What is user side synergy?

Business side synergy is when a business engages in a new activity with another business that is beneficial, and can boost operational efficiency or expand the market to which they offer products. For example if an online marketing company and an offline marketing company worked together.

User side synergy is a situation in which a business increases its offering along the user value chain, in other words offering more value to the user from the start to the end of the job they are trying to achieve. For example, if a company that made microwaves entered the food production business. It makes no sense for an electrical manufacturer to make food (from a business point of view), but it makes perfect sense for the user, as this food could be tagged and auto set the microwaves time and power when placed inside.

Thales Teixeira defines a good user side synergy as:

…it makes it cheaper, easier or faster for customers to fulfil their needs as compared to using two products from different companies

Discovering the user value chain

The Jobs-to-be-done framework perfectly frames the user value chain, as the research methodology encompasses the entire user journey to uncover the job the user is trying to do and the context in which they are doing it.

A job will have many activities required to complete it and can have completely different companies and products needed to complete the full activity. User side synergy is when a company expands to help the user complete multiple activities in the same job using just their products and services.

This has the added advantage of keeping customer acquisition costs low as you are selling to customers you already have. JTBD research will uncover opportunities for user side synergy that will present growth opportunities for the company and increased value for the customer.