Comments on: Targeting Today’s Green Consumers

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 02 May 2009 15:16:53 +0000

I agree with your conclusion Amy, that there is no current “standard green” segmentation that really nails the green consumer down. We have a product that is a household consumable product alternative. It is somewhat unique in that it can provide the consumer a tangible ROI with a a purchase price of $25.00 and annual cost savings of $2,000.00 while still delivering tangible environmental benefits.

Our challenge was to cross reference consumer segmentation based on existing green consumer demographics and psychographics with buyer profiles for the traditional product our green product replaces. And then factor in consumers who will simply respond favorably to the cost savings (the one’s that believe the claims).

Once we nailed down (to the degree that we were satisfied with) the profile we again faced the challenge of identifying the media types that would effectively reach the profile, as the profile did not fit as well with media properties that are effective with more traditional consumer profiles.

This is a summary of our findings:

Age: 24 to 55
Gender: Male & Female
Marital Status: Single & Married
Education: Undergraduate degree and above
Household Income: $40,000.00 to $250,000.00
Political Orientation: Liberal, Moderate
Political Party Affiliation: Democrat, Green Party, Independent

Using this profile we ran a quick list search with Info USA and retrieved a list of approximately 2.5 Million national consumer contacts. As a blunt analytical tool, that gave us a ball park target of approximately (we’re rounding a bit here)1% of the US population that would be motivated to purchase.

Our original plan was solely to use Direct Response Television. In terms of buying channels we determined that the best way to buy was to sort the Metros by higher potential concentrations of our target green profile and concentrate our commercials on those most qualifying Metros (a smaller gross national reach)and redirect some of the DRTV commercial budget to direct mail to the same Metros we targeted. (Seattle, Portland, Eugene, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Denver, Boulder, Flagstaff)

Results: TBD

By: Ellen W

Ellen W — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:12:09 +0000

I haver read you article on Green consumers. I want to let you know that people need to read the label on the green products they are purchasing. A lot of them still contain chemicals that are dangerous to humans and the earht. People believe in the advertising they see on TV and magazines. But, they need to read the label. I use and sell Shaklee products which the company has and stands by their research. They have been the number 1 company in the US for being a natural company. They have been first to be climate neutral. Plus, they wre just recongizned for planting 1 million trees sicne 2006.
I have done my research before I purchase anything. If you truly want a green product. The main cleaing product Basic H has over 50 uses. Its concentrated.
Which meand you are not paying for water in the product you buy. I fyou wold like to learn more – please check out the company or go tomy web page at shaklee.net/walkerfamily.

We need to make people of what they are spending their money on and is it cost effective in this economy.

By: amy.hebard@earthsense.com

amy.hebard@earthsense.com — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:21:35 +0000

Amy, Nice examples, and I agree with your point that green is going mainstream. I’d love to share my Eco-Insights research with you — at Earthsense, we survey 30,000 people each wave (we’re in the field even as I speak with our Spring 2009 wave — our third) and have found that, for a number of products, the green mass market is emerging. We also find that this is very specific for different products. Our own “green” segmentation — Dimensions — is a great framework for understanding consumers’ profiles and the discrepancy that is often still very much there between positive intentions and follow-through behavior. However, as more and more green segmentations proliferate — segmentation soup, anyone? — it’s increasingly clear that the targets and the positioning for different products need to be tailored far beyond what generic green segmentations can accomplish. My advice? Figure out the best audience for your product and tailor your targeting and messaging accordingly.