In Business, Creating Sustainable Enterprises & Communities

REMOVING THE BARRIERS

In Business, January/February, 2004, Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 31

GREEN MARKETING

Jacquelyn A. Ottman

THEY express concern about the issues. They say they want to buy green. Many say they actually are buying greener products.. But when push comes to shove, many consumers just can't bring themselves to turn good intentions into action at the store. What's standing in the way? Remove the barriers and create some new customers for your business.
Do your customers feel empowered? The more that people believe that they as one individual or working in concert with all the other consumers of a product can “make a difference”, the greater the likelihood that they will buy your greener product. Unfortunately, a big chunk of American consumers feel unempowered, thinking that, for example, only large corporations, as the culprits, should solve the problems.
So, make sure that your customers understand exactly how your product represents a solution to a particular environmental problem he or she presumably already knows and is concerned about. One good strategy for empowering consumers is to aggregate the impacts of individual users, or usage of the product over a long period of time.
Do your customers feel knowledgeable? The greater that people perceive their knowledge to be about buying greener products, the more likely they are to do so. According to the Roper Green Gauge poll, 50 percent of U.S. adults claim that they would do more for the environment “if only they knew how.”
Educating consumers is complicated by the sheer breadth and interconnectedness of issues: energy, global climate change, waste, pollution, labor, human rights, etc. Try to keep things simple without oversimplifying.
Do your customers believe that your product works? How many people do you know who believe that green products just don't work as well as alternatives? They may have had a bad experience with greener products and may remember the days when fluorescent light bulbs cast a green hue, natural-type laundry detergents that didn't get clothes clean, and Jimmy Carter implored Americans to bundle up and turn down the thermostats.
Project your product's superior performance with such claims as “triple tested by a credible third party.” Underscore the image of your company and/or market your product under a trusted brand name. To appeal to a mainstream market, consider playing down the greener features and benefits of your products while playing up the reasons why consumers buy certain products in the first place: health and safety, comfort, aesthetics, and of course, money savings either in the short or long terms.
Do your customers believe your claims? The raft of false and exaggerated green claims made in the early 1990s have left us all with a burdensome legacy: many consumers simply don't believe industry's claims. This is complicated by the fact that environmental benefits are largely intangible-consumers can't see the fumes that aren't being created when they take the bus as opposed to driving their car.
Well-known ecolabels can help. The Energy Star label, for example, now has 57 percent national awareness, and there is much credibility for the EPA/federal government as a source. In addition, the Energy Star for the most part appears on products with reputable brand names.
Do your customers know where they can purchase your products and how they can identify them inside the store?
Securing distribution for your product is only half the task. Work aggressively with retailers to help customers identify your products as green with shelf talkers that highlight green benefits, and by using such established ecolabels as the chasing arrows label for recycled content. Steer clear of unknown labels that may only confuse consumers as they fight for attention with the myriad other product labels such as ingredients, nutritional information, UL labels, Good Housekeeping, etc.
Do your customers believe your product represents real value for the money? According to Roper's Green Gauge poll, the number one reason given for not doing more for the environment is “green products are too expensive.” More than a decade of empirical evidence suggests that only a small percentage of consumers will pay a premium for environmental benefits in and of themselves.
In other words, all else being equal, most consumers will not pay a premium for green benefits alone. However, they will pay a premium when the greener benefits are accompanied by such other valued benefits as superior quiet ride (Toyota Prius) or superior cleaning (Maytag Neptune washer). Lesson learned: make sure that green products have all/more of what consumers desire from the product category in first!
Also keep in mind that consumers may not understand the basis for
price premiums and therefore suspect manufacturers and retailers of “price gouging.”

Jacquelyn A. Ottman is president of J. Ottman Consulting, Inc., a New York City-based consulting firm. Additional information on her green marketing services can be found at: www.greenmarketing.com.