Moving Beyond Flavor and Protein Content

Moving Beyond Flavor

and Protein ContentA case study on ready-to-drink protein

nutritional beverages, powered by Yogi

https://meetyogi.com/

Yogi analyzed eCommerce product reviews of the leading ready-

to-drink protein beverages across four major online retailers

10,347 individual reviews with an average length of 34 words.

The longest review was 824 words

Reviews were sourced from 4 of the most popular ecommerce

sites, as well as from company websites.

Reviews were posted between Jan 2013 to Jan 2020

Yogi took a total of 14 minutes to pull, read and process all the

data. That’s more than 735 reviews per minute or 12 per second



Brand

Launched1998 1997 2012 2011 2013

Corporate

Parent

CytoSport, owned by

PepsiCo

BellRing Brands, majority

owned by Post Holdings

Fairlife, owned by Coca-

ColaBe Well Nutrition, Inc Halen Brands

Description

One of the earliest and

most recognizable brands

of protein drinks. Longtime

distributor, PepsiCo,

purchased Cytosport in

2019 to realize distribution

and marketing synergies.

A highly established brand

in the RTD protein space

with ubiquitous distribution

from the grocery aisle to

online shops. Generally

priced for value.

Created by Fairlife, a large

dairy cooperative. In early

2020 Coca-Cola obtained

full ownership of Fairlife,

taking over Core Power

along with it.

Venture-backed ICONIC

protein is one of the

fastest growing brands.

Made using protein from

grass-fed cows in NZ,

ICONIC’s RTD beverage

line is hormone, antibiotic

and preservative free.

Acquired by Halen Brands

in 2017, OWYN produces

allergen-free, plant-protein

based RTD beverages

and powders. OWYN

announced an expansion

into the healthy bar space.

# of reviews 3,117 2,552 1,862 1,539 1,277

Average

Rating 4.2 4.3 4.3 4.4 4.9

We focused on 5 recognizable brands that range from

established brands to newer start ups in the space



Diving into the distributions of star ratings and sentiment scores, we see uniform

results with the newer market entrants – especially OWYN – standing out

68%

11%

6%5%

10%

Total Data Points: 3,117

69%

11%

7%4%

9%

77%

7%4%4%8%

Total Data Points: 2,552 Total Data Points: 1,539

71%

10%

5%4%10%


63%

27%

10%

63%

28%

9%

69%

22%

9%

62%

32%

6%

Sta

r R

atin

gS

en

tim

en

t

92%

6%

~1%


87%

12% 1%



Satiation and

Functional Benefits

Ingredients and

Digestion

Flavor, Taste and

Texture

Macronutrient

Supplementation

Simple Emotional

Reactions

Without any human intervention, Yogi’s deep learning algorithms

recognized 8 broad categories of conversation from 10.3k unique reviews

• Each node represents an individual

user review

• Each review is primarily identified as

most relevant to one of eight topics of

conversation represented by a unique

color

• Contextual similarity between each

review is also indicated by its physical

proximity to other nodes

• Therefore, areas of overlapping colored

nodes indicate a thematic confluence of

user reviews

• The magenta nodes representing

Simple Taste Feedback is significantly

interspersed among the black, yellow

and blue clusters. For example, one

magenta node amidst the yellow

Usage: How/ When cluster exclaims:

“Great flavors. Perfect for mid morning

snack”

Shopping and

Pricing Experience

Simple Taste

Reactions

Navigating Yogi Network Diagrams

Usage: How/ When



Understanding the broad conversational categories gives us a sense of the

relative weights of customer interests and concerns

Satiation and Functional Benefits

24%

Macronutrient Supplementation

15%

Flavor, Taste and Texture

14%

Usage: How/ When12%

Simple Taste Reactions

11%

Ingredients and Digestion

10%

Shopping and Pricing

Experience8%

Simple Emotional Reactions

6%

All Product Reviews by Conversation Category

Total Customer Reviews: 10,347

• As expected, functional benefits and

macronutrient profile are foremost on the minds of

protein beverage consumers – Yogi found that a

combined 39% of reviews were focused on those

topics

• 1,243 customer reviews delved into how their

protein beverages fit into their daily habits –

valuable insights to drill down into for a marketing

team trying to build empathy with their end users

• Simple keyword analysis would indicate that a vast

majority of reviews mention product taste –

however, Yogi is able to discern context and classify

reviews as primarily about a different topic, as in the

example below:

“This muscle milk is a great way

for me to get enough protein in

my diet without adding much

carb. They taste good, too.”



