What is the Kano model?
The Kano model groups features by how they affect customer satisfaction.
Must-be features are expected and mostly noticed when missing. Performance features improve satisfaction as they improve. Attractive features delight because customers didn't expect them. The model also includes indifferent features, which change little, and reverse features, which can make the experience worse.
Categories move over time. Today's delight can become tomorrow's expectation.
Kano isn't a ranking score. It classifies features and is often used beside another framework.
Why it matters for product builders
The model explains why fixing basic problems rarely earns praise while leaving them broken creates strong complaints.
**Source note**
Noriaki Kano and colleagues developed the model in the 1980s.
Sources
- Developed by Noriaki Kano and colleagues in the 1980s.