Survey: Loosely regulated claims influence consumer behavior

Non-regulated and loosely regulated labels could give shoppers that extra push to buy products.

A new survey found that while “natural” is a non-regulated claim on food packaging, the word would be most likely to motivate over half (53 percent) of Americans to purchase a product this year. The survey of 1,000 U.S. adults by Wakefield Research for Label Insight, a a consumer packaged goods data research company, uncovered which loosely regulated claims would most likely influence consumer purchase behavior.

While there is no standard definition, natural can be defined as the absence of artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners, artificial preservatives and color additives in products that are minimally processed. There are 21,838 food and beverage products in Label Insight’s database containing an “all natural” marketing claim on package.

More than half of shoppers (51 percent) were also swayed by “no preservatives,” particularly older generations. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of baby boomers say a product with that claim would motivate them to buy compared to Generation X (46 percent) and millenials (41 percent).

To read the survey report, click here.