Kano Model

Origins of the Kano Model

 Noriaki Kano
 Professor at Tokyo Rika University
 International Consultant
 Received individual Demming Prize in 1997
Origins of the Kano Model
 Noriaki Kano
 Developed foundation for an approach on “Attractive Quality
Creation” commonly referred to as the “Kano Model”
 Challenged traditional Customer Satisfaction Models that More
is better, i.e. the more you perform on each service attribute the
more satisfied the customers will be.
 Proposed new Customer Satisfaction model (Kano Model)
 Performance on product and service attributes is not equal in the
eyes of the customers
 Performance on certain categories attributes produces higher levels
of satisfaction than others.
When to use the Kano Model
 Project Selection
 Lean Six Sigma
 Design for Six Sigma
 New Product Development
 New Service Development
 Determine Market Strategies
Key Elements
 Identify the Voice of the Customer
 Translate Voice of the Customer into
Critical to Quality Characteristics (CTQs)
 Rank the CTQs into three categories:
 Dissatisfier - Must be’s – Cost of Entry
 Satisfier – More is better – Competitive
 Delighter – Latent Need – Differentiator
 Evaluate Current Performance
All customer requirements are not created equal.

It is worthwhile to discover which attributes of a

product or service are more important to the
customer.

product/service attributes behave differently in terms

of how they affect customer satisfaction.

It is important to understand both dimensions –

relative importance and correlation with satisfaction
—to deliver the bundle of attrib-utes that will attract
customers to your brand.
The character and importance of each attribute
also may vary for different market segments.

Com-petitors are always updating products and

adding new features.

And customers’ needs change over time.

This means that finding the best fit between a

product/service’s optimal mix of attributes and
customer preferences is an iterative process that
should be updated on a regular basis.
Three Types of Attributes

There are three types of relationships between

product/service attributes and the levels of cus-
tomer satisfaction they can generate:

 Basic or “must have” attributes: Expected by

customers. Your product may be eliminated from
consideration if it doesn’t have an acceptable level
of this attribute. E.g. Drivers–side Air Bags in a car.

Discriminator or “linear satisfier” attributes: All other
things being equal, more of this attrib-ute increases
customer satisfaction. E.g. Fuel Efficiency on a car
Energizer or “delighter” attributes. Not expected or
required, but creates customer satisfac-tion when
present and can make the difference in brand
choice for a consumer. E.g. In–dash GPS system on
a new car.

Understanding the character and relative

importance of each attribute/feature of your
product/service will guide the important design and
marketing decisions required in today’s dynamic and
competitive markets. It is particularly critical when
building and launching new products and ser-vices.
 Noriaki Kano set out to measure the correlation between
two as-pects of product quality:
 1. an objective assessment represented by “Fulfillment
level” in this chart. Kano defined this as “conformance to
requirements”;
 2. a subjective assessment of quality repre-sented by
“Customer Satisfaction”.
 In the process he found three distinctly different types of
correlation between these two vari-ables:
  Delighters— Bonus features are represented as a
concave relationship with Customer Satisfaction.
Customer satisfaction increases logarithmically with
Fulfillment level on these attrib-utes.
 Linear Satisfiers represented as a straight line.
Fulfillment and satisfaction are linearly
correlated.
  Must-Haves are represented by the lower
convex curve in the model. If your product does
not have these attributes it may lose out to
competitors.
 A general guideline for new product/service
development is to fulfill all Must-Have
requirements, be competitive on the Satisfiers,
and include some differentiating Delighters. And
over time attributes that are delighters one year
may become Must-Haves the next
 The Kano Model of Customer (Consumer)
Satisfaction classifies product attributes
based
 on how they are perceived by customers
and their effect on customer satisfaction.
These
 classifications are useful for guiding
design decisions in that they indicate when
good is
 good enough, and when more is better.
 Project activities in which the Kano Model is
useful:
 ☛ Identifying customer needs
 ☛ Determining functional requirements
 ☛ Concept development
 ☛ Analysing competitive products
 Other tools that are useful in conjunction
with the Kano Model:
 ☛ Eliciting Customer Input
 ☛ Prioritisation Matrices
 ☛ Quality Function Deployment
 ☛ Value Analys
 Kano Model of customer satisfaction is a very
useful tool to help you understand and classify
user requirements for designing your service

 The basic philosophy behind the Kano model is

that the perceived quality of a product or a service
is made up of a lot of factors (or requirements).
And not all requirements are the same. Some are
more important, some that are indifferent after a
point etc.

