Kano Analysis

Kano analysis is a tool which can be used to classify and prioritize customer needs. Its named after its developer Noriaki Kano.

Kano analysis is a quality measurement tool used to prioritize customer requirements based on their impact to customer satisfaction.Kano analysis is a quality measurement tool which is used to determine which requirements are important. All identified requirements may not be of equal importance to all customers. Kano analysis can help you rank requirements for different customers to determine which have the highest priority.

This is useful because customer needs are not all of the same kind, not all have the same importance, and are different for different populations. The results can be used to prioritize your effort in satisfying different customers.

Note that the Kano model can be used to help identify customer segments, based on the relative priority of each segment’s requirements. Once segments have been defined, using both needs analysis and more tradition criteria such as gender, company size, etc., the Kano model can be re-applied to each segment to further defined the segment’s priorities.

Kano Analysis Model groups customer requirements into three basic categories:

• Dissatisfiers ~ Basic Requirements ~ Threshold ~ “Must be’s”
• Satisfiers ~ Variable Requirements ~ Performance ~ “More is better”
• Delighters ~ Hidden requirements ~ Excitement

A successful product should have

• All dissatisfiers
• Maximum Satisfiers
• As many delighters as possible within marketable cost of product

Dissatisfiers: Attributes of a product that customers take for granted. Customer will not buy a product if it doesn’t have this basic features. E:g Picture and sound in a TV

Satisfiers: Customers uses these to rate a product against its competition. E.g: Price of a TV

Delighters: Going beyond customer expectations. Delighters are typically provided free or with limited cost. Delighters introduce novelty to the product. E.g: A TV with games etc.