By leveraging sentiment analysis, we can identify that, broadly, customer

complaints are centered around Ingredients and Digestion

-0.400 -0.200 0.000 0.200 0.400 0.600 0.800


Shopping and Pricing Experience



Usage: How/ When




Average Sentiment* Score

0.000 1.000 2.000 3.000 4.000 5.000


Shopping and Pricing Experience



Usage: How/ When




Average Star Rating

*Yogi’s proprietary sentiment analysis algorithms scores overall tone of each review from a range of -1.0 to 1.0, with 0.0 representing neutral sentiment.

Its accuracy is on display when looking at how closely it tracks directionally with star ratings.



Based on hundreds of reviews, this subset of unhappy customers

has been vocal and for years has been underserved…

Total Reviews In the Ingredients and Digestion Category: 1,056

“What a disappointment. The flavor

is just sickly. And, sadly, the milk

casein, which has never before

bothered me, wrecked my

gut…Never again ...”

“Unfortunately, this is the old

formulation of this product. It is now

also gluten free which is more

digestible me. It still taste good but

with some GI upset”

“Unfortunately, I must be allergic

to some ingredient(s) because as

soon as I drank these I got bloated

and uncomfortable for hours. I

use another protein drink that

contains whey powder from grass

fed cows and do not have that

problem….”

"Great taste and doesn't mess with

my stomach! I love the RTD bottles

for the convenience of not having to

wash the shaker after each use.”

“These were ok. My teenager didn't

like them and that was who I bought

them for. I was hungry after drinking

it.”

"Like the fact the product has

almost no sugars, of course that is

a trade-off to overall taste. I think

they taste okay, not as good as

some others, but much cheaper per

serving."



…however OWYN, a newcomer on the scene, has been particularly responsive

to this unmet customer need as a glance their online branding demonstrates

Premier Protein’s

landing page

emphasizes simplicity,

Flavor Variety and

Great Taste.

Muscle Milk shows its

broad product portfolio,

implying it has the

Macronutrient

Supplementation

solution for everyone

Core Power shows a

Usage case as a post-

workout drink, and

emphasizes

Functional Benefits

for recover

Among the 5 brands,

OWYN is the only that

devotes two top menu

items to address concerns

about Ingredients and

Digestion, none of the

other brands have even oneConsistent messaging

about Ingredients

both from a

Functional Benefits

perspective…

…and from a

General

Intestinal

Wellbeing

angle

Iconic also focuses on

Usage – specifically on

convenience



The data suggests that OWYN has been successful in formulating

and designing a product with ingredients that are easier to digest

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Muscle Milk Premier Protein Core Power Iconic Protein Owyn

Ingredients and Digestion Topic Only:Number of Reviews By Brand and Sentiment Type

Negative

Neutral

Positive

Source: Reviews gathered from Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Jet.com and Costco.com



Owyn’s launch coincides with a ballooning of reviews mentioning Ingredients and

Digestion, suggesting they were perfectly positioned to take advantage of this latent

health concern

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

0

50

100

150

200

250

Q1 '15 Q3 '15 Q1 '16 Q3 '16 Q1 '17 Q3 '17 Q1 '18 Q3 '18 Q1 '19 Q3 '19 Q1 '20*

Topical Feedback Volume from 2015 - Present

Reviews primarily about Ingredients and Digestion OWYN All Reviews Volume

OWYN’s first

product launched

in late 2017


*Note: Q1 2020 only includes partial Jan 2020 data

Prior to 2018, more than 3

out of every 7 negative

reviews, referenced


After 2018, half of all negative

reviews focused on Ingredients

and Digestion, suggesting that this

latent consumer concern is only

accelerating in significance

Over the last 4 years,

complaints about Ingredients

and Digestion have made up

48% of all negative sentiment

reviews



0.58

0.73

0.63

0.69

0.75

0.17

0.71

0.82

Average Sentiment Score* by Conversation Category

O Average of All 5 Brands

Comparing OWYN reviews sentiment scores to the sample set’s average,

we see that this outperformance extends to all conversation categories

• Yogi found that not a single one of

OWYN’s 1,277 reviews complained about

Digestion. Instead, the glowing reviews

below underscore the importance of

customer feedback in product development:

• “Best plant-based protein shake I've ever tasted. It is

clean and, for someone with a hyper-sensitive gut, it

is harmless to me. Loving it so far! They are hyper

focused on the fact that their core customers are

extremely sensitive to what’s on the ingredient list and

how the protein effects their GI tract”

• “Owyn is the best protein shake we've found - my wife

has extreme gut allergies and this is helping her get

her nutrition and calorie intake. Love it!”

