Customer Satisfaction Model
(Kano)

Measuring client happiness. Explanation of Customer Satisfaction Model of Kano. ('84)

Kano customer satisfaction model

What is the customer satisfaction model? Description

The customer satisfaction model from N. Kano is a quality management and marketing technique that can be used for measuring client happiness.

 

Kano's model of customer satisfaction distinguishes six categories of quality attributes, from which the first three actually influence customer satisfaction:

  1. Basic Factors. (Dissatisfiers. Must have.) - The minimum requirements which will cause dissatisfaction if they are not fulfilled, but do not cause customer satisfaction if they are fulfilled (or are exceeded). The customer regards these as prerequisites and takes these for granted. Basic factors establish a market entry 'threshold'.
  2. Excitement Factors. (Satisfiers. Attractive.) - The factors that increase customer satisfaction if delivered but do not cause dissatisfaction if they are not delivered. These factors surprise the customer and generate 'delight'. Using these factors, a company can really distinguish itself from its competitors in a positive way.
  3. Performance Factors. The factors that cause satisfaction if the performance is high, and they cause dissatisfaction if the performance is low. Here, the attribute performance-overall satisfaction is linear and symmetric. Typically these factors are directly connected to customers' explicit needs and desires and a company should try to be competitive here.

The additional three attributes which Kano mentions are:

  1. Indifferent attributes. The customer does not care about this feature.
  2. Questionable attributes. It is unclear whether this attribute is expected by the customer.
  3. Reverse attributes. The reverse of this product feature was expected by the customer.
     

Origin of the customer satisfaction model. History

The approach towards analyzing customer satisfaction was first published in an article by KANO, N. SERAKU, N., TAKAHASHI, F. & TSUJI, S. (1984) Attractive quality and must-be quality, Hinshitsu (Quality, the Journal of Japanese Society for Quality Control), 14, pp. 39-48.

 

Usage of the customer satisfaction model. Applications

Besides the obvious quality management and marketing usage, Kurt Matzler, Matthias Fuchs and Astrid Schubert wonder in their article "Employee Satisfaction: Does Kano's Model Apply?" (Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, November-December 2004) whether Kano's model on customer satisfaction factors is also relevant to describe employee satisfaction. Since employees can be perceived as internal customers. They reach the conclusion that Kano's theory is indeed useable for internal customers analysis as well.

 

Steps in the customer satisfaction model. Process

Kano developed a questionnaire to identify the basic, performance and excitement factors as well as the other three additional factors.

  1. For each product feature a pair of questions is formulated to which the customer can answer in one of five different ways.
  2. The first question concerns the reaction of the customer if the product shows that feature (functional question);
  3. The second question concerns the reaction of the customer if the product does NOT show this feature (dysfunctional question).
  4. By combining the answers all attributes can be classified into the six factors.

 

Customer Satisfaction Model Special Interest Group


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Customer Satisfaction Model Forum

Recent User Comments
L.K.Gupta - India Adressing unarticulated Needs of Customers "Adressing unarticulated needs of clients in addition to basic needs is key. This can be done by unobstructed observations, not by questioners surveys."    1
Julio Garcia - Argentina Valid for HR Recruitment also "The same model could be applied by HR to recruit and mantain the best talents in you company."    1
Dawit Melak - Ethiopia Customer satisfaction and service quality "Where does the relationship b/n customer level of satisfaction and service quality lie? Is the model applicable to educational institution?"    0
Dharmesh - India Generic Customer Satisfaction "As far as I know, every customer is different. How can we design a model which has a more generic approach irrespective of demographic and geographic differences?"    0
Imtiaz - India Kano Model Software "What kind of software do you require to work on a CSM survey using Kano's model?"    7
Best User Comments
Manwel - Lebanon Example FMCG and B2B business "Who can give an example of these 3 factors in the FMCG and B2B business. What are the basic factors, the excitement and the performance factors...? Thank you"    20
Maria Garcia S. - Perù Kano Oversight "Satisfaction is a multifunctional definition that has two main components: Functional and Emotional. The first one is related to performance, and emotional to a perception and correlated to a value proposition and branding."    9
Pranjal - India Risks associated with Excitement Factor "I strongly agree that the excitement factors delight the customer but with the passage of time these factors no longer hold the surprise factor. In fact this becomes a normal expectation by the customer and if a service provider fails to imitate this in its performance this can lead to dissatisfaction as well."    3
Rajkumar Baral - Nepal Emotions and Actions "According to Kano theory there are two components: EMOTIONS and ACTIONS. In the service industry (banking, hotels), if the exitement from experiencing the product does not meet previous standards, then that customer will be dissatified."    2
Sudip - Nepal Valid for Products and Services "Of course, Kano's theory can be applied to both PRODUCTS and SERVICES sectors."    2
Rudy - Belgium Assumptions of the Kano Model "Note that the model by Kano is aimed at finding the average appreciation of certain quality factors in a representative group at a moment in time when the questionnaires are collected.
There could be valuable customers with a different profile as well. This may require a seperate marketing effort.
You'd better make sure the interrogated group is representative...
The classification of and the happiness about certain attributes may change dramatically, even in a short time period."
   1

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