Use the Kano Model to Delight Your Customers

On a blog I read regularly, the question was asked, "Is 'Surprise' the only way to drive Customer loyalty?" Here's my response to that timely and provocative question.

“Surprise” can be either good, bad, or neutral – it’s simply the appearance of the unexpected. (That’s why the question in the title is probably more appropriate to the discussion.) It’s rarely a good thing to “surprise” a Customer – especially in today’s economic climate. In general, it’s probably safer and better to be consistent and reliable. Customers today want to know with some certainty what they’re getting into. Being inconsistent (i.e., surprising them) does not signal stability and does not build trust and confidence.

Dr. Noriaki Kano and others published Attractive Quality and Must-Be Quality which outlined the Kano Model. It explains, for the first time, the relationship between physical fulfillment and user satisfaction. (See Diagram)

Kano identifies five distinct categories which affect ultimate user satisfaction. They are:

1.  Must-Be elements – absolutely expected; taken for granted when fulfilled, but which produce dissatisfaction when not fulfilled.

2.  One-Dimensional elements – these result in satisfaction when fulfilled and in dissatisfaction when not fulfilled. These have also been identified as “more is better” or “linear” elements.

3.  Indifferent elements – these result in neither satisfaction nor dissatisfaction, regardless of whether they are fulfilled or not. In other words, the Customer just doesn’t care.

4. Attractive elements – when fulfilled, these provide satisfaction, but when hot fulfilled, are acceptable (or not even noticed). These have been called “Delighters.”

5. Reverse elements – these result in dissatisfaction when fulfilled and satisfaction when not fulfilled.

Strategic Application of the Kano Model

1. Must-Be elements are minimum requirements – the “table stakes” – that any offer must meet to be considered competitive. Strategic implications: As long as the offer meets competitive parity, there’s not much value in improving them. Beyond the entry threshold, Customers are not interested in “better.” 

2. One-Dimensional elements – the strategic aim is to be “slightly better” than the competition in this category. If “more is better,” then Customers will prefer “a little more” than they can get elsewhere. Note that this dimension can also be viewed in the reverse: “Less is better” when it comes to price, for example.

3. Indifferent elements – Don’t bother with these unless they are required by regulation or compliance standards. In the beginning, for example, most people did not want seat belts. They simply didn’t care whether they were present or not. It took legislation (plus a ton of consumer education) to require both installation and use of this important safety feature.

4. Attractive elements – This is the most exciting category for most businesses. Here is where we can find elements that produce joy (delight) and preference (the “surprisingly good”) from our Customers – but there’s no penalty for not including them! So our job is to research our Customers to find one or a few “things they really want but cannot find” and include them in our product or service. This is the primary category which can produce long-term Customer loyalty.

5. Reverse elements produce dissatisfaction when present and satisfaction when not present. One easy illustration is produce in the grocery store when has not been adequately cleaned and prepared for display and sale. Finding debris in the strawberries is clearly a “reverse” element.

It’s worth observing, too, that an attempt to offer an Attractive element that misses the mark can become a Reverse element and produce the opposite reaction than the company intended.

Analysis and Conclusions

This simple yet surprisingly insightful model gives us a clear path to analyze the question, “Can loyalty be created only through “surprisingly” good experiences.”

1.  Meet the competitive standard (plus just a little bit) for Must-Be elements (with a sensitive, clear understanding of your Customers and what they think is “competitive.”

2.  Be “just a little better” than competitors in One-Dimensional (linear) elements. There’s no Customer benefit to be had from trying to be “a lot better” in this category, and there may be a severe cost penalty to you to try to do so.

3.  Ignore Indifferent elements unless they are required by an outside authority.

4.  Invest in research, and (here’s an innovative idea:) Talk With Your Customers!! Find out what they want that they can’t find elsewhere. Take it even one step farther: Watch them actually use your product or service in their own environment. They may not be able to tell you what’s missing, but you might be able to see their frustrations and come up with an elegant solution. Then you have a real Delighter! This is the only category where you might want to try to “surprise” your Customer. But be careful: Be certain that your Delighter actually performs!

5.  Consider a “Failure Modes and Effects Analysis” (FMEA) to anticipate what might go wrong, when and where, and how serious it could be. Take reasonable and prudent steps to avoid inadvertently offering a Reverse element to your Customer.Finally, be sure to look at your business and your offerings from both your own perspective and from your Customer’s point of view — they are different! Just like two diners in a restaurant who sit facing each other have a totally different view of the restaurant, Customers see you through their own (and usually very different) filters.

An easy illustration is the idea of “consistency.” As a business, consistency means “to do things the same way every time.” It means standardization, uniformity, regularity.

But to a Customer, “consistency” means predictability, reliability, certainty — and probably comfort and assurance.

Finally, be sure to look at your business and your offerings from both your own perspective and from your Customer’s point of view — they are different! Just like two diners in a restaurant who sit facing each other have a totally different view of the restaurant, Customers see you through their own (and usually very different) filters.

An easy illustration is the idea of “consistency.” As a business, consistency means “to do things the same way every time.” It means standardization, uniformity, regularity.

But to a Customer, “consistency” means predictability, reliability, certainty — and probably comfort and assurance.