Kano Analysis

Kano Analysis - Kano analysis is a quality measurement tool used to prioritize customer requirements based on their impact to customer satisfaction.

Kano analysis is a quality measurement tool which is used to determine which requirements are important. All identified requirements may not be of equal importance to all customers. Kano analysis can help you rank requirements for different customers to determine which have the highest priority.

Kano analysis is a tool which can be used to classify and prioritize customer needs. This is useful because customer needs are not all of the same kind, not all have the same importance, and are different for different populations. The results can be used to prioritize your effort in satisfying different customers.

Note that the Kano model can be used to help identify customer segments, based on the relative prioity of each segment's requirements. Once segments have been defined, using both needs analysis and more tradition criteria such as gender, company size, etc., the Kano model can be re-applied to each segment to further defined the segment's priorities.

Briefly, Kano (a Japanese researcher), stated that there are four types of customer needs, or reactions to product characteristics / attributes:

   1. The 'Surprise & Delight' factors. These really make your product stand out from the others. Example, a passenger jet that could take off vertically.
   2. The 'More is Better'. E.g. a jet airliner that uses a little less fuel than the competition.
   3. The 'must be' things. Without this, you'll never sell the product. E.g. A jet airliner that cannot meet airport noise regulations.
   4. Finally, there are the 'dissatisfiers', the things that cause your customers not to like your product. E.g. a jet airliner that is uncomfortable to ride in.

[Category=Data Quality ]

Source: iSixSigma, 29 January 2011 10:21:04, https:web.archive.org/web/20111109014246/http:www.isixsigma.com/index.php?option=com_glossary