Feature fatigue analysis in product development

Capability and usability are two important dimensions of product quality. A product loaded with more features increases its capability and attractiveness. However, too many features will decrease the product's usability. After using the high-feature product, customers may become dissatisfied with unneeded features and the complexity of the product. This phenomenon is called ‘feature fatigue’ (FF). FF leads to dissatisfaction and negative Word-of-Mouth, which damages the reputation of the product and the firm's long-term profit. In this paper, we propose a novel approach based on Kano's model to alleviate FF. We firstly focus on working out real customer requirements (CRs) by using an improved Kano's model, which takes the imprecision and uncertainty of CRs into account, to reduce unneeded features. Then, a product capability (PC) model, a product usability model and a FF index are proposed to analyse the level of FF of each feature, thus helping designers balance PC and usability. With the proposed approach, designers can get support regarding decisions on how many and what features to add to the product to alleviate FF, thus improving product quality. A case study about mobile phones is presented to illustrate the proposed approach.