Blindfolds. Coffee beans. Headphones. Label-less plates of food. Unmarked tins of face cream. These are tools in the popular imagination of sensory testing, an evocative shorthand for how marketers and product developers explore what consumers perceive, prefer, and remember. Behind the scenes, sensory research is far more than an experiment; it is a disciplined scientific method used to test and substantiate product claims that determine how a product competes, communicates, and complies.
Our sensory research experts design, execute, and defend studies that withstand legal and regulatory scrutiny. Whether your brand wants to claim it tastes, smells, sounds, or feels better than a competitor, sensory claim substantiation provides the foundation to support that communication.
Understanding Sensory Claims
According to ASTM International, which sets global standards for testing and measurement, a sensory claim “highlights [a product’s] advantages, sensory or perceptual attributes, or product changes or differences compared to other products to enhance its marketability.”
Sensory claims help consumers make informed choices and allow brands to differentiate meaningfully. Sensory research also enables companies to identify perceptual attributes that can open new markets or redefine product categories. The field has influenced everything from food formulation to fragrance development and consumer electronics—industries where perception drives performance.
Sensory Standards: Designing Defensible Sensory Research
When sensory research is poorly designed, it is not only a waste of resources, but it can expose an organization to legal liability if claims are challenged. Effective sensory research must begin with the claim itself. A research design, sample selection, and analysis must align with the advertising claim to be supported.
Our white paper, A Taste for Claims: An Overview of Sensory Claim Substantiation Surveys, details these best practices. In short:
- Define your claim before you design your study.
- Follow ASTM standards and accepted scientific principles.
- Ensure that results can withstand scrutiny by competitors, regulators, or in litigation.
Determining Research Objectives
Your claim determines your objective, and your objective determines your data. The choice of methodology, survey questions, and participant criteria flow from this logic. A properly designed study can substantiate one or more claims; a poorly designed one cannot substantiate any.
For claims that are not rooted in consumer preference, for example, measuring objective sensory intensity, a trained sensory panel may be more appropriate than a consumer survey.
Selecting the Right Respondents
For consumer perception studies, respondents must be users or potential users of the products being tested. A trained panel cannot be substituted for general consumer testing in preference-based claims, and vice versa.
Sampling must also consider demographic and behavioral relevance. Age, geography, and gender often affect test validity. For instance, participants under 21 cannot participate in alcohol taste tests. (For more information, see our white paper Conducting Advertising Claim Substantiation Surveys for Alcoholic Beverages.)
Timing and Purchase Frequency
Eligibility should reflect the product’s typical usage or purchase cycle. Consumers buy some products, like bread, weekly. In contrast, others, like headphones, are used much less frequently; as such, the timeframe of a study should replicate real-world behavior to ensure reliability and relevance.
Data Collection Methods: CLT vs. HUT
Sensory data are generally collected through one of two methods:
- Central Location Testing (CLT): Conducted in a controlled environment where conditions, such as temperature or serving sequence, can be standardized.
- Home Use Testing (HUT): Conducted in a participant’s house, where the product is used naturally over time.
The choice depends on the product and the claim. Where a beverage taste test may benefit from a controlled setting, a skin cream’s effects may require an extended period of home use.
Sampling and Product Handling
Products should be handled, prepared, or presented as close as possible to how consumers encounter them in real-world market conditions. Certain product types with strong aftertastes or ingestibility risks, palate cleansers, or expectoration protocols may be required.
Two Common Test Designs
Most sensory studies employ one of two test designs:
- Sequential Monadic Design: Participants evaluate each product independently, one after another. This design supports claims related to liking, preference, or intensity (e.g., “crunchier,” “less salty”) and requires controls for order and carryover bias.
- Comparative Test Design: Participants evaluate products side-by-side and indicate an overall or attribute-specific preference. This approach can be used where direct comparisons are required, but it is less effective for multi-product testing or measuring intensity.
Selecting the appropriate design is essential, as choosing the wrong design can result in an unusable study for claim substantiation.
Crafting the Questionnaire
Survey design is central to claim substantiation research. Survey questions must be unbiased and directly tied to the claim being measured. ASTM guidelines suggest placing nonessential questions last to minimize potential bias.
Common sensory research questions include:
- Preference: Which product do respondents prefer?
- Ranking: How do respondents order multiple products by preference or attribute?
- Acceptance: Do respondents like the product overall?
- Attribute Acceptance: Do they like a specific feature (e.g., taste, scent, texture)?
- Attribute Diagnostic: Do they find a particular attribute satisfactory?
- Attribute Intensity: How strong is the perceived characteristic?
Leading or suggestive wording must be avoided, as it can invalidate results under legal scrutiny.
IMS Legal Strategies Sensory Research
Sensory research safeguards and strengthens marketing. IMS Legal Strategies combines legal and methodological expertise to design and execute defensible sensory studies that meet regulatory and evidentiary standards.
Our Sensory Research Experts deliver:
- Claim substantiation research for advertising and litigation
- Consumer and sensory testing design and analysis
- Training and consultation
To learn more, explore our white papers on sensory claims or contact IMS Legal Strategies to discuss how to substantiate and defend sensory product claims.
