Analyzing Dynamic Change in Customer Requirements: An Approach Using Review-Based Kano Analysis

Abstract

To seek sustainable product development, understanding customer requirements is critically important where the life cycle of products or services is so fast, and continuous updates should be provided. In particular, how a customer feels for the specific function of the product/service and how their needs have changed is a critical question. According to Kano model dynamics, customer requirements for certain functions change over time, because customers firstly feel attracted to the new service characteristics but come to take them for granted over time. However, previous research on proving this theory has relied on customer surveys and interviews, which are highly time-consuming and expensive. In response, this study suggests customer review-based analysis to investigate Kano model dynamics, because customer reviews can be considered to be excellent sources for reflecting customer needs. This study firstly categorizes customer reviews into two types—positive reviews and supplementation-required reviews—and suggests a five-section framework according to the frequency of each review type. We define characteristics of each section from the perspective of the Kano model. Based on this framework, we analyze the dynamics of customer requirements in the online businesses, for which customer reviews are the main indicator of service quality.