Shoppers Embrace Animal Welfare, Earth-Friendly Label Claims

Food isn’t the only consumer packaged goods category where consumers carefully check package claims. The beauty aisle can be just as confusing for consumers to navigate.

It can also be tough for brands, including store brands, to know which messages and claims matter most to consumers — especially as more labels such as “all natural” are crossing over from the food aisles. So which messages resonate?

To find out, Nielsen recently conducted a beauty product claim survey of more than 1,000 adults.

Animals and plants come first

When it comes to claims in the beauty aisle, consumers seem to have a soft spot for animal welfare, as “not tested on animals” was the most important claim among consumers (57 percent), followed by claims related to sun protection factor (SPF) — 56 percent.

In addition, 53 percent of respondents say “all natural” is very or moderately important to them. Overall, natural and organic beauty products recorded a 24 percent compound annual sales growth rate over the past four years — significantly outpacing the 2.7 percent growth rate for the total beauty category.

Not always willing to pay for desired claims

But the study identified a gap between claims beauty consumers deem “very or moderately important” and their willingness to pay more for them. While the “not tested on animals” claim took the No. 1 spot in terms of importance (among 57 percent of respondents), only 43 percent of respondents said they’d be willing to pay more for beauty products that aren’t tested on animals. When it’s time to let the purse strings loose, the “all natural” claim seems to get consumers to the cash register faster, according to 46 percent of respondents.

When looking at claims consumers find important, and those they’re willing to pay more for, the top five make it to both lists, albeit in a different order, with anti-aging and skin firming tied at No. 5 in importance. Lack of animal products made the top five most important beauty claims, but was farther down the list on the willingness-to-pay-more scale.

All things to all people?

According to the survey findings, women keep a keen eye on product claims, more so than men. That’s not to say, however, that men don’t pay attention to beauty product claims. The key is knowing which attributes will get an item into a man’s shopping basket.

For men, “all natural” and “for sensitive skin” claims are among the top five claims in importance. For women, “non-comedogenic” (does not clog pores) and “anti-aging” are beauty attributes unique to their top five. Conversely, the top two beauty claims for which men are more willing to reach for their wallets are “all natural” (26 percent) and “organic” (21 percent). The top two beauty claims for which women are willing to pay more are “not tested on animals” (42 percent) and “contains no animal products” (37 percent).

“It’s what’s inside that counts” truly resonates in the beauty aisle. Key ingredients have the power to drive consumption, but knowing what your consumer cares for is critical — capitalize on it! Label size on most beauty products can pose a challenge, but getting your message across and using easily understandable language is salient to increasing sales.

Getting to know what motivates your consumer and connecting on what matters the most is a formula for success for both national and store brands.