People prefer products with fewer ingredients

🔬 UPDATE: Some fun science has been happening in the background

As fellow science geeks, I think you’ll love this. 

Over the past couple of weeks, we didn’t just talk about science; we actually made science, and many of you were part of it.

I teamed up with researchers from the Fox School of Business and Wharton to test: How do people react to personalized AI videos?

So we created an AI video copy of me (a pretty scarily realistic one!). Then, we created tons of videos of me, with slightly different scripts and slight changes:

• Non-personalized version (e.g. “Science Says readers have read 71 insights on average”)

• Personalized versions (e.g. “You’ve been subscribed for 3 months and received 11 insights”)

• Within those, some disclosed this was an AI video (“This is an AI avatar version of me!”) or not

I then emailed you each a personalized link to the video and we collected analytics data of each video (e.g. how long you watched for, whether you clicked at the end).

What will the results be, and when will we know? That I can’t tell you yet. We’re analyzing the data right now, and most experiments tend to fail. But if we do get an interesting answer - as I hope we will - you will be the first to know!

P.S.: For full details, here is the explanation page of the experiment, which you reached if you opened the video, watched it, and clicked through. A huge thank you to those of you who did!

Ok, time for today’s insight now! 👇

📝 Context

Topic: Product | Ads | Messaging & Copy
For: B2C
Research date: March 2026
Universities: University of California, Washington University in St. Louis, Boston University

You’ve just developed a new peanut butter snack. It’s healthy, organic, and tastes great. Compared to other options, your brand contains only 4 ingredients. 

But competition is tough, and it’s hard to find the right messaging. Everyone is saying they’re organic and natural now.

Science says, simply saying your product has “few ingredients” will go a long way.

P.S.: Highlight what makes your company sustainable (e.g. “our ingredients are local and organic”). People see sustainable products as higher quality.

📈 Recommendation

If your food product has few ingredients, clearly state it (e.g. add an “Only few ingredients” label on your packaging). Avoid doing this if your products are bought for pleasure (e.g. cookie), or for nutritional intake (e.g. vitamins).

People will be more likely to choose your product.

🎓 Findings

• People prefer and are more likely to buy food and beverage products described as having "few ingredients”, compared to those described as having more, even if the product list is identical.

• Across 19 experiments, researchers found that when products were described as having fewer ingredients (vs not):

  • People chose to get an identical granola bar 21.6% more often

  • People said they were 16.4% more likely to buy a juice

  • People were 66.8% more likely to say they’d buy a peanut butter

  • They generated between up to 44.2% higher clicks in Meta ads

• The effect:

  • Reverses when people look for pleasure (e.g. a cookie with rich flavors), uniqueness, or a variety of vitamins in a product

  • Is stronger among customers with a higher interest in natural ingredients 

🧠 Why it works

• We think that products with more ingredients are more processed and unhealthy.

• On the other hand, we see products with fewer ingredients as more natural.

• We generally prefer these products because we think they are safer and healthier.

• Unless we are looking for uniqueness or pleasure. In that case, we think more ingredients mean greater flavor.

Want to advertise to 30,000+ Science Says readers here? Click here.

✋ Limitations

• Only food and beverage products were tested, it’s unclear how much effect can be extended to other kinds of products (e.g. skin care, cosmetics, cotton blend clothes).

• The products were framed as having “few (or many) ingredients”, but the exact ingredients number was not specified. The effect might be stronger when the labels specify exactly the number of ingredients (e.g. only 3 ingredients), and/or lists them (e.g. “only nuts, raspberries and chocolate”).

• It’s likely, but wasn’t tested, that the “few ingredients” label wouldn’t work for products on an ingredient list with many ingredients (e.g. 7+), it’s unknown how many ingredients make the label have no effect.

👀 Real-life example

Lesserevil is a brand positioned to sell high-quality, healthy snacks.

❌ Issue: Their Himalayan pink salt popcorn only has 3 ingredients, but this is not mentioned anywhere on their website or packaging.

✅ Solution: There are a few things they could do to make their messaging stronger:

• Clearly highlight it on their packaging by boldly stating “Only 3 ingredients”. Ensure the “3” is written as digits, not as “three”. This makes people more likely to buy.

• Add an explicit note on their packaging saying how sustainable the brand is (e.g. “Sourced sustainably with 100% recycled packaging”). It makes people enjoy it up to 23% more.

• Add images to show what the product smells like (e.g. a lemon slice)

🔍 Study type

Online experiments and field experiments (Meta ads A/B testing with real products reaching 98,139 people).

📖 Research

Less is More (Natural): The Effect of Ingredient Quantity Framing on Consumer Preferences. Journal of Marketing Research (March 2026). 

🏫 Researchers

• Michelle Yoosun Kim. University of California

• Rachel Gershon. University of California

• Sydney E. Scott. Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis. 

• Daniella Kupor. Questrom School of Business, Boston University

• Tianqi Chen, Vanguard

• Remi Trudel. Questrom School of Business, Boston University

Remember: This is a new scientific discovery. In the future it will probably be better understood and could even be proven wrong (that’s how science works). It may also not be generalizable to your situation. If it’s a risky change, always test it on a small scale before rolling it out widely.

🎁 Bonus mini-insight

Check your knowledge from previous insights (for paid Platform members only).

🎓 Insight: When a sustainable product is priced higher, people consider it more eco-friendly, regardless of the product’s quality.

📈 Recommendation: Avoid charging low prices for sustainable products. People will perceive your product as less eco-friendly if the price is low.

If you want to lower the price for your sustainable products, justify how you’re able to keep production costs low

Here is how else Science Says can help your marketing:

• 📈 Join the Science Says Platform to unlock all 300+ insights, real-world case studies, and exclusive playbooks

• 📘 Boost your sales and profits with topic-specific Science-based Playbooks (e.g. Pricing, Ecommerce, SaaS, AI Best Practices)

• 🔬 Get science-based thought leadership content for your brand. We help market leaders in AI, tech, and across B2B enterprises, build authoritative thought leadership using a scientific perspective. Find out more.

🎓 It took me, a PhD analyst, and a marketing pro 12.5 hours to accurately turn this 51-page research paper into this 3min insight. 

If you enjoyed it please share it with a friend, or share it on LinkedIn and tag me (Thomas McKinlay), I’d love to engage and amplify! 

If this was forwarded by a friend you can subscribe below for $0 👇