Kano Model

Kano Analysis, Kano-Modell, Customer Satisfaction Model

Customer satisfaction is not the simple inverse of dissatisfaction — they are two separate axes (presence/absence of a feature × resulting satisfaction)

Every feature falls into one of five classes that map differently onto the satisfaction curve

Expected baseline — absence causes strong dissatisfaction, presence is taken for granted and earns no credit (e.g., car has wheels, app does not lose data)

Satisfaction grows roughly linearly with how well the feature is delivered (e.g., fuel efficiency, response time, battery life)

Unexpected — absence causes no dissatisfaction, presence delights and differentiates (e.g., a thoughtful onboarding gesture, a surprising shortcut)

Customer does not care either way — flag for cost reduction

Presence actually causes dissatisfaction for the target segment — flag for removal or segmentation

For each candidate feature, ask the user two paired questions: "How would you feel if this feature were present?" and "How would you feel if it were absent?". The cross-tab of answers maps the feature to one of the five categories

Categories migrate over time. Today’s Delighter becomes tomorrow’s Performer and eventually a Must-be as the market matures (mobile camera, HTTPS, dark mode)

Noriaki Kano (Tokyo University of Science), originally published in 1984 in the Japanese journal Hinshitsu ("Quality")

Developed in the context of Japanese quality management, alongside Total Quality Management and the Kaizen movement; widely adopted in product management, UX research, and requirements engineering since the late 1990s.