One of the challenges product teams encounter, is how to decide which features should be included in their products. Identifying the user needs, helps teams to focus on what a product should deliver to address a certain type of user. In time, teams develop many ideas on how to address these needs. The Kano model (proposed in the 80s by Noriaki Kano) offers a way to differentiate these features by focusing on customer satisfaction. Eventually it can be used to answer the question: “Which features should be included in the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?”
The Kano model categorizes features into five types based on the impact is has on customer satisfaction:
Prioritizing product features using the Kano model
There is a methodology for mapping customer responses to questionnaires onto his model. When conducting a customer survey, the customer should be asked about his/her opinion on each feature, in a positive and a negative question:
Each question should provide 5 possible answers:
The feature can be mapped to the Kano types based on the chosen answers using the table below:
Looking at the distribution of the answers, it is possible to conclude on the impact a certain feature has on customer satisfaction. If the answers are evenly distributed between two or more Kano types, this could be an indication that the product should be made available into different flavors (e.g. “standard” and “professional”) to better meet the needs of different customer types.
Teams should focus the development efforts on the “Must Have”, “Linear” and “Delighter” features in that order.
The MVP product should be based on the “Must Have” features. However, even though the “Must Have” features are required for the product to survive, they do not have to be fully implemented from the beginning. In many cases a reduced version of the “Must Have” feature may also be adequate. The full feature can be planned for a later release. The “Linear” and “Delighters” should be planned for a later release.
A final important note: The impact a certain feature has on customer satisfaction is not constant and it may decrease with time. For example “Delighters” may degrade to “Linear”and “Must-have” even to “Undesired”.
Posted in Product Development, Product Management