years’
Before the purchase, she didn’t voice any worries – she slept on it.
→ Only after the purchase did she notice what the test ride on a flat road couldn’t show: uphill, it lacks power. Do your customers know before they buy what they’ll miss after they’ve bought?
Every purchase has three layers. The functional one is on the spec sheet – the emotional and social ones tip the balance. Each layer comes with the yardstick Marion uses to measure progress.
What the ‘packaging’ says so far
Quickly having a reliable bike again after the breakdown, so she can walk her dogs every day – without having to get off every time they meet another dog.
‘I can actually stay sitting on the bike …’
Seeing herself as someone who is out and about safely again after an accident and can trust the bike.
Being seen by other dog owners as a smart, well-organised dog owner.
The real job: being out and about safely with the dogs. Optimise for brakes, step-through height and stability when stopped – not for speed.
Where choice is thin, trust decides – and so does a dealer you can reach.
Hill performance couldn’t be tested on a flat route – the regret came afterwards. Make the test experience honest and you win loyalty.
One voice shows you why one person buys. Eight show you where your lever is. Rainer is one of eight voices. Put together, they yield segments, a bottleneck and a plan you can test.
The same pipeline that analysed Rainer condenses all eight interviews into three segments – each with its own core job, its own language, its own trigger logic.
Without this pattern, you allocate budget according to the loudest voice in the meeting. With it, according to evidence.
Core job: Help me get where I’m going without stress and without breaking into a sweat.
Core job: Help me stay sporty and active despite medical restrictions.
Core job: Help me find a successor model that fixes the weaknesses of the old one.
→ Three buying jobs are three target audiences with three hooks – instead of one message that misses two of them.
E-bike equals unsporty: across all segments, this image is the strongest barrier to switching. Break this image and you unlock all segments at once – in our view, the most effective lever.
What tipped the balance for the buyers was a real experience – at a friend’s, on their own route, on a test ride that felt like everyday life. Dirk says it himself: ‘Just get on and ride. But not at the dealer’s …’
Across eight buyers, the e-bike rarely competed with other e-bikes:
Until a trigger or an ultimatum forced the switch.
rejected‘The car is rubbish’ – traffic jams, parking, tickets.
rejected‘Public transport is rubbish too’ – too inflexible.
rejected‘The cargo bike is rubbish’ – didn’t fit his self-image.
rejectedOnly conceivable at all as a sporty version.
chosenThe most dangerous competitor was carrying on as before – and the car, not the next e-bike.
The bottleneck lies not in the product but in the lack of access to the experience. As long as the stigma stands, no amount of product information moves anything – only a real riding experience breaks it.
Each measure is derived directly from the data – with a target value and a falsification threshold. Three are non-negotiable.
No brainstorming – five bets where you know in advance how you’ll measure success.
Existing customers invite friends on 30–60-minute rides – the peer test ride, made systematic.
12 authentic stories of sporty riders (30–50) against the pensioner-bike stigma.
Jobrad calculator, 60-second tax guide, service network map – live in the buying process.
Catch the trigger where it arises: in the doctor’s surgery. Brochure + QR code in 200 practices.
Three strands (commuters / health / upgraders), each with its own hook and buyers’ own words instead of one-size-fits-all.
First 20 buddy rides done, first 3 testimonial stories live – otherwise the basic assumption is wrong.
Traditional marketing measures the wrong things – clicks, reach, target audiences. Jobs to Be Done measures why people really buy, and puts everything that follows – product development, marketing, sales – on a sound footing. In a few weeks, you’ll have this compass for your own business.
We run six to eight sprints a year, depending on complexity.
Saving his tai chi commitment after the master gave him an ultimatum.
Read the story ↑Getting to work without arriving sweaty.
‘I’m wasting so much time here, it would simply be worth finding an alternative.’
Regaining her sporting identity, even though her knees and slipped disc no longer allow her old sports.
Read the story ↑Covering the last mile to the underground without breaking into a sweat – on a bike that doesn’t look like all the others.
‘In terms of design, it looks different from 90% of the other e-bikes.’
Staying active together with his partner in winter – without one of them pedalling along behind.
‘Either both of us, or neither.’
Keeping up with his friends again – without feeling like he’s on a moped.
‘For me, an e-bike was a moped. Then I might as well buy a moped.’
Getting around without a car again after the theft.
‘once it was gone, I just noticed – suddenly there were only the advantages.’
Quickly getting a safe dog-walking bike again after the handlebar folded away
Read the story ↑Eight people. Eight buying decisions. Each of them needed something different: a tai chi ultimatum, still sweating in the meeting, worn knees, a taste for design, heading off a marriage crisis, keeping up with friends, stolen mobility, a handlebar that folded away.
E-bike manufacturers optimise for battery, range, motor. Their customers buy commitment, identity, relationships, flow. The ‘e-bike’ category exists in the manufacturer’s head – not in the buyer’s. The buyer is solving a problem that has nothing to do with bicycles.
This isn’t an e-bike phenomenon. It is a structural feature of markets. Every product is bought for reasons the manufacturer doesn’t have on their radar – because they ask about features, not triggers. Run eight interviews with the right tool and in a few weeks you’ll see what no market research study delivers in months: the actual job for which people hire your product.
The question isn’t whether your customers do this too. The question is: for which job do they hire your product without you knowing? Whoever knows the reason to buy first owns it – before your competitor asks.
This case study is based on eight in-depth interviews with e-bike buyers. Analysed with the Wheel of Progress (developed in 2019 by Eckhart Böhme and Peter Rochel) as part of the JTBD Innovation Framework by Oberwasser Consulting. All names are pseudonyms. Quotes are taken from the interviews, which were conducted in German; they have been translated, shortened and lightly smoothed, without changing their meaning.
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 – attribution, non-commercial, share alike.
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Peter Rochel · 700+ projects since 2006 · co-creator of the Wheel of Progress (with Eckhart Böhme) · More about Peter
A JTBD case study documents real buying decisions on the basis of in-depth interviews. Instead of measuring customer satisfaction or feature ratings, it reconstructs what happened in the buyer’s life that led them to ‘hire’ a product – and which job the product is meant to get done. The result is testable hypotheses for product development, marketing and sales.
Experience from more than 700 projects shows: robust patterns emerge from 8–12 interviews. Even a single well-conducted interview can deliver strategically relevant hypotheses – as this case study shows. What matters is not the quantity, but the quality of the interviewing and the depth of the analysis.
The Wheel of Progress is an analysis framework developed in 2019 by Eckhart Böhme and Peter Rochel. It maps the complete progress cycle of a buying decision – from the trigger events and the four forces (push, pull, anxiety, habit) to the desired and undesired outcomes. It is used in Customer Insights Sprints and JTBD training.
Yes. The method works in any industry – from yoga mats and cybersecurity services to Bitcoin financial products. The prerequisite: you have access to real buyers (not just users or prospects) and are willing to question your assumptions about your target audience. A Customer Insights Sprint delivers its first robust results in a few weeks.