In today’s competitive digital landscape, understanding what customers truly want and how to prioritise those desires is essential for product success. The Kano Model offers a structured framework that helps product teams identify and prioritise features that will drive customer satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty. At BehindLogin, we often leverage models like Kano to guide product, proposition, and strategy teams towards smarter decisions and enhanced user experiences.
What is the Kano Model?
Developed by Professor Noriaki Kano in the 1980s, the Kano Model categorises product features into five distinct types based on their impact on customer satisfaction. This model helps product managers determine which features to prioritise and invest resources in, considering both the potential benefits and risks.
The five categories are:
- Basic Needs (Must-be Attributes): These are the fundamental features customers expect from a product. If they are absent, customers will be dissatisfied, but meeting these expectations doesn’t necessarily result in increased satisfaction. In a digital banking app, for instance, secure login is a basic need. It’s expected, not celebrated.
- Performance Needs (One-dimensional Attributes): These are features where better performance leads to higher customer satisfaction. The faster a banking app processes a payment, the more satisfied the customer will be. Investing in refining these features can drive direct improvements in customer sentiment.
- Excitement Needs (Attractive Attributes): These are the unexpected “delight” features that customers may not expect but are thrilled to discover. For example, a feature that analyses spending patterns and offers personalised savings tips can set your app apart from competitors, exceeding customer expectations and creating loyal advocates.
- Indifferent Needs: These features neither increase nor decrease customer satisfaction. Understanding which features fall into this category helps product teams avoid wasting resources on functionality that doesn’t matter to customers.
- Reverse Needs: Sometimes, offering too much flexibility or a hands-on approach can deter certain customers, particularly those who prefer automation and want to take a “set it and forget it” approach to their financial products. For instance, in investment apps, some users may be discouraged by too many manual control options, preferring to let their investments grow organically through automation. These users often embrace the philosophy of “time in the market, not timing the market.” Understanding and balancing these preferences is essential to avoid alienating this segment of your customer base.
Applying the Kano Model to Product Management
BehindLogin often works with fintech and financial services companies to sharpen their product offerings. When we collaborate with mobile app product teams, we frequently employ the Kano Model to help guide decision-making, especially around feature design and prioritisation. Here’s how it works:
Understanding User Expectations:
The first step is identifying which features your customers consider basic, performance-driven, or delightful. Through competitor analysis, UX research, and customer interviews, we help teams discern these expectations.
For example, while working with an investing app client, we focused on understanding user needs around ‘Fund selection’. Identifying which features users viewed as must-haves versus those that could be seen as exciting helped us shape their product design. As a result, the company was able to reduce design costs, accelerate time to market, and boost user engagement.
Feature Prioritisation:
Not all features should be given equal attention. By categorising them using the Kano Model, product teams can strategically prioritise where to invest resources. Features that fall under the “Performance” and “Excitement” categories are often worth prioritising because they can lead to measurable user satisfaction and competitive differentiation.
For example, when analysing apps from competitors like Monzo, Nationwide, and Starling, our UX Journey Maps highlighted exciting features like spending insights and alerts. Implementing these could create a unique selling point in their product portfolios.
Kano Model and BehindLogin’s Approach
At BehindLogin, we don’t just offer competitor analysis; we work closely with your product and strategy teams to develop insights that are actionable. The Kano Model aligns with our methodology because it encourages a user-centred approach, which is vital to delivering top-tier digital experiences.
For fintech companies and financial services providers, staying ahead of user expectations means constantly evolving your product. The Kano Model provides clarity on where to innovate and where to focus, helping you optimise both customer satisfaction and resource allocation.
Whether it’s benchmarking your app’s performance against key competitors, guiding feature prioritisation, or refining UX, BehindLogin can partner with you to apply frameworks like the Kano Model to your unique challenges.
