The Kano Model classifies features into three categories: Basic (must-haves whose absence causes dissatisfaction), Performance (more = better), and Delighters (unexpected features that create disproportionate delight).
Feature strategy and prioritisation, especially when deciding where to invest for differentiation vs. table-stakes quality.
- For each feature, ask: 'How do you feel if this IS present?' and 'How do you feel if this is NOT present?'
- Map responses to: Basic / Performance / Delighter / Indifferent / Reverse
- BASIC: Expected — absence causes strong dissatisfaction, presence is neutral
- PERFORMANCE: Linear — more = proportionally more satisfaction
- DELIGHTER: Unexpected — presence creates delight, absence is forgiven
- Invest first in Basics, then Performance, then Delighters
Basic: gapless playback — users furious if absent, don't notice if present. Performance: catalogue size — more songs = proportionally better. Delighter: Discover Weekly when it launched — a weekly personalised playlist no one expected. Over time, Delighters decay to Performance and then to Basic — what surprised users in 2016 is now expected.
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- Spending resources on Delighters while Basic features are still broken or missing
- Forgetting that Delighters decay to Basic over time — yesterday's innovation is today's expectation
- Surveying the wrong customer segment — different segments have different Kano categories
- The Practitioner's Guide to Product Management — Jock Busuttil