In this video from Innovation Tutorials, learn how to know your customers better and design products and services for them through the Kano Model.

kano model six sigma

Noriaki Kano, currently Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University and Board Director at Komatsu, Ltd. developed his model in 1984. 

He recognized that customers have conscious requirements and unconscious wants when buying a product or service. The question then becomes, how can we design the products and services that meet their known and perhaps unknown needs and wants?

Dr. Kano describes three main categories of customer requirements. Missing any of these will most likely lead to a product or service that is not as desirable to your customers:

  • Basic Needs (Extreme dissatisfaction if missing. Expected but not usually articulated)
  • Performance Needs (These are the requirements most articulated by customers)
  • Excitement Needs (Extreme satisfaction if there. Not expected or articulated)

The video uses a product example: Fuel Economy for a Car, and a service example: Check-In Time at a Hotel to illustrate these requirement categories.

As time develops, requirements that excite today will eventually become desired performance requirements and later unarticulated basic needs. The video gives several examples of this phenomenon.

The point, therefore, is to continually seek product and service innovation.

In summary, the Kano Model helps teams understand the three main categories of customer requirements, so they can prioritize development efforts and find gaps in market research.

You can view the video below!