Louis CK has it right: Everything is awesome but nobody is happy… and it’s all because of Kano’s product development model. Understanding Kano’s model will make you a better business person AND make you a happier person.
What is Kano’s Model?
Kano’s model is a theory of product development and customer satisfaction developed by Professor Noriaki Kano in the 1980s that classifies customer preferences into 5 categories.. or that’s at least what Wikipedia says.
But let’s really dive into the first three customer preferences: Delightful, performant, and basic preferences/attributes/features.
1) Basic Needs (aka. Assumed): Taken for granted when it’s there, but disappointed when it’s not.
Take, for example, a flight that actually takes you from point New York City to San Francisco, rather than crashing in the ocean halfway through. Not crashing in an ocean halfway through the flight is unacceptable (obviously), but actually arriving in San Francisco successfully doesn’t result in any increased satisfaction. Same with your phone’s ability to connect a call you dial – not doing so would lead you to think that it’s a pretty crappy phone, but connecting the call won’t lead to an increased customer experience.
2) Performance Needs (aka. Expected): Satisfied when fulfilled (rather than taken for granted), but also dissatisfied when not fulfilled.
Let’s say you were told your flight would have free WiFi, you’d be pretty excited, right? But if the free WiFi ended up being super slow or just didn’t work, then you’d feel cheated and likely be more upset than if you’d never expected it in the first place. Or how Instagram’s new “Hefe” filter can promise to make you look like a professional photographer… except, of course, when it makes you look like the king of awkward selfies.
3) Delightful (aka. Attractive): Increases satisfaction when fully experienced, but doesn’t necessarily disappoint when it comes up short.
These are typically features the customer didn’t expect, like when you find out that there is an in-flight meal you didn’t know about. Even if you were told during the flight that some menu items were unavailable, you would still order something, enjoy it, and feel like you were getting a deal. Also, sending money to a friend via SnapChat by “Making it Rain” will brighten anyone’s day.
These three qualities are the basic pillars of the Kano Model of product development, but the full model is a bit more complicated. Take 35 seconds to really look at this diagram and understand it.
“Delightful, over time, becomes assumed.”
At some point, flying from New York City to San Francisco, or even flying at all, was enough to overjoy anyone who was able to experience it. But over time, as air travel became more and more mainstream, the actual process of flying began to be taken for granted (as Louie CK discusses above) and minor inconveniences cause groans, grumbles, and angry tweets.
And now, the last two qualities of Kano’s Model:
4) Indifferent: Results in neither increased satisfaction nor dissatisfaction.
These are often products or additional features that are rarely used and of little consequence. Think of a universal remote control that can operate up to 50 devices, but you only need it to work your TV, cable box, and Blu-Ray player. You wouldn’t really feel either way about the other 47 slots. Another good example was Facebook’s half-hearted attempt to copy Snapchat with Facebook Poke – no one used it, no one cared. Product death.
5) Reverse: A high degree of achievement can actually result in dissatisfaction by some customers.
This theory assumes that not all customers are the same. For example, you may be excited by the higher resolution on your new phone, allowing you to pack more stuff and have access to more stuff on your screen at any one time. Your grandma, however, with her bad eyesight and general (cranky) ambivalence towards technology, will probably whine about having to put on her reading glasses anytime she wants to do anything on her phone,
Bottom Line:
#1: The world we live in is amazing. Enjoy the little miracles in life and you’ll be so much happier.
#2: If you’re thinking about building a product, especially a mobile app, don’t forget Kano’s model. Oh, and don’t forget that we build kickass mobile apps in 7 days.