How to choose features for your application: use the Kano model
So, you have conceived to make a product. Not a project, but a product, which in X months should appear in the stores and begin its movement to the stars. You are confident in your abilities and knowledge, and the number of new ideas that can turn into a real killer features, just rolls over. It's time to say “stop!” And figure out what should be included with your very first release version.
After you have painted all the characteristics of the future product, it is necessary to determine the development priorities. The first desire is to rank by complexity of implementation. It is logical, especially if the resource is limited - it makes no sense to build the “Titanic”, when for the first overcoming of the Rubicon you just need a smart and stable boat. Following the precepts of customer development, in the future you will only increase the functionality: the main thing is not to miss the architecture.
So, make a smart boat. But the choice is still not easy - even from relatively simple parts you need to determine the set that will be your release candidate. And here you will come to the aid of a model that the Japanese scientist Noriaki Kano invented in the 70s of the last century. On “Habré” there was already a text about using its model for solving UX problems . This approach is quite applicable to the product functions - after all, they are also responsible for the emotional reactions of consumers. Kano suggested that there are five types of such reactions: from total hostility to downright admiration. The Japanese set out these types on one graph, where on the vertical axis the user's emotional reaction is displayed (dislike is admiration), and on the horizontal axis - the “quantitative” value of the characteristic (no - many).
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Types of product characteristics. Image from fdfgroup.ru
Opinions differ on how much of all types of characteristics worth highlighting. The most common option - three, less popular - five. To begin with - about each of them with examples from the field of mobile products.
1. Attractive. Your killer features. Nobody has them at the moment (perhaps someone just hasn’t put emphasis on this characteristic). While there are no such characteristics in the product, the user is not worried, he just does not know what could be so cool.
Examples: Snapchat is a disappearing message, Twitter has a mobile update at the start of the project, and Candy Crash Saga has a new form of socialization.
2. One-dimensional. Linear dependence. If the characteristics are few - this is bad, if many - good.
Example: Download speed of the first active screen. The faster a person will wait for the end of rotational movements of various kinds of “gears” as a symbol of what the “application thinks”, the better his emotional reaction will be. It is no coincidence that now many “hide” the main content in the “resume”, putting the user negative for later. Controversial decision.
3. Required. "This is not discussed, baby." All your competitors have this characteristic and, more importantly, it is also expected by your users in your product.
Example: Message status notification in messengers - “Delivered”, “Read”. Should I exclude this option from your IM? We doubt. Like the option of a visible window for entering text. Also standard.
4. Unimportant. Nobody cares. There is a characteristic, there is none - it does not please anyone, but it does not irritate either. Increasing its quantitative indicators or reducing, you will not get any effect. Well visible during A / B testing.
Example: “Authors” section inside the application (not to be confused with the preloader, which is rather a mandatory feature: nobody likes noname products). Your vanity is of little concern to the user, of course, if you do not throw out the list of project participants on the first screen.
5. Unwanted. “Take it away, immediately.” Most often, these options are very useful to you as a developer, but enrage users.
Example: We refer to such “pay or leave” hard blockers. There is a popular solution in the form of “Sell a friend” - look at the relatively recent example of Jelly Splash from Wooga. Another option is the “weight” of the application in megabytes. Although this characteristic can be attributed to one-dimensional, only with the note "the less - the better."
- Do not take the current type of characteristic as static. Everything is changing. The fact that today is your highlight, tomorrow will be the standard of the market. Always review feature status. Even undesirable ones can change their status, for example, after removing technical restrictions.
- Unimportant and undesirable characteristics are often removed from the list of types. You decide. In any case, the characteristics of the first three types should be given key attention during development.
- Clearly share the emotional attitude to the characteristics - yours and your users. Who will be easier from the fact that “the genius was not understood”? In the book “Waltzing with Bears,” Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister argue that the choice of versions for the early stages of delivery is based on two criteria: customer value and confirmation of hypotheses about possible risks. The first is about you, the second is about your users.
