4 tips on marketing sustainable products

1. Understand what motivates consumers

Many firms fail to realize that sustainability benefits are not the primary driving force behind purchases – even someone purchasing an electric car does not do so to prevent climate change, but to satisfy a need for mobility. And many consumers not only do not care about sustainable features but may be deterred by marketing messages promoting them.

2. Match consumer and product types

There are three broad types of consumer when it comes to sustainable products: those who place a premium on sustainability (‘greens’), those who value it moderately (‘blues’), and those who do not value it (‘grays’). Potential customers for such products require different marketing approaches depending on where they are on this continuum. In this typology, sustainability benefits can enhance a product’s appeal and perceived performance (resonance), have no impact on it (independence), or diminish it (dissonance).

3. Use different playbooks for sustainability success

Marketers need to follow different playbooks for these three levels of impact, tailoring their approaches to green, blue, and gray customers in each instance.

• Products with resonant sustainability features have much more latitude to target a broad customer base (however, when targeting grays, they still need to tread with caution).
• Independence strategies typically offer temporary differentiation advantages. Because customers may choose to get their sustainable benefits from a completely different kind of product, it’s difficult to charge a premium for them over the long term.
• With gray customers, there is no upside in emphasizing sustainability attributes; particularly since grays may wonder if there is a hidden sustainability price premium or performance cost. Dissonant products require customers to accept reduced performance in exchange for sustainability, but firms can profitably sell such products to green consumers and, in some instances, even to blue ones. One strategy to broaden the customer base is to attract a subset of blue customers who can be persuaded to accept a performance sacrifice because of new benefits tied to a firm’s sustainability actions.

4. Focus on innovation

At the core of successful sustainable offerings lies innovation, and the real battleground for sustainable products will be R&D labs. This is how successful companies will develop groundbreaking solutions that not only deliver unparalleled performance but also champion environmental protection and societal wellbeing.