How to validate marketing and product claims before you publish

To validate marketing and product claims, you decide what each statement promises a customer, hold evidence that proves exactly that, and record who agreed it could be published. This guide sets out a process an in-house team can run on every launch, from the first draft to the record you keep afterwards. If you want a quick first pass, paste your copy into the free marketing claim checker to see which phrases need evidence.

Why validate marketing claims before you publish

In the UK, rule 3.7 of the CAP Code says marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective, and must hold it before the ad goes out. In the US, the FTC's policy on advertising substantiation says an advertiser needs a reasonable basis for an objective claim at the time it makes the claim. Finding the proof after a complaint is too late under both.

The cost of getting it wrong has also gone up. Since April 2025, under the DMCC Act 2024, the CMA can fine a business up to 10% of its global turnover or £300,000, whichever is greater, for breaking consumer protection law, without first going to court.

Step 1: list every claim in the copy

Read the draft line by line and write down each statement a customer could check: numbers, comparisons, results, ingredients, certifications, origin and green wording. Include claims made by images, charts, icons and the product name. A headline and its footnote count as one claim; the same sentence on a pack and a product page is still one claim, approved for two channels.

Leave out pure opinion that nobody could prove or disprove, such as a design we love. Keep anything that sounds like a fact, even when it is phrased casually.

Step 2: write down what each claim promises

Regulators judge the impression a claim gives, not the meaning you intended. For each claim, write one plain sentence: what would a typical customer believe after reading it? Removes 99% of dust is read as 99% of the dust in a room, in normal use, with the product as sold. If your test measured something narrower, the claim promises more than the evidence shows.

Step 3: match the evidence to the kind of claim

Different claims need different proof. A useful rule is that the evidence must test the same product, under the same conditions, and support the same strength of wording as the claim.

• Performance and specifications: a test report on the product as sold, with who ran it, the method, the conditions and the result.
• Comparisons: like-for-like tests against the named or implied comparator, on products that meet the same need, run at the same time, with enough detail for a reader to check them.
• Health and beauty: for objective claims, studies on people where relevant (CAP Code rule 12.1), with the sample size, controls and duration recorded.
• Environmental: evidence for the whole life cycle of the product unless the claim says otherwise (CAP Code rule 11.4), and the basis of any comparison.
• Testimonials and reviews: proof that the customer exists and said it, plus the same evidence you would need if you had made the claim yourself.
• Certifications: the certificate, its scope, the issuing body and its expiry date.

Step 4: check the rules that apply in each market

Note every market and channel the claim will run in, then check the rules for each. In the UK that usually means the CAP Code for ads and websites, consumer protection law under the DMCC Act for everything including packaging, and the CMA's Green Claims Code for environmental wording. Business-to-business advertising falls under the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008. In the US, the FTC Act applies to all of it, with the Green Guides for environmental claims and the Endorsement Guides for testimonials.

Step 5: qualify or rewrite what the evidence can't carry

Where the evidence is narrower than the claim, either narrow the claim or get more evidence. Put the conditions next to the claim, not in small print that changes its meaning: the CAP Code (rule 3.9) treats leaving out significant limitations as misleading.

Step 6: get sign-off from the right people

Decide in advance who must approve which kind of claim, so nobody has to ask. Legal usually reviews every claim. Product confirms performance and specification claims, regulatory or quality teams confirm health, safety and certification claims, and the brand team checks tone and consistency. Each reviewer should record approve, approve with conditions, return or reject, with a reason.

Step 7: keep the record and set a review date

Keep the claim, its evidence, the rules checked and every decision together, so you can answer ‘who approved this, and on what basis?’ in minutes. Give the evidence an expiry or review date. Tests go out of date when the product, a supplier or a competitor changes, and an approved claim is only safe while its proof still describes the product on sale.

A short checklist to validate product claims

Run through this before any launch copy goes out.

Veridat runs this marketing claim validation process for each claim: a checklist of the evidence it needs from UK and US rules, a place for the proof, and sign-off by function. See how it works, or read how it applies to consumer product brands.

• Every claim in the copy is listed, including images and the product name.
• Each claim has one sentence on what a customer will take it to mean.
• The evidence tests the same product, conditions and strength of wording.
• The rules for every market and channel have been checked.
• Conditions sit next to the claim, not hidden in small print.
• The right functions have signed off, with reasons recorded.
• The evidence has a review or expiry date.

Questions

What does it mean to validate a marketing claim?
It means confirming, before you publish, that you hold evidence proving what the claim says to a typical customer. You identify the claim, decide what it promises, match the evidence to it, check the rules in each market, and record who approved the final wording and on what basis.

How do you validate product claims on packaging?
The same way as any other claim: list each statement on the pack, decide what it promises, and hold evidence for the product as sold. In the UK, packaging sits outside the CAP Code's scope but within consumer protection law under the DMCC Act, which the CMA enforces, so the proof still matters.

Who should sign off marketing claims?
Usually Legal for every claim, plus the function that owns the facts: Product for performance and specifications, regulatory or quality teams for health and safety, and the brand team for tone. Agree the rule in advance by kind of claim, and record each decision with its reason so it can be found later.

How long should we keep the evidence?
Keep it for as long as the claim is in use, and afterwards for as long as someone could still ask you to prove it. Record the date each piece of evidence was produced and when it should be reviewed, so a claim isn't reused once the product or the comparison has changed.

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