The Ideal Profile Method is a sensory method in which, for each product tested, consumers are asked to rate both the perceived and ideal intensities of a list of attributes. In addition, they are also required to indicate how much they like each product. At the end of the task, three blocks of data are collected from each consumer: the product profiles, their ideal profile and the liking ratings. The ideal profiles can be used to help improving the existing products. However, this information should be carefully managed since (1) it is obtained from consumers, and (2) it describes a virtual product. In order to use the full potential of the ideal profiles, and to avoid a possible misinterpretation of the data, one has to ensure that the inf...