- Do not guess, check. To do this, there are focus groups, A / B tests and legendary soft launch on a small audience that is most relevant to your target. The main thing is to clearly put a hypothesis and not to allow mixing of variables.
- Analyze competitors - and do not say “we have no competitors”. There may be a product on the market that is similar to yours. Compete not “with whom”, but “for what”. Understand what your audience needs that uses other products. Subscribe via appbot or any other similar service for all reviews on competing applications. A lot of information for reflection, continuous emotions!
Let's try to conduct a small analysis of the characteristics of the example of Jelly Splash. In our opinion, the game is an example of successful cloning. Taking the simple linear story from the Candy Crush Saga hit with the involvement of the social graph, wooga confirmed the attractiveness of this characteristic. But the very use of a social graph through an actively promoted Facebook account connection is a one-dimensional characteristic. The user can see friends on the timeline - through their achieved levels, long-term player goals are enhanced. With the help of friends, the player will be able to unblock the transition to a new location or to receive “energy”: the absence of rigid “pay or leave” blockers has become another mandatory feature of modern games. The results of friends at each specific level are their third use within the product, affecting medium-term goals. Total: the more often and more naturally the social graph is used, the better.
It is necessary to attribute the cross-platform game to the required characteristics - with the same authorization through Facebook, you can save progress on iPhone, iPad and Facebook. The author of the popular blog Deconstructor of fun (link www.deconstructoroffun.com/2013/08/how-jelly-splash-beats-candy-crush-saga.html ) writes about how the clone differs from the original: - - currency and removed the possibility of direct purchase of content or consumables.
marketnotes.ru/marketing-research/kano-method - Using Kano's model on the example of the TV remote.
www.fdfgroup.ru/?id=281 - Detailed article on how to determine the type of a particular characteristic by interviewing users. An interesting addition in the form of segmentation of your audience.
lookback.io - Service records user behavior in a mobile application in a video.
www.appprivacy.net - Privacy Policy Generator for your mobile application. This is a mandatory feature, not going anywhere.
mockuphone.com - View mocaps on mobile phone screen emulators
www.yozio.com - Using the address book as a channel of virality.
After you have painted all the characteristics of the future product, it is necessary to determine the development priorities. The first desire is to rank by complexity of implementation. It is logical, especially if the resource is limited - it makes no sense to build the “Titanic”, when for the first overcoming of the Rubicon you just need a smart and stable boat. Following the precepts of customer development, in the future you will only increase the functionality: the main thing is not to miss the architecture.
So, make a smart boat. But the choice is still not easy - even from relatively simple parts you need to determine the set that will be your release candidate. And here you will come to the aid of a model that the Japanese scientist Noriaki Kano invented in the 70s of the last century. On “Habré” there was already a text about using its model for solving UX problems . This approach is quite applicable to the product functions - after all, they are also responsible for the emotional reactions of consumers. Kano suggested that there are five types of such reactions: from total hostility to downright admiration. The Japanese set out these types on one graph, where on the vertical axis the user's emotional reaction is displayed (dislike is admiration), and on the horizontal axis - the “quantitative” value of the characteristic (no - many).
')
Types of product characteristics. Image from fdfgroup.ru
Kano Characteristic Types
Opinions differ on how much of all types of characteristics worth highlighting. The most common option - three, less popular - five. To begin with - about each of them with examples from the field of mobile products.
1. Attractive. Your killer features. Nobody has them at the moment (perhaps someone just hasn’t put emphasis on this characteristic). While there are no such characteristics in the product, the user is not worried, he just does not know what could be so cool.
Examples: Snapchat is a disappearing message, Twitter has a mobile update at the start of the project, and Candy Crash Saga has a new form of socialization.
2. One-dimensional. Linear dependence. If the characteristics are few - this is bad, if many - good.
Example: Download speed of the first active screen. The faster a person will wait for the end of rotational movements of various kinds of “gears” as a symbol of what the “application thinks”, the better his emotional reaction will be. It is no coincidence that now many “hide” the main content in the “resume”, putting the user negative for later. Controversial decision.