• “This is the best plant-based protein shake on the

market! It only has 8g net carbs and NO stevia! I really

dislike the taste of stevia and it's in so many products

now. This tastes good, is pretty satisfying, and I have

no adverse reaction as a result of my leaky gut/food

sensitivities. Thank you OWYN for putting so much

care and effort into creating an awesome product! This

is the best plant-based!”


Ingredients and

Digestion

Flavor, Taste and

Texture

Macronutrient

Supplementation

Simple Emotional

Reactions

Shopping and Pricing

Experience


Usage: How/ When




Yogi also examines trends over time: OWYN’s overperformance must be

considered in conjunction with the recency and relative size of their dataset

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

1,800

2,000

Q1 '13 Q3 '13 Q1 '14 Q3 '14 Q1 '15 Q3 '15 Q1 '16 Q3 '16 Q1 '17 Q3 '17 Q1 '18 Q3 '18 Q1 '19 Q3 '19 Q1 '20*

% S

ha

re o

f Tota

l R

evie

ws in Q

ua

rte

r

Revie

ws p

er

Qua

rte

r

% Share of Total Reviews per Quarter by Brand

Core Power Iconic Protein Muscle Milk Owyn Premier Protein # of Reviews Per Quarter


*Note: Q1 2020 only includes partial Jan 2020 data



Core Power suffered a 3-month spike in review volume and below historic

average sentiment reviews as a result of a changed formulation

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Jan-18 Mar-18 May-18 Jul-18 Sep-18 Nov-18 Jan-19 Mar-19 May-19 Jul-19 Sep-19 Nov-19 Jan-20

Avera

ge

Sen

tim

en

t S

core

*

Revie

ws p

er

Mon

th

# of Core Power Reviews per Month Average Sentiment Score

Source: Amazon, Yogi Analysis


“Used to be my go protein drink. But now has

sucralose and acesulfame potassium. Two

things i avoid. The new formula is disgusting.

When I tried I thought I got a spoiled

batch…”

2-year average

sentiment:

0.36

" Absolutely ruined this product by changing

the formula. And didn't even warn us on the

package? I have never been so disappointed

by a company in my life "



The findings in this case study are just the tip of the iceberg, leveraging Yogi can

rapidly lead to profound product and competitive insights for your team

• In the span of a couple hours, using only public data, Yogi has gleaned useful insight about

the RTD protein beverage space

• Newer brands like OWYN have been delivering on a previously underserved customer

desire for more easily digestible RTD protein beverages

• A vocal subset of RTD protein customers are highly cognizant of what’s listed on the

ingredient label and will revolt if there is an unexpected change (e.g. the Core Power

reformulation)

• A good-tasting product is table stakes in this crowded product space where there are many

other options for customers; that said, after meeting a basic satisfaction threshold, taste is

no longer represents a major opportunity to stand out from the competition

• Yogi can seamlessly dive deeper into the data to answer more questions like:

• How do traditional flavors like Vanilla hold up against novel ones like Tumeric Golden

Mylk?

• How does carton vs. bottle packaging affect the customer experience?

• How do customer conversations evolve as new health trends hit the market?


Understand your customers, like never before

Yogi is a cloud-based software company headquartered in New York.

It provides feedback analytics solutions and business intelligence

dashboards to customer-focused businesses.

Yogi aims to usher in a new age of excellent customer experience by

better integrating the downstream stakeholders of products to the

upstream developers, marketers and executives through AI-assisted

data-driven decision making.

Our Mission

[email protected]

www.meetyogi.com

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Moving Beyond Flavor and Protein Content

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Transcript of Moving Beyond Flavor and Protein Content