Client

A leading consumer durables brand in India, with a strong footprint in air conditioners, sought to validate its leadership positioning in the inverter AC category through consumer claim validation research and claim substantiation using perception–based consumer evidence.

Objective

The primary objective of the study was to validate a market leadership claim for inverter air conditioners from a consumer perspective, complementing existing retail sales data through structured claim testing and product validation.

The research aimed to:

• Assess consumer perception tracking of the No. 1 inverter AC brand in India
• Understand brand performance on key dimensions such as product quality, trust, and service experience as part of a product performance study
• Generate robust, defensible consumer evidence for marketing claims and legal compliance

Methodology

A large-scale, structured quantitative study was conducted using face-to-face offline interviews (CAPI), a widely accepted claim substantiation research approach, to ensure representation across geographies and consumer segments.

Research Design

• One-on-one, in-person interviews for in-depth consumer feedback study
• Structured questionnaire with predominantly close-ended questions and select open-ended probes to capture usage experience and perception nuances
• Interview duration capped at 15–20 minutes to minimise respondent fatigue while ensuring high-quality consumer insights

Target Group

• Age: 18–55 years
• Gender: Mix of male and female respondents, with females included as joint decision-makers
• Education: Graduation and above
• Profile:
o Existing AC owners and prospective buyers, supporting adoption potential assessment
o Mix of first-time buyers and replacement intenders to enable market opportunity assessment
• Socio-economic classification: NCCS A & B households
• Device usage: Smartphone users

Coverage

• Pan-India coverage across Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 cities, ensuring strong health category insights equivalent for consumer durables
• Representation from North, South, East, and West zones
• Interviews conducted in multiple regional languages to ensure comfort, accuracy, and authentic consumer perception tracking

Key Findings

• Consumer perception strongly reinforced the brand’s leadership positioning in the inverter AC category, delivering clear consumer evidence.
• The brand consistently scored well on core equity drivers such as product quality, reliability, and trust, validating overall product validation outcomes.
• Service-related factors, including installation experience and responsiveness, emerged as important contributors to brand preference and usage experience.
• Perceptions were found to be consistent across regions and city tiers, strengthening the robustness of the claim substantiation.
• Inclusion of both owners and intenders provided a holistic market view, reflecting real-world decision dynamics and repeat intent analysis signals.

Outcome / Business Impact

• The study provided consumer-validated evidence to support a leadership claim in the inverter AC category through structured claim testing.
• Enabled the brand to confidently strengthen brand messaging and advertising communication using credible consumer evidence for marketing claims.
• Delivered a statistically and geographically representative dataset, reducing risk associated with claim substantiation research.
• Helped align marketing, legal, and compliance teams on claim defensibility.
• Offered directional inputs on service experience and decision drivers to further reinforce brand leadership and long-term adoption potential.

Conclusion

This comprehensive claim validation study demonstrated the power of consumer perception–led research in substantiating leadership claims within a highly competitive consumer durables category.

By combining wide geographic coverage, a robust sampling design, and structured quantitative measurement, the study delivered credible, actionable consumer evidence that went beyond sales data, enabling the brand to communicate its leadership with confidence and clarity.

Detailed perception metrics, zonal performance insights, and brand-level comparisons were shared with the client as part of the full claim substantiation research output.

Looking to validate a leadership claim or build defensible communication for your brand through claim testing and consumer evidence? Connect with our team to design a customized claim validation study.