Influencing Consumer Behaviour

16 Nov 2011 – Simon Lee

As SustainAbility’s new report, Signed, Sealed… Delivered?, explains, certification marks can help build trust in brands and influence consumer behaviour. But they are not universally successful, for all people, in all circumstances. What alternative approaches can be usefully employed? Business in the Community’s Simon Lee explains the findings from their recent report, Influencing Consumer Behaviour – A Guide for Sustainable Marketing.

Why aren’t people acting?

Trust marks undeniably provide a quick, easy method to communicate a company or product’s sustainability credentials to consumers. Yet:

• Most people recognise only a few, and understand even fewer.
• Many of the best-known marks, like Organic and Fairtrade, are often associated with a price premium, which most people are unwilling to pay.
• And while certification addresses issues in production, many products generate significant impacts through consumer use and disposal – for example, Unilever reports that 67 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions occur through product use.

Businesses therefore need to find other ways to communicate sustainability to consumers and create behaviour change. To do this effectively, they need to understand how consumers think, feel and act – and why they often fail to change, despite becoming increasingly aware of the issues:

• Messages that make people feel guilty or afraid are usually shut out, and complex information met with confusion.
• People feel disempowered by the scale of the challenges and a lack of direction about how they can change.
• When businesses try to communicate what they’re doing to address the issues, people often react with scepticism and dismiss what they see as greenwash.

Many businesses understand, however, that by engaging consumers in the right way, they can increase their brand value, whilst also achieving positive societal impacts.

Our report, Influencing Consumer Behaviour – A Guide for Sustainable Marketing, based on research with six major brands, provides a practical framework for companies seeking to positively influence consumer behaviour. This involves looking at three key areas: consumer priorities and behaviour; business strategy and action; and brand values and perceptions. The space where the three intersect represents a company’s Area of Opportunity in which to lead consumers.

Key findings from our research

Below are some key lessons from our research, to help businesses influence behaviour within their own Area of Opportunity:

1. Address the on-radar issues of today….
   Because people are confused by too much complex information, most have a relatively narrow set of ‘on-radar’ issues that resonate with them. These are often the most tangible and immediate issues, such as animal welfare, personal energy use and recycling; they typically do not include more complex or long-term challenges like future food shortages, carbon in production or water use. Consumer insights can help companies understand which are the on-radar issues, and so which behaviours they can realistically influence in the short run.
2. …and anticipate those of tomorrow
   That is not to say they should ignore other issues. With campaigning organisations, the media and other companies constantly shifting the parameters of what is normal and acceptable, it is essential to take action within the business to address not only the on-radar issues of today, but also those of tomorrow – for when they do eventually enter the public consciousness, businesses that already have effective programmes in place will much more easily retain people’s trust.
3. Business action creates confidence
   The best programmes often span the entire value chain, from the sourcing of raw materials, to redesigning core products and services, to assisting with end-of-life disposal and recycling. They may therefore involve collaboration with a wide range of partners, from suppliers and their employees to retailers and NGOs. Embedding such programmes within a clear strategic framework, backed up by regular reporting on progress, helps assure influential stakeholders that a company is serious about addressing both immediate and longer-term challenges.
4. Align messages carefully with your brand story
   Brands that have a strong ‘caring heritage’ – such as Cadbury and M&S, but also relative newcomers like Innocent Drinks – are more likely to be taken seriously. Less established companies, in sectors not well-known for being leaders in sustainability, may need to try harder to get their message across. So understanding brand values, and consumers’ perceptions of these, is essential for pitching those messages in the right way. Used correctly, sustainability can be a great support to help reinforce other key aspects of brand personality, such as quality and enjoyment.

What are businesses doing?

Cadbury and Kraft (as separate companies at the time), addressed on-radar ethical and environmental issues concerning the sourcing of cocoa and coffee beans for their products. Cadbury worked with the Fairtrade Foundation and invested £45 million into the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership, working with a range of Ghanaian partners; this further increased perceptions of Cadbury as a generous, genuine and confident brand. Similarly, Kraft worked with the Rainforest Alliance; this certification provided consistency with other Kenco environmental initiatives to reduce packaging and waste.

Waitrose has long been visionary in its action to address sustainability challenges. Recognising the issue of unsustainable fishing well over a decade ago, the company worked with suppliers and other partners to improve fishing practices, and then sought to influence consumer behaviour by publishing a guide to alternative species, pre-empting Channel 4’s more recent campaign. This helped bolster its reputation as a quality, ethical and intelligent brand.

M&S and Unilever exemplify how business action can be strategically embedded, through Plan A and the Sustainable Living Plan, respectively. Both contain clear objectives and targets, ranging from sourcing sustainable palm oil and soy to helping customers live more sustainable lives – backed up by specific initiatives, for example to encourage washing clothes at lower temperatures, or donating them to charity when they are no longer wanted.

Four tips to engage consumers

We make a series of practical recommendations for businesses seeking to build their brand and change behaviour through effective consumer engagement:

1. Do the right research, to understand how people really think and act, and how they feel about your brand. Avoid asking green questions, as you’ll only get green answers: people intuitively understand which are the ‘correct’ responses and like to believe they would do the right thing – even when in practice they don’t. Observational research and open-ended questions about everyday situations are more likely to generate reliable and useful data.
2. Make people feel good about your vision for a better alternative. Make communications direct and immediate, personal and emotional, visual and imaginative. Involve and inspire consumers through a range of channels, including in-store environments, social media and community events, like Ben & Jerry’s family festivals in Manchester and London. Create ‘tribes for change’ and motivate people by regularly sharing the results of their collective efforts.
3. Make change easy. Provide small steps, change the default option and choice edit where necessary. Be pioneering within the business: take the effort to reassess consumers’ real underlying needs, innovate sustainable new products and services and develop new business models. Think: will you be the next iTunes or EMI? Increase your capability and influence by collaborating with competitors, government and other stakeholders as appropriate.
4. Lead consumers. Sustainability will never be the main concern for the vast majority, but people are concerned and look to businesses to enable sustainable living, through the measures described above. And while it’s important not to confuse consumers with too much information, you can incrementally raise their awareness, understanding and commitment by publicising the issues – particularly by working with media partners, such as newspapers and TV channels.

Leading consumers is not easy. It requires every business to have a clear understanding of its own Area of Opportunity, and often entails taking a risk, whether through investment in business action or potentially controversial choice editing. But the size of the prize can be great, in generating not only positive behaviour change but also brand value and competitive advantage.

Business in the Community (BITC) has been working with senior marketers for the past three years as part of its Marketplace agenda. Please visit BITC’s website to download Influencing Consumer Behaviour – A Guide for Sustainable Marketing, and the forthcoming series of thought pieces which will expand on some of the themes raised in the report.