3. Required. "This is not discussed, baby." All your competitors have this characteristic and, more importantly, it is also expected by your users in your product.
Example: Message status notification in messengers - “Delivered”, “Read”. Should I exclude this option from your IM? We doubt. Like the option of a visible window for entering text. Also standard.
4. Unimportant. Nobody cares. There is a characteristic, there is none - it does not please anyone, but it does not irritate either. Increasing its quantitative indicators or reducing, you will not get any effect. Well visible during A / B testing.
Example: “Authors” section inside the application (not to be confused with the preloader, which is rather a mandatory feature: nobody likes noname products). Your vanity is of little concern to the user, of course, if you do not throw out the list of project participants on the first screen.
5. Unwanted. “Take it away, immediately.” Most often, these options are very useful to you as a developer, but enrage users.
Example: We refer to such “pay or leave” hard blockers. There is a popular solution in the form of “Sell a friend” - look at the relatively recent example of Jelly Splash from Wooga. Another option is the “weight” of the application in megabytes. Although this characteristic can be attributed to one-dimensional, only with the note "the less - the better."
How to use it
- Do not take the current type of characteristic as static. Everything is changing. The fact that today is your highlight, tomorrow will be the standard of the market. Always review feature status. Even undesirable ones can change their status, for example, after removing technical restrictions.
- Unimportant and undesirable characteristics are often removed from the list of types. You decide. In any case, the characteristics of the first three types should be given key attention during development.
- Clearly share the emotional attitude to the characteristics - yours and your users. Who will be easier from the fact that “the genius was not understood”? In the book “Waltzing with Bears,” Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister argue that the choice of versions for the early stages of delivery is based on two criteria: customer value and confirmation of hypotheses about possible risks. The first is about you, the second is about your users.
- Do not guess, check. To do this, there are focus groups, A / B tests and legendary soft launch on a small audience that is most relevant to your target. The main thing is to clearly put a hypothesis and not to allow mixing of variables.
- Analyze competitors - and do not say “we have no competitors”. There may be a product on the market that is similar to yours. Compete not “with whom”, but “for what”. Understand what your audience needs that uses other products. Subscribe via appbot or any other similar service for all reviews on competing applications. A lot of information for reflection, continuous emotions!
All types of characteristics on the example of one game
Let's try to conduct a small analysis of the characteristics of the example of Jelly Splash. In our opinion, the game is an example of successful cloning. Taking the simple linear story from the Candy Crush Saga hit with the involvement of the social graph, wooga confirmed the attractiveness of this characteristic. But the very use of a social graph through an actively promoted Facebook account connection is a one-dimensional characteristic. The user can see friends on the timeline - through their achieved levels, long-term player goals are enhanced. With the help of friends, the player will be able to unblock the transition to a new location or to receive “energy”: the absence of rigid “pay or leave” blockers has become another mandatory feature of modern games. The results of friends at each specific level are their third use within the product, affecting medium-term goals. Total: the more often and more naturally the social graph is used, the better.
It is necessary to attribute the cross-platform game to the required characteristics - with the same authorization through Facebook, you can save progress on iPhone, iPad and Facebook. The author of the popular blog Deconstructor of fun (link www.deconstructoroffun.com/2013/08/how-jelly-splash-beats-candy-crush-saga.html ) writes about how the clone differs from the original: - - currency and removed the possibility of direct purchase of content or consumables.
Related Links
marketnotes.ru/marketing-research/kano-method - Using Kano's model on the example of the TV remote.
www.fdfgroup.ru/?id=281 - Detailed article on how to determine the type of a particular characteristic by interviewing users. An interesting addition in the form of segmentation of your audience.
lookback.io - Service records user behavior in a mobile application in a video.
www.appprivacy.net - Privacy Policy Generator for your mobile application. This is a mandatory feature, not going anywhere.
mockuphone.com - View mocaps on mobile phone screen emulators
www.yozio.com - Using the address book as a channel of virality.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/198726/
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