Green consumers are skeptical

By most measures, Montreal-based Via Vegan Ltd. is an environmentally friendly company. The stylish vegan wallets and purses of the 14-year-old firm are made without the use of animal products and contain at least one recycled element. Sold under the Matt & Nat brand name, Via Vegan’s products seem to be a perfect fit for the increasingly sought-after class of consumers who want to buy “green” wares — and are willing to pay a premium for them.

Yet Via Vegan’s efforts to trumpet the eco-sensitive attributes of its products are subdued, limited to a few descriptive lines on its website. At a time when companies everywhere are wooing the “conscious consumer” with green claims, founder and president Inder Bedi has chosen not to follow the herd. “There’s a certain humility in not putting a green sticker on everything,” he says. And in the wild world of eco-friendly marketing claims, pride can kill you.

Bedi’s approach exemplifies the caution that more Canadian entrepreneurs should apply to green marketing. For one, your cash might be better invested somewhere other than in promoting the environmental merits of your product or service. “If you ask most people if they’re interested in buying green, they’re going to say yes. Who’s going to say no?” says Jacqueline Ottman, New York-based author of The New Rules of Green Marketing. “But something changes from the time most people say, ‘Yes, I’m into green,’ to the time they actually buy it.” When push comes to shove in the battle for these buyers’ wallets, environmental merits lose out to other considerations, such as price and quality.

However, there’s no gap between intent and action within the conscious-consumer segment — and that’s where the real opportunity and risk of green marketing comes into play. Although less than 15% of Canadians fall into this “lifestyles of health and sustainability” (LOHAS) demographic, their numbers are growing, says Scott McDougall, president and CEO of TerraChoice Environmental Marketing, an Ottawa-based consultancy focused on sustainability. Furthermore, they represent a lucrative market: in general, they’ll pay a premium from 20% and 30% for an eco-friendly option, he says.

Those are tempting numbers. But before you start courting conscious consumers, it’s important to know that you’re not dealing with the average impulse buyers; conscious consumers are highly skeptical and will take the time to research your green claims. “Those consumers who most want green products are the least likely to believe what a company tells them,” McDougall explains. “If you’re positioning a product for them as the greenest of the green — whether or not you want to put a price premium on it — you really have to be thorough in understanding the environmental consequences of your product and in your explanation of those consequences.”

Charles Chang knows this first-hand. Chang is president of Sequel Naturals Ltd., a Port Coquitlam, B.C.-based food processor that makes its products out of efficiently grown, nutrient-dense organic ingredients. The company markets itself as a sustainable option, and its products are premium-priced.

Chang has created a number of safeguards to back up the company’s green claims — and its pricing. Sequel has also invested “tens of thousands” of dollars in partnering with a third-party agency to conduct a product lifecycle analysis on its flagship product, a meal-replacement powder. The study found that the Sequel meal produced 38 times fewer greenhouse-gas emissions over its complete life cycle, from sourcing to disposal, than a traditional bacon-and-eggs breakfast — a fact that Sequel pushes heavily in its marketing efforts.

Chang took this approach because, after years in the natural-foods business, he is well acquainted with conscious consumers. “Do customers pay more for this? Yes, the conscious consumer will,” says Chang. “[But] these customers are the most skeptical about ‘greenwashing.’ When you’re perceived as trying to exploit, as opposed to being authentic, you’ll be worse off than you would have been had you not mentioned it at all.”

Examples of high-profile, consious-consumer backlashes are numerous. When Los Angeles-based Fiji Water started marketing its bottled spring water as a green choice, bloggers pounced on it, condemning the company’s use of PET plastic and the high carbon footprint of transporting water around the world. It didn’t take long for the bloggers’ arguments to get picked up by the mainstream media and damage the brand.

The prospect of such trouble keeps Bedi away from adopting an overtly green marketing strategy. While he believes his company produces a very small carbon footprint, he also believes that the conscious consumer is looking for perfection — and he’s not fully confident Via Vegan could pass muster in every measure of sustainability.

“What if we’re not perfectly green? You have to be very careful about how you label yourself,” says Bedi. “If you sell other products that might not be environmentally friendly, the [conscious consumer is] going to find out. And with social networking and the media, the news will get out very, very quickly.”

It’s a concern in the business-to-business market, too. In today’s economic climate, few business buyers are willing to break strict budgets for a sustainable option, says Susan Moore, director of sustainability at Oakville, Ont.-based Lakeside Logistics Inc., which has implemented — and marketed — a program that allows customers to choose sustainable shipping options. Many clients look for this when choosing a provider, and are educated enough to ask the difficult questions.

“We have to be able to substantiate what we do, very carefully and very astutely,” says Moore, pointing to Lakeside’s custom greenhouse-gas reporting tool as one example. “I’d rather downplay the program than say something I’m not comfortable saying. Once you’re seen greenwashing, you’re done.”

Chang, Bedi and Moore take an all-or-nothing approach to green marketing. But McDou­gall believes you don’t have to be perfect as long as you’re transparent. If you start with full disclosure about your environmental footprint and demonstrate a sincere effort to meet improvement targets, you can catch the attention of many conscious consumers.

McDougall says the most important thing is to start with an honest appraisal of your company’s complete environmental impact, and then go to market with your achievements in reducing that impact. “You should be proud to lay claim to these, and you should expect the market to reward you for the incremental steps you’ve made,” he advises. “But don’t overstate those steps. In almost every case of greenwashing, the problem is overstatement.”

McDougall believes that this open-book approach appeals to some — but not all — conscious consumers because it demonstrates a firm’s sincere commitment to running a more eco-friendly business.

Ultimately, he says, gaining the trust of conscious consumers is usually worth the hassles. The sooner a firm can stand up to intense scrutiny, the sooner it can effectively market itself as a leader in this growing niche.