Researchers at Sungkyunkwan University and COSMAX BTI Inc. employed the full portfolio of Ulta to explore what product attributes are associated with the most positive user reactions and how this differs between vegan and conventional products. The dataset comprised 255,023 user reviews collected from the Ulta Beauty website.
The researchers’ inquiry was guided by past studies showing how consumers are attracted to vegan beauty products via perceptions of them containing fewer harmful chemicals, being manufactured with less environmental harm, and being unlikely to have been tested on animals.
One finding from the current study relates to sustainability labels. While conventional products can benefit from highlighting sustainability claims such as safety or environmental friendliness, doing so provides little additional benefit for vegan products. Sustainability cues are already common in vegan marketing, so repeating them does little to further differentiate the product. Such repetition carries the sort of risk associated with a consumer putting on too many makeup layers. Instead, brands may benefit from emphasizing other product features and benefits.
The study also found that vegan skincare products tend to receive slightly higher ratings than conventional ones. One explanation is expectations—many consumers believe vegan products are healthier, safer, or more ethical, and these beliefs can influence how satisfied they feel after using them.
This pattern was especially clear for moisturizers and creams. These products mainly provide hydration, and consumers can usually feel the results quickly. As a result, positive expectations about vegan products often translate into higher ratings.
Serums, however, showed the opposite pattern. Conventional serums received higher ratings than vegan ones. Because serums promise long-term benefits such as anti-aging or wrinkle reduction, their effectiveness is harder to judge immediately. When expectations are very high but visible results take time to appear, consumers may feel disappointed.
For mists and oils, there were no meaningful rating differences, likely because these products are judged mainly by immediate sensory experiences such as texture and absorption.
Overall, the findings suggest that evaluating consumer satisfaction across a product line can be complex because evidence of effectiveness emerges at different speeds and with different levels of certainty.
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