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How a sustainable cleaning brand used Starlight to align innovation with customer demand
Results
Overview
A top-tier home-cleaning brand with sustainability at its core had invested heavily in three product innovations: a refillable bottle system, plant-based antibacterial performance, and essential-oil-based scents. But early performance metrics signaled trouble.
Challenge
Despite its mission-driven positioning, the brand’s new SKUs failed to gain traction: refillables captured just 2% share-of-wallet versus a 5% goal, antibacterial features lagged in intent at 42% (target: 60%), and new fragrances trailed with an NPS of 30—well below the category’s 45-point average.
Leadership needed a clear answer to which innovations would drive trial and stickiness without overcomplicating the formula.
Solutions & Insights
Starlight’s multi-phase research combined digital intelligence, social listening, qualitative interviews, and a robust conjoint analysis.
The research revealed that performance and scent—not packaging—drove the strongest emotional and rational pull.
Consumer conversations prioritized efficacy (55%) over packaging (30%), and consumers were willing to pay $1.80 more for antibacterial benefits versus just $0.30 for refillability.
We identified a bundled SKU—combining plant-based antibacterial power with a lavender-mint scent—as the highest-intent configuration, projecting 68% purchase intent versus a 42% baseline.
Pilots confirmed the upside: share-of-wallet quadrupled to 8% in launch markets. E-commerce conversions rose from 1.5% to 2.7%, adding $1.2M in incremental revenue in Q1. And Net Promoter Scores grew to 53, beating the category average by 8 points.
“Starlight helped us cut through the noise. Their research made it clear which features our customers truly valued—and gave our teams confidence in where to focus our efforts.”
— VP of Product Development, Confidential Brand
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