The Kano model of customer satisfaction was developed by Japanese quality expert Dr. Noriaki Kano, describes the complexities of customer needs and their relationship to customer satisfaction.

Kano identifies four basic types of product features relating to customer needs:

1) Exciters. An unexpected service, such as the concierge offering me her phone or the personal note from the check-out clerk. For consumer goods, these attributes can be difficult to discover, or must be somehow unique.

2) Satisfiers. These are the ‘The More the Better.’ For example, a restaurant that offers excellent food at a slightly lower price than the competition. These performance attributes drive satisfaction. When they are high, so is satisfaction. When they are low, satisfaction suffers.

3) Dissatisfiers. These are factors which cause the customer to dislike the product, but do not necessarily raise satisfaction levels if met. A good example would be a hotel room with no toilet paper or a business hotel that does not offer wireless internet. One wouldn’t say, ‘Wow, that was a great bathroom, it had toilet paper!’ But if there is no toilet paper the lavatory experience is negatively affected.

4) Indifference. These don’t make any impact one way or another. For example, a differential gear in a rental car has no effect because most customers don’t feel any benefit from a better distribution ratio and response

Features tend to migrate between classifications over time. Yesterday’s Exciter is frequently today’s Satisfier and tomorrows Dissatisfier. Car features such as electronic doorlocks and cup holders were at one time an exciting feature, then became a good plus, and now customers expect them and would be annoyed if they weren’t standard.

Kano analysis is particularly useful as a precursor to choice exercises, such as conjoint analysis, when developing a product or brand communication strategy. Conjoint allows the researcher to explore more fully the interaction of various levels or attributes, whereas Kano analysis is largely one-dimensional. However, Kano is far more simple to administer, and can be used to winnow out insignificant attributes

Kano is also closely related to customer value management (CVM). By constructing a visual critical path Kano analysis can serve as an organization’s strategic navigation. As we said, attributes migrate from Kano categories, almost always in a downward direction. The Kano method becomes a precise technique for assessing the role of new product features and predicting how they will migrate, and gives a map of the strategic directions of the product or corporate communication.

For the full article, please visit the following link,
http://www.mvsolution.com/wp-content/uploads/Design-Performance-The-Kano-Model.pdf

Michael Lieberman is founder and president of Multivariate Solutions, a statistical and marketing research consulting firm that works with major advertising, public relations, and political strategy firms. He can be reached at 1 646-257-3794, or at
michael@mvsolution.com.