From gut reactions to actionable insights for Intercom

Our approach.

Intercom offered a single product that could handle all of a company’s customer conversations (CRM, helpdesk etc) for one price. A customer would come in and request just one feature, and would be given a heap of others… for free. 

The problem was, nobody was using the entire offering. IT departments wanted it as a help desk solution. But, marketing teams didn’t want–or trust–the built-in CRM functionality. After all, if the company didn’t charge for it, it couldn’t be that good… could it?

Added to this, it became apparent that the messaging about the product wasn’t targeted enough. It didn’t help people understand how they could use Intercom specifically in a way that mattered to them.

The Re-Wired Group was brought in to understand why customers were really hiring Intercom. The team conducted a series of JTBD interviews that would help understand: what did people want to do that spurred them to buy a product to help them achieve their goal? They then created timelines. These provided a deeper look at the journey people took from a critical problem that sparked the desire for change, the touch points along the way, and the specific moment that triggered them to look for a solution. And finally, they revealed the four forces that influence customers to make the switch to and from Intercom.

By understanding the context in which their ideal customers were making purchasing decisions and trade offs, their teams, through cross-function alignment were able to develop new pricing and new packaging using the language of the demand-side that multiple functions could rally around.

The impact.

Intercom achieved a deeper understanding of the four critical jobs their customers had hired them for, and used it to redesign their product and develop an entire go-to-market strategy. Their one-product-for-everything turned into four distinct products, one for each job.

No longer does Intercom bucket its customers all-in-one or rely on gut feelings. Instead, functions work together to attract, onboarding and support customers according to their job. There’s real clarity for customers; feature bloat is a thing of the past and onboarding is based on the progress a customer wants to make.

Their marketing changed too.  Previously customers found the one-size-fits-all-problems approach difficult to digest. Now Intercom could dive deep into answering the questions customers had around switching, reminding them why they initially wanted help, increasing the appeal of the change while reducing their anxiety and pushing against inertia of habit.

The JTBD approach has changed Intercom’s entire go-to-market strategy. They now have a clear understanding of the jobs clients want done, which influences how they target and engage with potential customers.