How to prompt AI to analyze Jobs To Be Done AND ALSO write copy that makes people “switch”

• Get deep psychological and behavioral insights from any interview transcript in seconds
• For growth marketers, product managers, UX designers and researchers
• Takes only 5 minutes

Ever run Jobs to Be Done interviews only to find yourself with a mountain of transcripts and no idea how to use that data to write your copy?

That’s when your team’s research goes to die in a dark corner of your Drive.

We’ve already looked at how to extract useful insights from your research data, but sometimes you might want to dig deeper into your prospects’ decision-making process. Especially when, in order to buy from you, they need to make the tough choice of switching from another solution.

Here’s what to do: Prompt AI to extract every last drop of juicy psychological and behavioral insight you need to understand how to make prospects switch. Then have the same AI write the copy for you. This is what ChatGPT 4 created for me when I used the AI copywriting prompts I’m about to teach you:

Credit where credit’s due: I’ve taken the idea and key points in this prompt from the amazing mind of the Jobs To Be Done framework co-creator Bob Moesta in his book Demand-Side Sales. Highly recommended if you want to learn how to run incredibly insightful customer interviews (and get even better insights with ChatGPT after).

Here’s how to use ChatGPT 4 to get similar results for your business or client.

Step 1: Get your transcript ready

If you don’t have it yet, make sure you prepare your interview transcript to be shared with ChatGPT.

I like to create a pdf and then attach it to the chat I’m writing the prompt in (see Step 2). Before doing that though, you may want to get rid of any specific names or references.

You can get ChatGPT to do that using the following prompt:

Copy paste this prompt:

Remove any specific names and references from the following interview transcript. Replace them with placeholder text that replaces the specific instances, but still makes it clear what the interviewer or interviewee are talking about. Write the placeholders as all caps.

Here’s an example of what the result will look like:

With the transcript privacy-proof and ready, just copy paste it from ChatGPT and add it to a Google document. From there, you can download the pdf we’ll feed to AI in the next step.

Step 2: Ask ChatGPT to analyze the decision-making process

Next, we’re going to share our interview transcript with ChatGPT 4 using the attachment function, and prompt it to analyze the entire decision-making process and buyer journey for us.

In ChatGPT 4, attach the pdf (or other text file) of your interview transcript:

Now with your file ready, in the same chat input, enter your “copywriter/investigator” prompt:

Copy paste this prompt:

You are a conversion copywriter, expert in decision-making, persuasion, psychology, behavioral economics, marketing, sales, UX design, customer experience, branding, and conversion rate optimization. You are also a highly skilled investigative expert, with a knack for criminal and intelligence investigation techniques. Your expertise is crucial in analyzing buying behaviors and decision-making processes. You employ interrogation methods to dissect the causal events that lead to a purchase. Remember to adhere to the principles of humility, causality, tradeoffs, and understanding lies as you comb through transcripts.

In addition to your investigative prowess, it’s crucial to understand the three sources of energy that influence the buyer:
Functional Motivation: Consider how the purchasing process presents itself as a mechanical problem to the buyer—what are the time, effort, and speed involved? Is the process a well-oiled machine or a series of hurdles?
Emotional Motivation: Delve into the buyer’s psyche. What internal monologues, laced with fears, frustrations, and desires, propel the purchase forward?
Social Motivation: Reflect on the buyer’s social canvas. How do peers’ perceptions, respect, trust, or acknowledgment play into their purchasing decision?

The buyer’s journey is also influenced by four forces:
The push of the situation: Identify the pressing needs driving the buyer, like the quest for a better night’s sleep that leads to considering a new mattress.
The magnetism of the new solution: Understand the allure of potential progress, like the promise of uninterrupted sleep that draws the buyer towards a new mattress.
The anxiety of the new solution: Acknowledge the buyer’s reservations and doubts about the new solution’s promises and their adaptability to it.
The habit of the present: Recognize the comfort found in the status quo, even if it’s suboptimal, like the familiarity of an old, uncomfortable mattress.

Consider the timeline of progress, the six stages a buyer navigates before a purchase:
First Thought
Passive Looking
Active Looking
Deciding
Onboarding
Ongoing Use

Three Principles for Success:
Sales are about aiding the buyer's progress, not just peddling products.
Nothing in sales is random; understanding the cause is key.
Demand is born from the struggle; find the struggling moments.

Three Myths to Dispel:
Demand isn’t merely created by supply; it’s about understanding the buyer's quest for progress.
Sales aren’t random; they require a systematic approach to create demand.
Sales isn’t about persuasion; it’s about understanding the buyer’s self-convinced reasons and value definition.

You're tasked with extracting key insights into the functional, emotional, and social motivations, along with the four forces shaping a buyer's decision. As you scrutinize interview transcripts, chart the buyer's journey from inception to continuous usage. Cut through the ambiguity, be mindful of the context and contrasts, and tune in to the energy behind responses.

Should you need more details for an exhaustive analysis, don't hesitate to ask for additional context. Your professional, investigative tone is paramount, as it’s your role to provide a detailed analysis that elucidates the intricacies of the buyer's decision-making process. After the transcript analysis, also extract the Jobs To Be Done from it. If asked to write copy, make sure the voice and tone align with the insights you've found.

Within a few seconds, AI had generated the following for me:

Step 3: Get AI to write your copy

With these insights we can now ask ChatGPT to write any copy for us. This is especially helpful if you want to write copy that speaks to the switching costs and motivations your prospects are facing.

In my case I’ve asked to write a couple of headlines and subheads:

Copy paste this prompt:

Based on these insights, write [TYPE OF COPY YOU NEED] that would [GOAL FOR THE COPY/WHAT IT NEEDS TO ACHIEVE]. 

A couple of seconds after, ChatGPT provided my headline and subehad variants:

Note: You’ll notice ChatGPT uses cliché words like maximize, elevate, unmatched, seamless, etc., in its copy. These should probably not make the final cut in your copy (unless that’s how your audience speaks). Instead, take what’s good here, which is the direction and themes the copy gives you. For example, the phrases that jumped out at me are “manual retries,” “reliable, uninterrupted web scraping,” or “experts who know the cost of downtime” and so on. These are all pieces of copy you can edit and expand on with ChatGPT, to incorporate your / your client’s voice and tone.

Also, it’s important to note that I’ve gotten these results by simply sharing one interview transcript. Do the same with one pdf containing 7 or 10 interview transcripts, and you can see the potential here.

I tried prompting ChatGPT in the same chat to write an email and even plan an entire sequence. Here’s what happened…

I wanted to see how ChatGPT used the insights extracted from the interview, to write different pieces. First I asked it to write an email and then to plan a hypothetical sequence to persuade prospects to switch.

As mentioned, all you have to do is to modify the last prompt we shared, to have AI write anything you need (just make sure you’re in the same chat where you extracted the insights).

Again, I wouldn’t consider this final copy, but I got pretty good starting points.

Here are a couple of screenshots:

Bonus: your very own “JTBD investigator” GPT

I couldn’t share my chat for client privacy reasons, but I’ve got something even better for you: a standalone GPT you can take and use – no need to enter any prompts.