Employing the Kano model for user research is yet another service employed by UX design agencies. But what are the advantages of using this method? Why should your business care about investing time and money into this before the actual development process can begin?
In this article, you will learn more about what benefits the Kano model can bring your business!
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Kano model – Advantages and uses in user experience design
The Kano model’s main advantage is the same as that of the whole UX process: improving customer satisfaction. It is part of the research phase of larger UX projects. Companies like Ergomania UX agency use the Kano model to help other companies learn more about the priorities of their potential customers.
Customer satisfaction is one of the main factors in any business’s success, regardless of the industry you work in. No company can survive and grow if it cannot meet the needs of its user base. If you can not only meet, but exceed the expectations of the market, that is when you can truly set yourself apart from the competition and build a loyal customer base.
Another advantage of using the Kano model is that it doesn’t just show how important a certain feature can be in improving the satisfaction of your customers. It also shows how much you invested (or need to invest) in that specific feature to achieve the desired result.
The Kano model is ideal for identifying the priorities of your customers regarding a certain product or service. It is another way UX agencies help you discover what your users really want and not fall behind your competitors. Combined with the data about how much investment is required on your part, a UX agency can also help you identify the aspects that can bring the best potential returns on your investment, and which areas would be a waste of time and money.
The Kano model’s advantages in the UX development process
Thorough research lays a strong basis for designing your user experience. Without relevant data about what your users want and don’t want, how else would you be able to create a digital product that is in line with their expectations? Your efforts are much more likely to pay off if the UX process isn’t simply based on your assumptions about what your user base needs.
That is where the advantages of the Kano model lie – providing a clear and unambiguous input to facilitate the development process.
These are the 5 main customer priorities that can be identified with this research method:
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Must-have
The most basic category that all businesses must strive to adjust their products and services to. Meeting the minimum expectations of your users is, well, the minimum you can do. Not investing in these is simply not an option. What you also have to understand, is that developing these aspects of your product or service won’t net you a great effect on satisfaction, as customers will expect these by default.
No hotel can expect great reviews for having running water in their rooms. But they CAN expect serious complaints if residents can’t wash their hands or take a shower.
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Indifferent
As previously mentioned, the advantage of using the Kano model isn’t just about identifying areas that are worth investing in. It’s also about discovering which aspects are only a waste of company resources.
This is one of the prime examples of those areas. This category encompasses all features that don’t cause any improvement or decrease in the satisfaction level of your customers. In short: they don’t care whether you provide it or not.
For example, people might not see the advantage of a bank providing hairdresser services while they wait in line (but of course, this is only an assumption based on no actual research).
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Performance
No real dilemma inunderstanding this category. Any feature that is related to the performance of a product can be easily compared with other similar products. The more you invest in these, the greater effect you can expect on customer satisfaction.
For example, people tend to prefer bigger burgers (or low-carb keto meals depending on your user base), faster cars, older wines, and so on.
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Reverse
Another area not worth investing in. To be more precise, these are the features you should avoid at all costs, as they result in a clear decrease in customer satisfaction. Not only would you be wasting time and money, but you would also drive away potential customers. As this can also be highly subjective based on your target group and industry, all the more reason not to make any baseless assumptions about features that are considered to be outdated in your case.
An example would be companies reducing the size of a can of beer – people may be more prepared to deal with an increase in the price instead of a decrease in portion.
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Attractiveness
This is where you can make the biggest difference in improving customer satisfaction. Any investment in this category is the most likely to yield the greatest results since these are features your customers don’t expect you to implement but are all the happier when they can finally use them. Sometimes it’s a grandiose innovation, and sometimes it’s simply something no one took the time to research before.
Whatever the case, you can definitely bring the best out of the advantages of the Kano model by working with the right UX agency.
