Every step that a customer takes towards buying your product could be contributing to their carbon footprint. By making the path from discovery to retention greener, you can make your company more environmentally-friendly and also encourage your customers to be more eco-conscious too. Below are just a few ways to do this at every stage of the customer journey.
Marketing your company
Discovery is the first step of the customer journey, and this is achieved through marketing.
A growing number of customers are actively wanting to reduce their carbon footprint, and therefore advertising yourself as an environmentally-friendly company can be a way to attract more customers. However, you need to actually be backing this up with clear green methods.
Start by thinking about how you can reduce carbon emissions and waste during your marketing campaigns. Reducing paper and taking a digital-first approach is one way to do this. Emails, social media posts and PPC adverts can be much less damaging to the environment than flyers and letters – which create carbon emissions when being delivered.
Of course, print marketing isn’t entirely bad for the environment, and there are many ways in which you can make it more eco-friendly such as using recycled paper, vegetable-based ink and less damaging distribution methods such as handing out flyers on the street. Materials like card can also be preferable to materials like plastic in the case of promotional products like stationery, provided that you use recycled or sustainably-sourced card.
Greeting potential customers
If a customer becomes interested in your product, the next stage is converting them by creating good first impressions.
This may not always require an in-person meeting – with an ecommerce customer, there is typically no need for this, and it’s all about making your website look professional. However, if someone has to visit your store or restaurant, you should consider how introducing green measures could influence how welcoming and accommodating you are.
For example, in a retail parking lot, think about how adding some trees or hedges could help to make your store more attractive, while also helping to combat pollution by cleaning the air. Investing in commercial EV charging stations could also encourage electric vehicle owners to use your store (you could even offer perks for EV owners like free parking bays or bays with extra space).
It could be worth considering how you can make certain introductory materials more eco-friendly such as contracts, menus and welcome packs. Increasingly, many companies are switching to digital alternatives such as electronic contracts and digital menus, however some customers may prefer having something physical.
When it comes to professional services, you should consider whether an in-person meeting may be necessary at all. Promoting options like video call meetings can save them money travelling to your premises and also reduce unnecessary pollution caused by travel. Various meetings from marketing consultations to medical check-ups may be possible to carry out this way.
Accepting payment
Once you’ve converted a customer, the next stage of the journey is accepting their payment.
Going cashless is technically better for the environment. While electronic payments require use of energy, depositing cash requires extra journeys to the bank.
Reducing paper receipts can also have a positive impact on the environment. This could include sending digital receipts via email (although this does require knowing a customer’s email address) or simply giving customers the option to print or not print out a receipt to save paper and ink.
Companies deadset on improving their carbon footprint could also consider asking for donations to environmental causes during the payment stage. Such donations could go towards funding projects like ocean cleanups, planting trees or conservation of endangered animals.
Delivering your product/service
The customer has made their payment and now it’s time to give them their product. Making sure that this product is environmentally-designed is hugely important if you want to be a green business. This could include making sure ingredients in a dish are locally sourced, or building furniture out of organic/recycled materials.
Packaging is the biggest element to consider and this is typically designed to be disposed of immediately. Many companies are reducing their reliance on plastic packaging – although many plastics can be recycled, a lot of plastic still ends up in landfill sites where it won’t degrade for hundreds of years. Cardboard packaging and paper bags are biodegradable and much better for the planet. Look into companies that provide high-quality green packaging to make sure packaging is still robust and professional enough for use.
In the case of online retail, how a product is shipped is also very important to consider. Faster shipping options are typically worse for the environment, but it does depend on the couriers you choose and the vehicles they use. To encourage more customers to use greener shipping methods, some companies now offer a ‘green shipping’ option that optimises use of electric vehicles or eco-friendly routes – while slower, customers who aren’t in a hurry to receive their product may choose this option to reduce their carbon footprint, especially if it is cheaper than standard shipping.
Building loyalty
Many businesses rely on a steady stream of return customers. When encouraging customers to reuse your company, think about how you can inspire retention through green methods, or potentially even use green incentives.
This could include saying no to traditional newsletters and sticking to email mailing lists for promotions and news. If customers have the option to donate to causes with each purchase, you could also show customers how much they’ve donated over time and even set donation goals (a few cents from each purchase could go towards the planting of a tree, and you could use progress bar to show how close a customer is to funding a single tree).
In some instances, you may even be able to encourage customers to become advocates for your brand using eco-friendly methods. Reusable branded bags and reusable branded coffee cups are examples of this used by companies that reduce waste, while also inspiring loyalty, all while marketing your brand to new potential customers.
