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How to win big at the shelf with sustainable products

By Sandra Panic, Key Account Insights Director, EyeSee

With many new sustainable product strategies simply missing the green mark or being labeled as greenwashing, it’s become evident that the only way to do sustainability right is to think about the full picture – the product, its advertising and sustainability claims – and aim to understand who your consumers are and how they relate to this issue. But all of this can be riddled with misconceptions. So, guided with the ambition to help brands introduce more-sustainable and competitive products – safely and reliably – EyeSee has run a comprehensive study that leveraged the latest behavioral methods, which unlock highly predictive insights by testing in context. A combination of eye-tracking and facial coding uncovered emotional engagement and visibility of posts in simulated social media timelines, paired with virtual shopping – which famously has a 0.8-0.9 correlation with real in-store shopper behavior and ensures respondents are making decisions in context.

EyeSee’s Insights Director in Mexico, Diego Adolfo Chávez Terrazas – named Fearless Leader in the 2021 Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards – tackled why relying on virtual shopping environments when conducting shopper research is the only way to go forward: “Virtual shopping is a reality check – a way to compare other findings to a behavior that is strongly grounded in reality. We ran a meta-analysis on 35,000+ respondents from dozens of projects across FMCG industries and compared survey results to virtual shopping data. In a nutshell, the results argue that it is extremely important to be careful if you are making business decisions based only on stated purchase intent – whether top-box or top two-box, as both have an error in them. We calculated the error margins and the findings indicate that the purchase intent measure is incredibly unreliable. On the brand level, the error was as high as 71% for top two-box. On the SKU level, the overestimates are even more extreme at 486% for top two-box and 217% for top-box.”

Myth #1: Sustainable products are a niche category – very few consumers are into it

EyeSee uncovered that 86% of consumers are open to trying more eco-friendly products – implying that this is not only a not niche category but also an opportunity-packed one. This group consists of two segments: The true eco buyers who are motivated to make a difference and change their behavior and the “talk is cheap” segment who state they care about sustainable products but need incentives to change their behavior. The remaining 14% are truly not interested in the cause and have no intentions to change their behavior. 

From the perspective of Colgate-Palmolive’s leading expert on sustainability, Cherie Leonard, two big consumer trends have emerged. The first one is the urgency to take action. “We see this not only because people are seeing the good, such as cleaner air and fresher skies – especially through the early days of lockdown, but also because they’re seeing the bad,” says Leonard. “Suddenly, it became very apparent to consumers how much trash they produce as an individual and as a household.” The second trend is the uncertainty of where to start acting more sustainably – and this is where manufacturers have an enormous opportunity to help and encourage their consumers to act greener!

Myth #2: Claiming your product is sustainable makes a real difference

Product claims are the best real estate to describe your green impact quickly and clearly. Therefore, the study incorporated a claim test to understand how consumers perceive some of the most commonly used claims based on clarity and impact on shopping behavior, such as “eco-friendly,” “zero waste,” “sustainable,” etc. In reality, while most claims were similarly compelling, others stood out as a smarter choice for brands. 

For instance, the three claims just mentioned are some of the worst-performing out of those tested! These findings indicate that consumers are unsure of how these types of products contribute to a cleaner environment – and as such, they have little to no impact on shopper behavior. One of the brilliant ways Colgate-Palmolive saw packaging as an opportunity to educate their consumers, as Leonard explained, is by putting a QR code next to a clear and straightforward claim to encourage people to learn more about the product, the pack and the process – and ultimately build trust with them. 

Myth #3: Buying sustainable means “sacrificing” consumer experience for the greater good

One of the biggest misconceptions about sustainability is that it means lowering the standard of living or making consumers give up the things they love and enjoy. What we have uncovered is that 41% of consumers are ready to buy more-sustainable products – but only if they are better-quality. This huge portion of shoppers that are ready to make greener purchases is opening doors to brands to not only produce more-sustainable products but to do so in a way that actually improves the consumer experience. And this is not a new trend – as with every NPD and new product launch, brands are always striving to better the shopper experience and outdo the competition – so, why treat sustainable products any different?

Myth #4: Guilt-tripping works wonders for attention

Most social media campaigns that tackle environmental issues communicate in a way that scares and makes consumers feel concerned about the future – but this approach has little impact on consumer purchase. This is why we zeroed in on how social media posts that focused on pollution impacted purchases for more-sustainable options in a virtual shopping environment. Posts that are scientific in nature and offer some knowledge to consumers while making them feel good about their choices are the definite winners.

In Colgate-Palmolive’s case, social media is a tool that amplifies the conversation on sustainability and drives energy and excitement for what they are doing as a brand. It is also an opportunity for their brand enthusiasts to share their knowledge and message about sustainability.

For more insights, check out the full report at bit.ly/3x4jOr0 or reach out to info@eyesee-research.com!

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