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Kano Analysis refers to the process of analyzing a product or system requirements to determine what the perceived impact will be on customer satisfaction.

The Kano model categorizes product attributes or system requirements into 3 primary categories to determine the perceived customer satisfaction.

• Unexpected Delighters
• Performance Attributes
• Must Have Attributes

In addition, the Kano Model is often extended by differentiating attributes into two other categories:

Indifferent Attributes: These are attributes of a product or system that the customer doesn’t really care about one way or the other.

• My smart phone example: Cellular network technology (CDMA, GPRS, GSM, etc) is for most customers an indifferent attribute.  Very few customers care about the type of technology used as long as it doesn’t directly impact the quality of their service.

Reverse Quality Attributes: These are attributes of a product or system that can best be described as “more isn’t always better”.  You can also consider these to be the opposite of Delighters. If the feature or attribute doesn’t exist then no big deal. However, if it does exist or it’s not designed properly, then it can create dissatisfaction.  An example explains these best.

• My smart phone example: Too many features can be an example of a Reverse Quality Attribute of a smart phone.  You can view this from a perspective of usability.  If many features are added to a smart phone but it creates an overly complicated user experience due to poor user interface design, then it has resulted in a Reverse Quality experience and customer satisfaction declines.