Eco Pulse
Forget everything you thought you knew about green marketing.
Start fresh with Eco Pulse™ 2010.
While 64% of Americans are searching for greener products, a lot of those folks don't realize they are—and some wouldn't admit it if they did.
Motivations for buying green go beyond being green; they change drastically across different product categories—and depend on the consumer segment doing the shopping. While Green Living Pulse™ focuses solely on those Americans who are buying and searching for green products to give you a deeper dive of their attitudes and personalities, Eco Pulse™ is our baseline survey of all consumers’ perceptions―identifying how consumers define green, which green product categories and attributes are most appealing and how sustainable initiatives impact corporate image.
In other words. Eco Pulse helps you size your market, identify your best opportunities and teaches you what your product needs to grab your consumer’s attention; Shelton Group then takes you from search to sale with expertly targeted advertising
Now in its third year, Eco Pulse tracks a number of additional green consumer issues, such as product perceptions, purchase drivers and topical knowledge. This year, we…
- Identified green packaging call-outs that will make consumers pick your product off the shelf.
- Asked consumers their criteria for categorizing a product or a company as "green."
- Determined purchase propensity for green products in a variety of categories, from personal care products to furniture.
- Measured the importance placed on sustainable features compared to more traditional features (such as efficacy, brand and price) in a variety of product categories.
- Identified the impact of sustainable features on price elasticity in these product categories and answered the questions, "Who is willing to pay more for greener products, and how much are they willing to pay?"
- Trended green purchase behaviors and measured the impact of the down economy on green product purchases.
- Measured green engagement and environmental activism regarding purchase decisions.
- Segmented consumers into four green buying segments, ranging from Active to Indifferent.
Weighing in at more than 500 pages, Eco Pulse 2010 includes audience profiles and segmentation, cross-tabulations, charts and graphs for each question asked in the survey, and conjoint analyses of green features in four product categories, identifying which positively impact price elasticity. Get insight into your questions for the hottest green topics:
- Belief in global warming. It’s down, but has this affected green purchases?
- Me, myself and I. During these tough economic times, is buying green still a priority?
- The gender divide. Are women still outspending men in all things green?
- Missed marketing opportunities. The green consumer has a stereotype. Is your target who you think it is?
- Certification and labels. What are consumers really looking at?
- A little more talk and a lot more action. How effective is the conservation conversation?
- Green features. What's most important across multiple product categories?
Want to see more? Here’s a sneak peek into a few pages straight out of the report:
Bottom line—here’s what you can expect from Eco Pulse:
- Clear direction on how to position your product for success in an increasingly competitive market
- Insights that penetrate to the core of your green marketing campaign principles
- Information that will change the way you think about your target consumer
- Fresh insight into what motivates your consumers to choose green—whether they mean to or not
Eco Pulse Methodology
Methodology: Shelton designed a quantitative survey fielded via the Internet January 12–20, 2010. The survey contained a mix of fixed-response alternative questions, Likert scale questions and discrete choice questions. Shelton Group utilized Survey Sampling International's online community of more than 3.5 million respondents for sampling. The survey was geographically stratified to mirror the geographic distribution of the population age 18–74 (208,697,527) in the United States. Survey sample data were also weighted slightly to match U.S. age, education, gender and ethnicity. The survey yielded 1,000 complete responses, for a 95 percent confidence level and a confidence interval of +/- 3.1 percent (margin of error).
Conjoint methodology: Eco Pulse tested the power of green features compared to standard features such as brand, price and efficacy claims for four product categories in a series of conjoint analysis product selection questions. Survey participants were asked to choose between three products (six or eight times) displaying a random mix of product attributes. We found that the importance placed on green features varies dramatically by product category. Note: We use the term "green" very broadly in this section of the study (as we've found consumers do). In this analysis, we've categorized natural or healthy ingredients as green features, along with features like recycled packaging, energy efficiency and green certifications.
Conjoint categories:
Personal care products
Respondents who purchase baby wipes were asked to choose eight times between three different disposable baby wipe concepts that were built via a randomly generated mix of product features including moistening ingredient, baby wipe material, disposal, packaging, 72-count pack price and brand.
Food
Respondents were asked to choose six times between three different soup products reflecting a random mix of product features, including dietary benefits, natural/organic ingredients, endorsement/certification marks, flavor, brand and price.
Apparel
Respondents were asked to choose six times between three different T-shirt product concepts with a random mix of features, including fabric, dyes, manufacturing practices, brand, price and cause-related options.
Electronics
Respondents were asked to choose six times between three different television product concepts with a random mix of features, including size, price, energy efficiency, brand and format.
Consumer segments: Utilizing factor analysis, we found ten key questions that helped categorize respondents into one of four distinct groups: Actives, Seekers, Skeptics, and Indifferents. Eco Pulse dives deep into these segments to provide thorough information to help hone your next green marketing strategy, including the following demographic consumer information:
- Gender
- Location
- Education
- Occupation
- Household income
- Relationships
- Number of children
- Age range
- Ethnicity
- Political affiliation
- Home ownership
- Company environmental record influence
- Green purchase propensity across several product categories
- Green behaviors and activities