What is an approved claims library, and how do go-to-market teams build one?

An approved claims library is the list of marketing and product claims your business has already proved and signed off, with the exact wording, where each may be used, and the evidence behind it. Go-to-market teams use it so sales, marketing and product can reuse a claim without starting legal review again, and without guessing whether last year's wording still holds.

What an approved claims library holds

A useful entry is more than a sentence. Each approved claim should carry:

• the exact wording that was approved, word for word;
• the product it describes;
• the markets and channels it was approved for, such as the UK product page but not US packaging;
• any conditions, qualifications or disclaimers that must appear with it;
• the evidence it rests on, with dates;
• who approved it, in which function, and when;
• a review or expiry date.

Without the scope and conditions, people reuse a claim in a market or channel nobody checked. Without the evidence and dates, nobody knows when it stopped being true.

Why approved claims management outgrows a spreadsheet

Most teams start with a spreadsheet or a messaging document. It works until the second or third launch. Then the problems are familiar: several versions of the same claim, no link to the evidence, no record of who approved which wording, and no way to tell that a claim lapsed when the product changed.

Approved claims management means treating the library as a record, not a document: each entry tied to its evidence and its decision, changed only through review, and removed from use when it is rejected or expires.

How go-to-market teams build an approved claims library

You don't need to start from nothing. Most of the claims you need are already in your live copy.

• Collect what's live. Pull the claims from your website, packs, ads and sales decks. Paste a page at a time into the free claim checker to find the phrases that are claims.
• Remove duplicates. Group claims that say the same thing in different words, and pick one wording to keep.
• Find the evidence. For each claim, find the test, study or source that proves it. A claim without proof doesn't go into the library; it goes back for review or is retired.
• Review and record. Have the right functions approve each claim for specific markets and channels, with any conditions.
• Set review dates. Date each entry by its evidence, so the library tells you what to recheck and when.

Who uses the library, and how

Marketing uses it to write campaigns from wording that is already cleared. Sales uses it for decks and proposals, so a strong claim heard on one call isn't stretched on the next. Product teams use it when a specification changes, to see which claims depend on the old one. Legal uses it to review only what is new.

The rule that keeps the library trustworthy is simple: if the wording changes, it is a new claim and needs its own approval.

How Veridat keeps approved claims

In Veridat, a claim reaches the library only when its reviewers approve it, with or without conditions. Each approved claim keeps its wording and version, its markets and channels, its conditions and disclaimer, the reviewer and function that decided, the decision date and any expiry date. Only approvals that still stand are listed: a later rejection, or an expiry, takes the wording out of the list.

Changing an approved claim opens a new version that needs its own sign-off, and decisions can't be edited once made. When someone adds a claim that looks like one you already have, Veridat shows the likely duplicate. On Team plans and above, an approved claim can be added to a launch project with a check that it fits the project's market and channel.

There's no connection to outside tools yet: the library lives inside Veridat. See how a claim gets approved, or how software companies use it for sales and launch copy.

Questions

What is approved claims management?
It is the practice of keeping every claim your business has approved as a controlled record: the exact wording, where it may be used, its conditions, its evidence and who approved it. Changes go back through review, and claims leave the library when they are rejected or their evidence expires.

What's the difference between a claims library and a messaging guide?
A messaging guide tells people how to talk about the product. An approved claims library tells them which factual statements they may make, word for word, in which markets and channels, and on what evidence. A good messaging guide draws its factual lines from the library rather than restating them.

How many claims should a library hold?
As many as you actually use, and no more. Most teams find a few dozen core claims per product cover most of their copy. Retiring claims that nobody uses, or that can't be proved any more, matters as much as adding new ones, because a stale entry is the one most likely to be reused by mistake.

Who should own the approved claims library?
Usually product marketing owns the list day to day, because they write most of the claims, while Legal owns the decisions on each entry. What matters is that one team is responsible for keeping it current, and that nobody can add or change an approved claim without a recorded review.

This guide is for information only and is not legal advice. For decisions about specific claims, speak to a qualified adviser.