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Kano Model Tool
Sort feature ideas by how having them, and not having them, changes how satisfied customers feel. Find the basics that fail, the ideas worth ranking and the ones nobody would notice.
This tool also runs as a stage in a playbook, which takes you through several tools in order:
- Prioritize product features Stage 2 of 5: which features matter, and how? Start at stage 1
Not following the playbook?
The ideas to sort
One feature idea per line, in words a customer would understand. Up to 40. For each, say whether the product has it today.
Add ideas
Why "today" matters
An idea customers expect (a must-be) that the product already has but gets wrong is a broken basic. It goes into the release first, ahead of the ranking. One that works today needs no ranking; one that's missing has to be built.
Your ideas never leave your browser
Ideas and answers stay on your computer and in your progress file. To write the diagnosis, only the number of ideas in each category is sent to our server. How it works
How would customers feel?
For each idea, enter the answer most customers give to two questions: how they would feel if the product had it, and if it didn't. The category follows from the pair.
- Best: ask customers in a short survey, and enter the most common answer to each question.
- Quick: answer as a team, the way you expect customers would, from calls, tickets and sales. Check the ideas the ranking will lean on with customers later.
Plan the survey: the questions, ready to paste
- Use the five answers exactly as written, in the same order, for every question.
- Ask customers who fit the job from stage 1. Twenty or more answers give a firm result.
- Keep it to about 20 ideas or fewer: each one is two questions.
How the two answers give a category
Each idea, sorted
What happens to each idea
Save your progress
Download your progress file to continue from this point any time, on any computer: choose it under "Coming back?" at the start of the tool. Each new file includes everything so far, including the earlier stages when they are connected, so keep the latest one. Your work stays in this browser only until you close it.
Not saved yet.
Take your results with you
A PDF of each idea's answers, its category and what happens to it next.
About the tool
Why it exists
Not every feature pleases customers the same way
The Kano Model sorts features into five categories by how their presence, and their absence, change how satisfied people feel: must-be basics that nobody praises but everyone misses, one-dimensional features where more is better, attractive ones that surprise, indifferent ones nobody would notice, and reverse ones some would rather not have.
Its most useful finding is a basic the product fails today. That goes into the next release ahead of everything else, rather than being ranked against new features. This tool works on its own, and as stage 2 of our playbook for prioritizing product features, where it starts from the ideas that serve the customer's job in stage 1. For the method, see our guide to the Kano Model.
The method
How the tool works
Two questions for each idea. How would you feel if the product had it? How would you feel if it didn't? Each is answered on the same five-point scale, from "I'd like it" to "I'd dislike it". The standard Kano table turns the two answers into a category.
Where the answers come from. You enter the answer most customers give to each question. The best source is a short customer survey; the tool writes the questions for you to paste. On the fast track, the team answers the way it expects customers would. The tool sorts either the same way.
Some customers only. An idea that matters to one kind of customer, such as exporters, can be marked "only for" them. Enter the answers that group gives. It goes on, and its reach in the ranking is that group, not every customer.
What happens next. Broken basics are fixed first; missing basics are built; one-dimensional and attractive ideas go on to be ranked; indifferent and reverse ones are dropped.
What leaves your computer. Ideas and answers stay in your browser and your progress file. To write the diagnosis, the page sends our server only the number of ideas in each category and their place in the list, and the server keeps nothing.