Skincare satisfaction goes green? A comparative textual analysis of vegan and conventional product reviews

This study compares post-purchase satisfaction between five categories of vegan and conventional skincare products and examines how product attributes relate to consumer ratings. We analyzed over 110,000 Ulta Beauty reviews using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation modeling technique and hierarchical regression. Eleven key attributes were identified, with intrinsic efficacy and sensory attributes prevailing over extrinsic attributes, while sustainability topics were absent. Drawing on expectation-confirmation theory (ECT) and the zone of tolerance (ZOT) framework, this study yields three main findings. First, vegan products received higher ratings in the pooled sample, moisturizers, and creams—reflecting assimilation effects—but lower ratings in serums, consistent with the ZOT framework, with no differences between mists and oils. Second, sustainability claims generally enhanced ratings for conventional products but not for vegan items, indicating differing expectation thresholds. Finally, a comparative analysis of non-sustainability attributes and rating associations across vegan and conventional cosmetics showed that 53 % of the cases supported the assimilation-contrast effects predicted by ECT, varying with the magnitude of expectation-performance gaps. The findings elucidate comparative post-purchase satisfaction mechanisms grounded in ECT and ZOT and offer practical insights for vegan and conventional skincare marketing.