The Impact of Customer's Emotion upon Product Features with Kansei Engineering Approach

Despite the intense competitions to increase the quality, live up to the expectations of the customers, and decrease the costs, nowadays manufacturers need to design and make products in which customer’s real emotions and feelings should be taken into account. Paying due attention to customer’s feelings about the product, Kansei engineering is one of the most appropriate methods to improve the quality of product and customer’s satisfaction. In addition to introducing Kansei engineering and its relevant techniques, this paper was aimed at translating feelings and emotional impacts on the design parameters. Reviewing the literature through interviewing Merident Toothpaste customers, 83 Kansei words representing customer’s feelings about the product were identified. After screening, 23 words influencing customer’s feelings were divided into three parts including natural features, apparel ones, and controllable factors in order to obtain more rational coefficients of importance in ANP method. Using ANP and DIMATEL methods, then the Kansei words were graded by the experts of organization; consequently, natural features were considered more important. Employing ANP method in the next step, Merident Toothpaste was compared with the similar products manufactured by 3 main competitors to investigate the advantages and disadvantages with respect to the opinions of customers. Eventually, the final weight and importance of criteria were determined.