The Power of In-Person Kano Discovery for Measuring Customer Satisfaction and Informing Roadmap Decisions

As a product manager, you're always looking for ways to measure customer satisfaction and make informed decisions about what to add or remove from your roadmap. Kano is a popular method for doing just that. But did you know that conducting Kano discovery in person can be even more powerful than using surveys or other remote methods?

Here are a few reasons why we try to complete Kano in-person:

🥁 People are not used to the functional/dysfunctional question structure

The Kano method involves asking customers a series of questions to determine how important certain features are to them and whether they are satisfied with how those features are currently implemented. This can be confusing for some customers, especially if they're not used to thinking about product features in this way. By conducting Kano discovery in person, you can explain the question structure and give examples as needed to help customers understand how to answer. We even go as far as pulling up our matrix to physically show them where their answers fall when plotted. Visuals always help the conversation! 

🎻 You can observe body language in addition to verbal answers

Sometimes, what people say and what they mean are two different things. By observing body language, you can get a better sense of how customers really feel about certain features and whether they're truly satisfied or just being polite. If they tell you they would like a feature being available that you throw out to them as an option, but you notice them being skittish or hesitating to answer, then you can dig a little deeper. Sometimes that looks like asking clarifying questions, explaining yourself in a different way, or reiterating the reason for the session and the importance of being honest.

🎸 You'll be able to better gauge nuances between features

One of the challenges of the Kano method is differentiating between "nice to have" features and the "could go either way" features. These are the features that are not essential, but customers may still appreciate. By conducting Kano discovery in person, you can ask follow-up questions and clarify responses to get a better sense of which features fall into which category. Clarifying one question may not make or break how you prioritize, but if you take the lack of clarity times 10, 20, 100 customer interviews... you soon will have trouble building out your priorities for the true nice to have features. 

Conclusion

In-person Kano discovery does require more time and effort than other methods, but the benefits are well worth it. By getting a more accurate picture of customer satisfaction and preferences, you can make informed decisions about what to add or remove from your roadmap and ultimately deliver a better product. Evidence based decisions for your product and roadmap will take your success a lot further than assumption based plans.