Ideal Profile Method - OP&P Product Research

Ideal Profile Method
Sensory evaluation is an important stage in product development and optimization. Product acceptance
and product liking is for a large part dependent upon the sensory properties of a product. For the sensory
characterization of products, different methodologies are available. Descriptive methods using experts or
trained panelists are mostly used in companies. Consumers can also be used to define the sensory
properties of products, as is the case in Just About Right (JAR) scaling. Consumers are asked a relative
rating (is the sweetness too weak, just right or too strong) together with acceptance information (liking).
In the 1990-ies, OP&P Product Research developed the Ideal Profile Method (IPM) as an alternative for
JAR scaling. In the Ideal Profile Method consumers are not asked to give a relative ratings but to rate
both the perceived and ideal intensity for each attribute (how sweet is the product and what would your
ideal sweetness be), together with acceptance information (liking). Instead of a relative judgment (the
sweetness is too low) IPM provides a quantitative rating of the sweetness, a quantitative rating of the
ideal sweetness and a liking rating. The examples below show two spider plots for fruit yoghurts, the
Pineapple variant is preferred to the Mango variant (liking rating 7,2 versus 5,9)
The method is based on the model shown below which states that liking is maximized if the product is
ideal on all sensory attributes, deviations from ideal will decrease liking (depending on the relevance of
that attribute for liking).
Aj = Σ bi |Xij – Ii|
Xij = the perceived intensity of product j for attribute i
Ii = the ideal intensity for this attribute i
Aj = liking for product j
bi = the relative importance of attribute i for liking (the regression weight)
When all attributes are ideal, liking will be maximum. When attributes deviate from ideal, the relative
contribution to liking if that attribute would be ideal is estimated. This is shown in the Fishbone plot
(which attribute-changes will have the highest impact on liking, only attributes for which the increase in
liking is larger than 1% are shown).
©OP&P Product Research, 2011

Fishbone plots for the two yoghurts. The red diamonds indicate the deviation from ideal (right axis,
absolute ratings), the yellow bars indicate how much liking would improve if that attribute would be ideal
(left axis, percentage increase in liking).
In the past 15 years, OP&P Product Research has performed more than 1200 Ideal Profile tests (both in
the Netherlands and in other countries) for almost any kind of product and for a large number of
companies.
In 2012, Thierry Worch hopes to finish his PhD on the Ideal Profile Method. You can download different
publications and papers on the method from the website.
©OP&P Product Research, 2011