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
https://meetyogi.com/
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
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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%
Total Data Points: 1,862
63%
27%
10%
63%
28%
9%
69%
22%
9%
62%
32%
6%
Sta
r R
atin
gS
en
tim
en
t
92%
6%
~1%
Total Data Points: 1,277
87%
12% 1%
https://meetyogi.com/
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
https://meetyogi.com/
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.”
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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
Simple Emotional Reactions
Shopping and Pricing Experience
Ingredients and Digestion
Simple Taste Reactions
Usage: How/ When
Flavor, Taste and Texture
Macronutrient Supplementation
Satiation and Functional Benefits
Average Sentiment* Score
0.000 1.000 2.000 3.000 4.000 5.000
Simple Emotional Reactions
Shopping and Pricing Experience
Ingredients and Digestion
Simple Taste Reactions
Usage: How/ When
Flavor, Taste and Texture
Macronutrient Supplementation
Satiation and Functional Benefits
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.
https://meetyogi.com/
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."
https://meetyogi.com/
…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
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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
https://meetyogi.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
Source: Reviews gathered from Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Jet.com and Costco.com
*Note: Q1 2020 only includes partial Jan 2020 data
Prior to 2018, more than 3
out of every 7 negative
reviews, referenced
Ingredients and Digestion
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
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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!”
Satiation and Functional Benefits
Ingredients and
Digestion
Flavor, Taste and
Texture
Macronutrient
Supplementation
Simple Emotional
Reactions
Shopping and Pricing
Experience
Simple Taste Reactions
Usage: How/ When
*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.
https://meetyogi.com/
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
Source: Reviews gathered from Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Jet.com and Costco.com
*Note: Q1 2020 only includes partial Jan 2020 data
https://meetyogi.com/
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
*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.
“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 "
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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
www.meetyogi.com
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