Kano Driven Product Development

Prioritization is a major function of product management. We have to ensure that we get the right products and features out of the limited resources at our disposal. So when it comes to deciding what is most important and worth doing in product development, the Kano Model is one of the tools we can employ.

This framework takes into consideration customers’ expectations and satisfaction. It provides a useful guide for discussions relating to product strategy and features. Let’s look at how we can use this model to guide and prioritize product development effectively.

What is the Kano Model?

The Kano Model is a simple framework that can help prioritize initiatives on the basis of customer satisfaction and investment. It is a two-axis grid that classifies features bearing in mind their likelihood of satisfying the customer and how much those features would cost to implement.

This framework was developed by Dr. Noriaki Kano, for whom it is named. The professor of quality management came up with the underlying theory, which was published in the 1980s, while exploring product development and customer satisfaction.

The Kano Model disputes the idea that we can increase the satisfaction customers get by working on all features. It instead calls for understanding the difference between features, knowing what’s basic and what can increase satisfaction with less investment. This helps to guide our development decisions.

There are, of course, many different frameworks for prioritizing product development. However, not many of them draw as much attention to customer satisfaction as the Kano Model does. The framework splits features into categories based on this factor as well as the investment needed.

Categories of Features

With the aid of the Kano Model, we try to choose among features that are competing for our limited resources. The grid creates diverse feature categories that are determined by a combination of customer satisfaction and the investment needed.

The number of categories often differs. But the following are the major ones.

Basic features

These may also be called the “must-haves.” They are the features that our product must have for customers to even deem it useful. Customers expect to just have it. We need basic features for the product to be competitive.

A characteristic of these features is that they don’t increase satisfaction significantly if and as we devote more resources to them. Yet, if they are not sufficient or don’t work as they should, customers could become unhappy with the product.

An example might be a car that comes without seat belts. Having those might not make much difference to satisfaction but the absence would be a major cause for dissatisfaction.

Performance features

Also known as one-dimensional features, these are features that exhibit a linear correlation between customer satisfaction and investment. This means that as the performance of the product improves with more investment in these features so does customer satisfaction.

If the fuel efficiency of a car improves as a result of more investment, for instance, the customer may likely get a proportionate increase in satisfaction.

Delighters

These features are also called delightful, attractive, or excitement features. They are not mandatory, unlike basic features. Their availability, however, will improve customer satisfaction a lot. Delighters can help us to get more customers and set our product apart from the competition.

Perhaps, a more interesting angle to these features is that a low investment leads to a major increase in satisfaction. These are the type of features that we want to spend more of our time and resources on. They are not a deal-breaker when absent, but they make a whole lot of difference when present. In addition to the foregoing, there are also indifferent and dissatisfaction feature categories. We don’t want to waste our time working on those.

Kano Model in Product Development

This framework has companies with limited resources in mind. But how many companies have all the resources to be careless with anyway?

The Kano Model can help us to determine the right mix of features that our product should offer. What features are basic or can increase customer satisfaction more? The grid will be useful for answering that question and taking an important step to differentiate our product. We only need to invest just enough in basic features to keep our target market satisfied. More of our resources should go into building delighters.

Product managers and teams need to realize that delightful features can turn into basic features over time. What the customer was initially excited to have becomes what they expect to have. So, there is a need for us to continue to find new ways we can get to delight customers.

Preserving and increasing the level of satisfaction demands us to be proactive. Product managers must keep an eye on customer satisfaction as well as the competition. Are delighters turning into basic features? Is the competition making moves that require us to respond promptly? Giving attention to such things puts us on our toes to find new ways to delight.