 Kano model helps you analyze the requirements

to help you maximize the customer experience
and perceived quality thereby increasing customer
satisfaction
 Noritaki Kano is the originator behind the Kano
model
concept.
 He recognized that the degree of customer
satisfaction varies depending on the fulfillment or
non-fulfillment of certain customer requirements.
 To plan for maximum customer satisfaction, you
should be able to assess the customer
requirements and also assess the impact of the
requirements on customer satisfaction.
 Kano model helps you do that
 1. Basic requirements
 These are basic service requirements that the company
must offer to be competitive.
 These are characteristics customers assume as part of
the product of service.
 Customers rarely ask about them as they are standard
features.
 For example, when you buy a car, you assume it meets
all safety requirements necessary to operate the car
safely.
 You expect also that the engine will always start without
a problem.
 Customers expect these basic requirements to be
definitely met. Though the fulfillment of basic
requirements alone can’t lead to a high degree of
customer satisfaction.
 2. Performance requirements
 Specific features customers desire in a product or
service are called performance requirements. They are
items a company is willing to provide to satisfy a
customer.
 Generally speaking, customers are willing to pay more
for more of the performance requirements.
 For instance, when someone looks for a new car, he
may specify the power of the engine, the maximum fuel
consumption etc.
 And customers will be willing to pay more for higher fuel
economy or higher engine power

Excitement requirements
3.

 Unexpected and delighting features of a product or service are

called excitement requirements. These features make the product
unique and distinguish it from the competition.

 These features may or may not be expensive, but are really

insightful and creative.

 Fulfilling some excitement requirements give customers delight.

Though not giving them is not really a dissatisfier.

 An example of this is a beeper in the car that warns the diver if the
ignition keys are still in when he/ she opens the driver side door. Or
rear view mirrors that can be controlled without opening the
windows.
 Kano Model
“Didn’t know I Satisfaction
wanted it but I
like it.”
Satisfier
One Dimensional
Desired Quality
Delighters
Excited Quality

Service Service
Performance Performance

Dissatisfier
Must-be “Cannot increase
Expected Quality my satisfaction, but
can decrease.”

Dissatisfaction
Kano Model Process

Analyze
Analyze&& Plot
Plot&&
Research
Research Strategize
Strategize
Brainstorm
Brainstorm Diagram
Diagram

•Research available •Analyze results from •Develop Customer •Determine Project

data sources data collection Requirement Matrix selection
•Determine data •Brainstorm list of •Record •Product Development
collection strategy features and Questionnaire results •Service Development
•Design data collection functionality in Matrix and •Identify Marketing
instruments •Develop Functional Summarize Strategy
•Collect and and Dysfunctional •Plot results on Kano
summarize data Questionnaire Model
•Distribute
Questionnaire
Research
 Must Be’s - Focus Groups, Lawsuits and
Regulations, Buzz on Internet
 Satisfiers - Competitive Analysis, Interviews,
Surveys, Search Logs, Usablity Testing,
Customer Forums
 Delighters - Field Research,
Marketing/Branding Vision, Industrial Design,
Packaging, Call Center Data, Site Logs
Analyze & Brainstorm
 Analyze data from available sources
 Brainstorm list of features and functionality
 Determine type of requirements:
 Output Requirements
 Service Requirements
 Kano Model Requirements Survey
 User Survey
 “Functional form” vs. “Dysfunctional Form”
 “How would you feel if the product had feature X?”
 “How would you feel if the product didn’t have feature X?”
 Kano Questionnaire Answers:
 I like it.
 I expect it.
 I’m neutral.
 I can tolerate it.
 I dislike it.
Example: Requirements Survey
Example: Requirements Questionnaire
Functional vs. Dysfunctional Comparison
Evaluation Customer Requirements
C.R. A E O R Q I Total Grade
1 3 6 14 23 O
2 5 6 11 1 23 O
3 6 1 4 1 11 23 I
4 13 10 23 E
5 11 1 2 9 23 A
Customer Requirement is:

A: Attractive R: Reverse Q: Questionable Result

E: Expected O: One Dimensional I: Indifferent
 Plot & Diagram
Satisfaction

Satisfier
Delighters One Dimensional
Attractive Desired Quality
Excited Quality

Service Service
Performance Performance
Dissatisfier
Must Be
Expected Quality

Dissatisfaction
Kano Model & QFD
Strategize
 Project Selection
 Lean Six Sigma
 Design for Six Sigma
 Organizational Strategy
 Dissatisfier – Must be’s – Cost of Entry
 Satisfier – More is better – Competitive
 Delighter – Latent Need – Differentiator
Application
 Break into Teams
 Select Team Leader
 Select Scribe
 Select Presenter
 Scenario – You work for a Hotel chain and your company is trying to
identify Voice of the Customer information to improve Hotel
performance.
 Instructions:
 Brainstorm important characteristics you expect when staying at a Hotel
 Identify whether they are a Must be, Expected or a Delighter from a
Business Client perspective and from a vacationer perspective
 Add in what the current performance is for the Hotel
Example Results
Debrief
 Analysis
 Strategy Recommendations
Summary of Kano Model
 Analyze and rank the voice of the
customer data
 Develop into Categories
 Dissatisfier – Must be’s – Cost of Entry
 Satisfier – More is better – Competitive
 Delighter – Latent Need – Differentiator
 Identify and implement strategy