Advertisers often rely on survey evidence to substantiate their ”most trusted” type claims, gathering feedback from consumers, industry professionals, and the like to support their superiority in the marketplace. NAD’s latest decision highlights important questions about how recent those studies should be.  

In a challenge brought by CoStar Group against competitor Move, Inc., operator of Realtor.com, CoStar challenged Realtor.com’s claim that “Realtor.com is the #1 site real estate professionals trust.” The claim appeared on Realtor.com’s homepage with an asterisk leading a disclosure that the claim is “based on an Aug. 2023 proprietary survey among real estate professionals.” 

Realtor.com submitted support for the claim, including its August 2023 survey of real estate professionals. CoStar argued that the survey was both “methodologically flawed” and “stale.” It critiqued the study methodology on several grounds, including the survey’s sampling plan, questions asked, and available answer options. CoStar also argued that the survey was too old to be relied in, in light of the fact that they industry industry has experienced significant changes recently.  

NAD considered an expert opinion submitted by Realtor.com, which argued that the survey’s design, sample representation, and use of online panels were reliable.   Regarding the survey's failure to offer a “no preference” option, NAD acknowledged that excluding a “no preference” option in surveys can sometimes lead to unreliable results by encouraging guessing, this was not a fatal flaw here as the survey asked a number of other questions focused on trust among knowledgeable real estate professionals. NAD thus determined that the survey was reliable.

With respect to the challenger’s argument that the 2023 survey results were too old to be reliable, NAD explained that it considered the time elapsed between the survey and the challenge, the nature of the product or service at issue, and the nature of the claim at issue, all on a case-by-case basis. NAD said that a survey about the use of a consumer product that is purchased infrequently can typically remain relevant for an extended period, as consumer habits and impressions are unlikely to shift in a short time. Here, Realtor.com’s survey aims to substantiate a claim about website usage, asking about the use of different real estate websites for business purposes.  NAD reasoned that while website-related habits and impressions can change, a professional using such a website frequently in their business may form a strong opinion about it. Thus, NAD determined that, notwithstanding the age of the survey, it still provided  a reasonable basis for the claim that the site is "the #1 site trusted by real estate professionals.” NAD did however consider that preferences in a website might be subject to change over time for various reasons, and as a result cautioned the advertiser that its “#1” claim will require refreshing.  As NAD noted, “because of an eventful time in the real estate industry and the fact that preferences in in any website might change after a year for various reasons, NAD cautioned the Advertiser that the August 2023 survey’s validity will not last in perpetuity and that a newer survey to support the claim will be necessary in the near future.” 

NAD did indicate, however, that since the survey’s timing is potentially material to the audience for whom the claim is intended, Realtor.com should clearly and conspicuously disclose in close proximity to the claim that the survey was conducted in August 2023. NAD noted that in certain executions of the advertising, the disclosure of the date of the survey was either not included, or not in close proximity to the “#1” claim. Realtor.com noted that it already conducted a newer survey in August 2024 supporting the “#1” claim and will update its citation to reflect that going forward.

Move, Inc. (Realtor.com ), Report #7345, NAD/CARU Case Reports (October 2024)