How do you effectively translate sustainability efforts into increased business value and customer satisfaction?
Many companies are working hard to improve their sustainability efforts, and some have come considerably further than their competitors. However, there are still very few companies that have successfully capitalised on improved sustainability performance. A common problem is that mere product attributes are not sufficient, as the entire customer experience is not perceived as substantially more sustainable to drive additional willingness to pay. This resulting in sustainability initiatives in many companies are seen as a cost rather than investments.
Designing the customer experience with this in mind can be an effective tool to translate your sustainability efforts into business value. This article outlines eight aspects to consider when creating a customer journey that can achieve increased perception of sustainability.
Our experience and market observations show that sustainability is becoming increasingly important for consumers’ purchasing decisions. This results in companies facing pressure to develop sustainable solutions, making it a central part of their value proposition and ensuring that the entire customer journey meets the expectations of the customer.
Let us start with an example
A company producing outdoor products, with tents accounting for a large share of their revenue, is investing heavily in becoming more sustainable.
They were differentiating themselves by offering products that not only fulfil the regular requirements of tents in terms of size and use case but that were also produced to minimise the environmental impact. The materials used were either renewable or recycled. They were actively working in their upstream supply chain achieving 100% renewable energy used at tier 1 suppliers. Since 2017, the company has been on a journey to shift all transport fuels to renewable ones and has actively engaged in inspiring others to do the same.
But the efforts and investments that the company put into making their products more sustainable were not reflected throughout their customer journey, which left the company feeling that they did not create business value in their way of measuring success and value.
So where did it go wrong?
The one thing that left many customers disappointed was the non-existent opportunity to repair and buy spare parts months or even years after the purchase. This resulted in low-score reviews coming in many months after the purchase was done – something that the company experiences as becoming a growing concern for their brand with customers becoming more aware.
We know from experience and market observations that sustainability is becoming increasingly important in consumers’ purchasing decisions and is changing the purchasing behaviours of many. As a result, companies are facing pressure to develop sustainable solutions and make them a core part of their value proposition, ensuring that the entire customer journey meets customer expectations.
The insight from the example shows the importance of ensuring that the sustainable customer journey is truly sustainable from A to Z and that you do not have any slip-ups at individual touchpoints that will undermine the entire experience for your customers.
The sustainable customer journey
Below is an example of the customer experience when you buy a pair of jeans, here using MUD Jeans as an example. At each touchpoint in the customer journey, we provide concrete tips on how MUD Jeans today communicate and what they can improve to increase the customer experience.