| Developed in the 80's by Professor Noriaki Kano, the | | | | establish as needs during initial design. They are |
| Kano model is based on the concepts of customer | | | | sometimes called unknown or latent needs. |
| quality and provides a simple ranking scheme which | | | | Next, we organize customer needs into a |
| distinguishes between essential and differentiating | | | | Critical-To-Quality tree |
| attributes. The model is a powerful way of visualizing | | | | The purpose of Critical-To-Quality trees is to convert |
| product characteristics and stimulating debate within | | | | customer needs/wants to measurable requirements |
| the design team. Kano also produced a rigorous | | | | for the business to implement. |
| methodology for mapping consumer responses into | | | | For example: A retail merchant was receiving a |
| the model. | | | | significant number of complaints regarding their |
| Product characteristics can be classified as: | | | | homeowner warranty policies from their customers. By |
| Threshold / Basic attributes - Attributes which must be | | | | analyzing customer survey data and developing the |
| present in order for the product to be successful, and | | | | CTQ tree, the business was able to identify |
| can be viewed as a 'price of entry'. However, the | | | | critical-to-satisfaction requirements. These |
| customer will remain neutral towards the product even | | | | requirements became the focus for improving |
| with improved execution of these threshold and basic | | | | customer satisfaction. The business eliminated |
| attributes. | | | | mandatory warranty visits and made all warranty visits |
| One dimensional attributes (Performance / Linear) - | | | | optional. Eliminating mandatory visits satisfied the |
| These characteristics are directly correlated to | | | | customers who thought there were too many visits |
| customer satisfaction. Increased functionality or quality | | | | and adding an extra optional visit satisfied customers |
| of execution will result in increased customer | | | | who thought there were too few visits. Expanding the |
| satisfaction. Conversely, decreased functionality results | | | | time frame for scheduling warranty visits from two |
| in greater dissatisfaction. Product price is often related | | | | weeks to three months eliminated the inconvenience |
| to these attributes. | | | | for customers who had busy schedules and found the |
| Attractive attributes (Exciters / Delighters) - | | | | time frame difficult to manage. |
| Customers receive great satisfaction from a feature | | | | The business took a general, difficult-to-measure need |
| and are willing to pay a price premium. However, | | | | (to improve homeowner warranty satisfaction) and |
| satisfaction will not decrease (below neutral) if the | | | | developed specific, measurable, and actionable |
| product lacks the feature. These features are often | | | | requirements to drive improvements in customer |
| unexpected by customers and can be difficult to | | | | satisfaction. |