Define the system and unit of analysis
Specify process, population, product, time window, boundaries and aggregation level. Without a defined unit of analysis, measures and comparisons may represent different phenomena.
TECHNICAL GUIDE · STRUCKEL TOOLS
INN-04 · Innovation
Customer Profile
Prioritizes jobs, pains and gains for a segment to separate what is central from what is peripheral in customer research and offer design.
cliente · jobs · pains · gainsFormulários Struckel
01
MANAGEMENT QUESTION
The problem the tool must make decidable.
Before opening a form, define the question that must be answered. A management tool is useful when it reduces ambiguity, exposes assumptions and makes clear which decision will be made from the evidence produced.
INN-04Which jobs, pains and gains define a specific segment, and which are important enough to guide research and offer design?
Innovation operates under uncertainty. The tool should organize hypotheses, evidence and choices without creating an illusion of certainty around what still needs to be tested. The aim is to learn faster and allocate resources with better information.
Use it to explore models, customers, value propositions and portfolios, separating assumption, evidence and investment decision.
02
METHOD ARCHITECTURE
Technical construction: from operational definition to evidence.
A canvas places components of a model side by side to reveal coherence and tension. It works best when each block contains specific statements and indicates which ones are still untested hypotheses.
Define criteria before evaluation
Translate abstract concepts into operational definitions, scales, classification rules and data sources. Criteria should exist before the result to reduce retrospective interpretation.
Preserve traceability
Link each conclusion to data, observations, assumptions and owners. When a score is used, retain its components; when a hypothesis is used, record how it will be tested.
Read across blocks: does the value proposition fit the segment? Do resources support delivery? Is revenue logic coherent with costs and channels? The canvas is a starting point for tests, not the end of planning.
03
WORKED EXAMPLE
How the method behaves in a real situation.
For franchise managers, “monitor unit cash” may be a functional job, fear of late problem discovery a pain, and decision confidence a gain. Items are prioritized and validated in interviews rather than blending segments into an average profile.
The example is intentionally specific. Numbers illustrate the reasoning and are not universal benchmarks: limits, scales and targets must be defined for the process being analyzed.04
MEASUREMENT AND INTERPRETATION
What to observe so the document does not become mere form filling.
Measures should serve reasoning. Whenever possible combine outcome, process and contextual evidence. For time series, look for patterns and variation rather than only point-in-time before/after comparisons.
01defined segment
02job ranking
03pain severity
04gain relevance
05evidence/quotes
Consistency test
Ask whether another person, using the same definitions and evidence, would reach a similar interpretation. If the answer depends heavily on individual judgment, refine the operational definition, scale or data source.
05
LIMITATIONS AND GOVERNANCE
The tool supports decisions; it does not replace judgment, context and validation.
Established method/tool in professional and academic literature; exact implementation should be tailored to context.
A customer profile represents a segment, not universal truth. Mixing users, buyers and decision makers can create a profile that exists nowhere.
Define an owner, review frequency, official data source and condition for reopening the decision. Link actions to deadlines and indicators, hypotheses to tests, and risks to treatment and follow-up.
DefinitionEvidenceInterpretationDecisionReview
06
METHODOLOGICAL BASIS
References for deeper study of the method.
The references below support the methodological family or principle used. Struckel’s digital implementation operationalizes application, documentation and traceability; it does not change the conceptual limits of the original sources.
OSTERWALDER_2014
Open reference Osterwalder A, Pigneur Y, Bernarda G, Smith A. Value Proposition Design. Wiley; 2014.
USE IT IN PRACTICE
Turn the method into a document ready for real work.
Struckel Forms offers a free way to structure this methodology with guided fields, contextual help and print/PDF preparation. Use the tool to organize reasoning; use consulting when the challenge requires design, implementation, facilitation or executive follow-up.