Demystifying The Consumer Sustainability Journey
BCG on Marketing, Sales and Pricing
Customer expectations are rising, are you ready to meet them? Explore our latest insights and thought leadership.
The Premise
A growing number of CEOs say sustainability is a top business priority, but there’s a clear disconnect in how these efforts resonate with consumers. Companies struggle to link sustainability to broader drivers of consumer choice, remove barriers to sustainable product adoption, and build trust through their sustainability messaging, but for those who get it right there’s a clear opportunity for growth. At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in June, BCG Managing Director & Partner Lauren Taylor shared her perspective during a sustainability panel hosted by OpenX
As consumers are experiencing a heightened sense of responsibility with respect to the implications of their choices on people and the planet, a critical opportunity arises for brands who understand and respond to these behaviors. But BCG’s experience reflects that many companies don’t yet have customer-centric action plans to meet their climate ambitions. Increasingly consumers are evaluating their favorite brands on their environmental and sustainability efforts, so brands with a limited understanding of how their customers make sustainable purchasing decisions leave value on the table. BCG has identified three key areas of opportunity for marketers:
- Activate the skills and knowledge marketers possess to make sustainability a growth driver
- Sustainability strategies that move the needle focus on customer needs
- Barriers to sustainable choice can be real or perceived
Solutions Marketers Should Consider
1. Follow a playbook for responsible marketing and to drive growth in sustainable behaviors
With brands now understanding how much there is to gain from touting their environmental credentials, ‘greenwashing’ has remained a prevalent issue for marketers. Ad Net Zero has developed industry-wide guidelines to combat greenwashing. In addition, BCG has partnered with the CMO Sustainability Accelerator, a joint coalition of marketing organizations including the ANA, Adweek, and Sustainable Brands to build a green marketing playbook for sustainability and marketing leaders across industries and geographies and equip brand leaders with the insights and tools needed to drive sustainable growth. The playbook will be released later this Fall.
2. Deeply understand consumer needs and barriers, embracing consumer diversity around the world
BCG research shows consumers' purchasing decisions are not particularly motivated by sustainability. This doesn't mean consumers don’t care about value or environmental impact. But when balanced against the many other factors they weigh when actually making a purchase, these needs are often too weak on their own to sway a decision—although they may act as tie breakers when other needs have been satisfied. The challenge is to understand what other factors influence the tradeoffs that consumers make. Because consumer needs vary around the world, the idea that a company can conquer a category with a one-size-fits-all strategy is a myth in most categories. Brands that adapt their sustainable value propositions to local needs will outperform in their categories.
3. Use your brand’s voice and reach to steer consumers toward sustainable decisions
We each make choices every day—about what to buy, what to eat, when to recycle, and whether to walk, drive, or take public transportation. While these can feel like highly individual choices, behavioral economics has shown that consumers are highly susceptible to environmental and social cues. Given that consumers’ decisions have consequences—for personal well-being and the health of the planet—companies could play a role in steering consumers to make sustainable choices. It’s as simple as giving them a nudge.