Claims Testing Guide

Highlight enables fast, defensible claims testing with clearly defined methodologies, customized testing protocols, built-in quality controls, and transparent documentation.

The result: claims you can stand behind with confidence! This guide walks through what claims testing is, how to design a strong claims test, and how to write a survey that substantiates the claims you want to make. It’s designed for product research, sensory science, and consumer insights teams who need results that are both actionable and defensible.

What is Claims Testing

Claims testing evaluates whether consumer-facing statements about a product can be objectively supported by data. These statements often appear in marketing, packaging, or advertising and must stand up to internal scrutiny, regulatory standards, and legal review.

A well-designed claims test helps you:

• Validate that your product delivers on its promises
• Reduce legal and regulatory risk
• Build consumer trust and confidence
• Decide which claims are strong enough to take to market

At its core, claims testing answers a simple question: Can we prove this claim using consumer data?

How to Design a Claims Test

1. Define the Exact Claim

Start by clearly articulating the claim you want to substantiate. Claims should be specific, consumer-facing, and testable.

Examples:

• “Tastes better than the leading brand”
• “Preferred by 7 out of 10 consumers”
• “New and improved texture”

Avoid vague or compound claims that are difficult to measure in a single study. Your legal team will typically request to approve any claims that will be tested with consumers for the purposes of identifying which claims are strong enough to take to market.

2. Classify the Claim Type

Understanding the claim type determines both study design and survey questions.

Value / Perceptual Claims - Focus on overall experience, preference, or sensory perception

• Examples: “Tastes great,” “Most refreshing,” “New and improved”.

Comparative/Preference Claims - Compare your product to another product or benchmark

• Examples: “Preferred over Brand X,” “Costs less but tastes just as good”

Note: Efficacy Claims, or those that assert that a product successfully produces its promised results, are proven through scientific testing in ideal conditions (like clinical trials) to achieve a specific, desired outcome, such as reducing symptoms, killing germs, or improving skin health. Highlight is not able to test claims of this nature.

3. Design the Study

Highlight Best Practices

• Product Trial: Test the product exactly as consumers would normally use it
• Blinded Testing: Blind products unless brand awareness is essential to the claim
• Sample Size: Aim for N=250 to report at a 95% confidence level
• Audience: Minimize targeting; use age and gender quotas aligned to U.S. Census data
• Monadic vs Sequential Design & Action Standards:
  • Value / Perceptual Claims are typically tested monadically (meaning the consumer only rates 1 product and 1 set of claims associated with that product) since more than 1 product tested in a sequential design would bias the ratings. For monadic claims, typically 80%+ affirmative agreement is required at 95% confidence to validate the claim.
  • Comparative/Preference Claims are tested sequentially since the claim is meant to compare products against each other. Preference between two products must be statistically significant at 95% confidence.

Writing a Claims Test Survey

Claims surveys should be focused, concise, and purpose-built. Every question should directly support substantiation - no extras!

Survey Design Guidelines

• Keep surveys short and highly targeted
• Minimize or eliminate open-ended questions
• Use consistent scales across attributes
• Ensure wording is neutral and does not bias respondents toward a desired outcome
• Ensure all wording can be defended if reviewed externally

Question Types to Use by Claim Type

What to avoid

• Adding diagnostic or exploratory questions to your survey that could contradict claim measures
• Mixing claims testing with general concept or discovery research; claims surveys should be focused on just the claims!

4. Analyzing and Reporting Results

When reviewing claims test results, Highlight recommends you:

• Confirm the study design aligns with the claim requirements
• Validate statistical significance at the 95% confidence level
• Use clear tables and charts to show substantiation

Objective documentation is often critical for: Internal compliance, Legal review, Long-term claim reuse

Legal & Compliance Considerations

Claims testing for advertising must follow stricter standards than general market research (e.g., ASTM guidelines). Legal teams should approve:

• The claim wording
• Methodology
• Sample size
• Audience definition
• Product handling and fidelity

Nothing in this guide constitutes legal advice. Independent legal counsel should always review claims prior to market use.

Please reference Highlight’s Terms of Service for specifics related to our Claims Testing Indemnification Clause.

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