Deep dive: How to nail your product claim

The power of a product claim is undeniable: 80-95% of shoppers make their purchase decisions subconsciously in stores within seconds, and over 2/3 of them do so heavily influenced by claims specifically.

After going over why no claim is universally good in the latest podcast, our top experts explored persistent industry myths, reliable claim testing practices and generally what to keep in mind when navigating the complex shopper context. Check out the full episode for more!

What (not) to do when making a solid product claim

When assessing claims, keep in mind the deep category knowledge and try to understand what matters most for a given product. Sometimes brands look at consumers’ current behavior or what needs changing; for instance, in some categories, consumers may consciously prioritize making a healthier choice. Other times, there is a tension in consumers' lives that the product is positioned to tackle. It is essential to recognize all the influences at the very beginning of the claim development process.

The second step is to prioritize the influences. Brands tend to be very proud of their products (as they should!), and sometimes fall into the trap of trying to communicate everything. Combined with puffery and overstating the truth, claims can have a huge negative impact on consumer purchase decisions. So, say less, achieve more!  

How to mitigate risks with the right research framework

The mixed-method approach is the best way to mitigate risks when selecting your product claims. For example, at EyeSee, validation studies proved that combining Eye tracking with surveys gives 2-3 times more predictivity than surveys alone.

Yes, claims test reports can be notoriously hard to read, but our team visualizes the results by plotting the claims on Relevance or MaxDiff score and Uniqueness simultaneously. By zooming in on these two metrics, brands can get a pretty good insight into which of their claims can make their product stand out.

Is testing claims in a branded context a must?

Another frequent assumption is that respondents must be aware of the brand when the product claims are tested or else the study makes little sense. However, this is not always necessary, as researchers often purposefully conduct blind tests to get a less biased idea of whether the claim works.

Well-loved, reputable brands are known to cloud judgments of claims’ believability in the sense that it is much harder to see whether any claims are ‘objectively’ vague and insufficiently substantiated. Thus, to test claims which focus on important innovation or feature, you could consider going “unbranded" to get a clearer picture of your perceived communication.

In unbranded tests, you can still tackle how the claims align with a brand by revealing the brand and asking about the claims’ brand fit in the end survey.

Sandra Stojanovic (Brand and Communications Director at EyeSee), Tara Tesanovic (shopper expert and insights Manager at EyeSee) and Nicole Tudosie (New business development Director at EyeSee), explained how to approach developing a product claim – check put the full episode for more!