“An apple a day keeps the doctor away”
This is a common phrase we hear and it is not just in view of our hospital bills piling up each day on the kitchen counter. We aim to eat and live healthier, and in wanting to do so, try out healthier food options in the market.
Globally, companies are strategizing ways to innovate on healthier snack alternatives. Meal replacements and physical workouts are common regimens for fitness focused and weight-conscious consumers and this is where Protein/Energy bars are at the fore-front of the food industry. Our mission in sight is to find out — what should the companies know when creating these products.
Analyzing over 6 thousand customer reviews in Bewgle’s Analytics software for brands like probar,rx-bars, clif, yogabar etc.., we have created “The Checklist” for what matters to customers in Granola Bars.
As buzz lightyear would say, “To customer insights and beyond!”-
#Taste
Significance-16%
Overall Satisfaction: 3.9/5
The most voiced out feature of “food”, in general, is the taste aspect. Be it a scrumptious dessert or a granola bar, customers do not like compromising on taste, no matter how healthy the food might be. Of course, it is an added benefit for brands if they can produce healthy and delicious combinations of snacks. Using Bewgle’s platform to understand consumers opinions and complaints, we have come up with some questions that companies should ask themselves when creating such
Taste checklist on the basis of consumer insights:
- Does the healthy snack taste good enough? -The obvious factor.
- Does it taste weirdly artificial to one’s taste buds?
- Does the mix and match of too many natural ingredients cause the taste to regress?
Recommendation: Combining healthy and taste has never been easy as the ratings show that consumers are not very happy with it. Taste will be a determining factor for “Grab Worthy” granola/energy/protein bar-consumers would likely go for, in a supermarket or online purchase. If a brand can nail these taste aspects, then it is good to go!
#Flavour
Significance -12%
Overall Satisfaction -3.9/5
Most of the healthy/workout bars come with fancy flavours for consumers to munch on. This gives various options and also to choose our very own favourite flavour of the bunch. However, there are many such flavours that customers disliked, and if the bars were sold as a bunch, with multiple flavours, then they would rather not buy it. It is therefore a valid assumption that flavours have their very own ratings.
Flavour checklist on the basis of consumer insights:
- Does the consumer have a favourite or unpalatable flavour?
- Do the bars have customisable-box options?
- Does the bar’s flavour description on the box-true to fact?
Surprisingly, the last question had to be asked, since for some products the description on online platforms were not accurate. Consumers do not like to be misguided on any such premise!
Recommendation: Seeing how flavours are important and the ratings are on the lower side, one can assume that a whole lot of improvement can be done on the flavour side of things.Tip- brands should be looking at customisable boxes for consumers who prefer particular flavours.
#Packing
Significance-10%
Overall Satisfaction-3/5
The delight of quality packing is noticeably talked about by consumers in reviews and feedbacks. Packing matters because, firstly — people love munching on snacks when they are on the go and, secondly — these snacks are often consumed as meal replacements during office or workout hours.
Packing checklist on the basis of consumer insights:
- Does the bar come in nice air-tight packing, puffy packing to retain texture and consistency of bars?
- Do the bars often easily become melted?
- Do customers receive the box in mint-new condition?
Recommendation– Design team-your work is cut out for you. The ratings, which are on the very low side, clearly indicate that this is an area worth looking into as a lot of consumers have similar complaints.
#Ingredients
Significance-4%
Overall Satisfaction-3.8/5
A healthy snack typically means that the product is made with all-natural ingredients with no artificial preservatives and added sugars. In this case, they mean no refined sugar, but other natural sweeteners can be used to enhance the taste. Consumers love the option of getting a snack which is healthy, nutritious and delectable and which also keeps them full. Just because the wrapper says healthy, doesn’t mean consumers are going to take your word for it- in fact they probe into the list quite tenaciously.
Ingredients checklist on the basis of consumer insights:
- Is your snack actually nutritious?
- Does your bar contain artificial sweeteners or lack in proteins?
- Does it contain high sugar content-which might not be considered as a healthier option?
Recommendation: “Healthy” is a strong word which deeply influences consumers’ choices, hence it becomes important to make note of the list of ingredients of the product. Again, just because it says healthy, does not mean consumers take it for face value. They dig deep to figure out how each and every ingredient can benefit them, especially when most of these bars come as meal replacements and supplements.
On the basis of our checklist, we have made a comparison outlook of three major protein/energy bar brands on the four checklist points — So let’s take a look at it!
While the overall rating indicates that the bars fairs quite well with consumers, digging a bit deeper shows that there is plenty of scope for improvement especially for packaging and ingredient list.
In conclusion…
It is a hard task at hand to build a truly satisfying product for the consumers. The first step however is to understand your customer’s preference and test your product on the ‘Checklist’ factors.
Do you have your product checklist ready? If not, reach out to us at info@bewgle.com to learn more.
