Where Are the Truly Green Consumers?

#wwusustainability

The Behavior of Consumers is one of the most important factors to consider when looking at sustainability. We know that nowadays, sustainability is important to the average American consumer but they aren't always willing to put heir money where their mouth is. Everybody wants to help save the planet but for most, it's not something that is actually put into practice. In an article I found by Harvard Business Review, the author explains how "in a recent survey, 65% said they wanted to buy from purpose-driven brands that advocate sustainability, yet only 26% actually do so". In the article, they look into why there is such a large "intention gap" and how brands can work to close it. Those suggestions are summarized in the bullet points below.

• Companies can try to use social influence to convince their consumers to shop in more sustainable ways. For example, telling online shoppers that most other customers were choosing sustainable products over non-sustainable ones, convinced them to make at least 1 sustainable purchase. There were many other examples of this simple concept really having an effect on consumer behavior. Humans are highly motivated by fitting in with the people around them. Things like gender and political affiliation also impact this concept and brands must understand how to appeal to different demographics to harness the power of social influence.

• It is important for companies to help consumers break bad habits and encourage the creation of good habits. They would do this by setting sustainable options as the default and making it mindless for consumers to make the best, green decisions. The best example of these concepts is how a lot of coffee shops will give customers compostable/recyclable cups by default and then label the trash/recycling/compost bins with pictures of what should go in each. These are nudges and defaults that are proven by the study of Consumer Behavior to be effective. 

• "Leveraging the domino effect" is when a consumer has picked up one sustainable behavior, they are more likely to continue that in the future. If a company can get their consumers to adopt one or two sustainable changes, they will be more likely and open to trying new sustainable initiatives that the company rolls out in the future.

• Speaking to both the heart and the brain of consumers is important. There are emotional appeals and rational appeals. Emotional appeals can include evoking emotions of optimism, pride, and hope but also includes using guilt to convince consumers to behave in a more sustainable way. Rational appeals include using dollar amounts and hard dates to convince the consumer.

All of these are clear, tangible things that companies can put into practice to make their consumers want to shop and buy sustainably and contribute to making their own footprint smaller. With companies and consumers working together towards the same goals, a lot more change can be made. 

The truly green consumers may not be in as many numbers as we would like to see at this point but they can be created by implementing some of theses tactics. Consumer Behavior is not always rational but understanding it can make it predictable. If a company wants to find the sustainable customer, they must be willing to play a part in building them. 

Source: 

White, K. (2020, June 1). The Elusive Green Consumer. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved April 13, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2019/07/the-elusive-green-consumer