The Kano Model is a 1984 customer-satisfaction framework that classifies product features into five categories based on how their presence or absence affects satisfaction. The five categories are Must-have (basic), Performance (one-dimensional), Delighter (attractive), Indifferent, and Reverse. It was developed by Professor Noriaki Kano of the Tokyo University of Science and is used to inform what to build, what to invest in, and what to deliberately ignore. It is one of the older product frameworks still in active use, having survived four decades because the underlying insight (that not all features contribute equally to satisfaction) keeps proving true.
The five categories: Must-haves are basic expectations; their presence cre...