Why I like the Kano model for building innovative products.

To succeed, innovative products must be significantly better than the existing competition. To get people to change their behaviour, your product needs to have something truly different and exciting.

However, your product must still include the most basic features that your users expect.

For example, the most innovative fitness-tracking app on the market will gain very little traction if it doesn’t include a heart rate monitor. This is a basic requirement for every fitness-tracking app.

This is why I like to use the Kano Model to prioritise my work when building innovative products.

By working with your users, you place your features into 5 different categories.

1. Basic Needs

2. Satisfiers

3. Delighters

4. Indifferent

5. Dissatisfaction

Basic Needs

Without these features, your users would be highly dissatisfied with your product. These are the highest-priority features to build. However, you want to keep them to a minimum, as the return for building these features will diminish over time.

Satisfiers

These are the kinds of features your users will expect to see, but they won’t make or break your product. The more you spend on them, the happier your customers will be - but they won’t differentiate you from the competition. Unfortunately, many of us pat ourselves on the back for building these features, because we are getting a positive return for our efforts, but then we wonder why we aren’t achieving the massive growth we really want.

Delighters

These are the solutions that will differentiate you from the current competition. This is where the real innovation lies, and the growth you are looking for. Prioritise these above Satisfiers.

Indifferent and Dissatisfaction

These are the features that the user feels indifferent towards, or they generate dissatisfaction. For obvious reasons, try to stay away from them. However, sometimes they can’t be avoided. For example, no one likes CAPTCHA, but for many sites, it is a necessity.

In summary:

1. Prioritise the Basic Needs, but try to keep them to a minimum.

2. Beware of the Satisfiers, as they won’t differentiate you from the current competition.

3. Prioritise the Delighters, as this is where the innovation lies and the real growth.

4. Unless absolutely necessary, avoid the Indifferent and Dissatisfaction features.      

P.S. I also love the Kano model because it emphasises the importance of understanding the impact of your features on the end users (outcome-driven vs feature-driven).