How the score works

The Claim Readiness Score measures whether a claim appears ready to use responsibly in marketing, based on the information available. It does not score whether your company is ethical or honest — and it is a marketing diagnostic, not a legal determination.

The five dimensions

Dimension	Points	Definition
Specificity	20	The claim clearly identifies the subject, benefit, scope, comparison, timeframe, and relevant conditions.
Evidence	25	The supplied support is relevant, current, credible, appropriately rigorous, and connected to the exact claim.
Conditions and boundaries	20	Important qualifications, limitations, disposal conditions, geography, and exclusions are clear and prominent.
Customer action	20	Customers can understand and realistically complete the promoted action using available infrastructure.
Transparency	15	The message proportionately separates established facts, limitations, tradeoffs, progress, and aspirations.
Total	100	Overall claim readiness

Readiness bands

0–39 — Not ready: Significant clarity, proof, or execution gaps.
40–59 — Needs qualification: A legitimate story may exist, but the current claim overreaches or lacks essential context.
60–79 — Promising: Mostly supportable, with important improvements still needed.
80–89 — Strong: Clear, supported, transparent, and actionable.
90–100 — Exceptionally clear: Highly specific, well-supported, appropriately bounded, and easy for customers to act upon.

Scoring guardrails

These are applied deterministically after the assessment is evaluated, so no amount of polish can talk the score upward.

Missing evidence is never treated as proof that the claim is true.
A claim with no supporting evidence supplied cannot score above 59.
A broad, unqualified claim with major unsupported implications cannot score above 39.
A claim that depends on unavailable or materially inaccessible customer infrastructure loses substantial Customer Action points.
A third-party certification does not automatically substantiate every express or implied claim.
Polished language alone cannot substantially increase the Evidence score.
No score above 89 without strong support, clear boundaries, and a viable customer pathway.

Limitations

This is an educational marketing assessment. It is not legal advice, certification, scientific validation, or a guarantee that a claim complies with applicable law.
Version one uses current U.S. federal guidance as its primary regulatory context. It does not attempt a 50-state compliance determination, and it flags when state, local, industry, scientific, certification, or legal review may be needed.
Evidence you supply is labelled as supplied by you. It is never described as independently verified unless a verification process actually establishes that.

Source registry

Guidance last reviewed 2026-08-01 · 3 sources.

Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims, 16 CFR Part 260
U.S. Federal Trade Commission · 1992, revised 2012 · Last reviewed 2026-08-01
The FTC's guidance on how environmental marketing claims may be interpreted by reasonable consumers, including general environmental benefit, degradable, compostable, recyclable, recycled content, renewable materials and energy, non-toxic, source reduction, and certification claims.
Environmental Claims: Summary of the Green Guides
U.S. Federal Trade Commission · 2012 · Last reviewed 2026-08-01
Plain-language FTC summary of the revised Green Guides, including guidance on qualifying claims clearly and prominently and on avoiding unqualified general environmental benefit claims.
Frequently Asked Questions about Plastic Recycling and Composting
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · Last reviewed 2026-08-01
EPA explanations of plastic recycling, biodegradability, and composting — including the difference between materials that fragment and materials that fully biodegrade, and the conditions commercial composting requires.

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