Closing the sustainability intention-action gap: understanding & influencing customer behaviour
I’ve worked with a range of companies where there has been a lively debate around whose responsibility it is to drive sustainable change; do businesses lead the way or rely on their customers to ‘vote with their feet’ and stop buying unsustainable products first? I am firmly in the ‘lead the way’ camp, with the primary reason being humans are complicated and imperfect.
There is a lot of research into the psychology of behaviour and decision making that shows even if we want to make positive change, we don’t always act accordingly. This leads to the phenomenon of the ‘intention-action gap’ that we see in sustainable buying behaviour.
How do we get around this and better support our customers in making positive decisions for the planet? In this post I’ll explore what influences buying behaviour and how businesses can use this knowledge for good.
What influences buying behaviour?
There are a number of really interesting frameworks to explain the consumer mindset, I’ve combined some of my favourites(1) to articulate the key areas that influence behaviour below.
The diagram splits the influencing factors on a person’s buying decision into three key areas (individual, product and decision point). These interact with each other to eventually generate the behaviour choice a person makes and the consequences of that behaviour.
Below I’ll go into a bit of detail behind each of the sections and then what this could mean for your business and influencing consumer behaviour.
The three areas influencing consumer behaviour:
Area 1: Individual
This is split into two sections, individual attributes and social norms:
Individual attributes
These include a person’s values and beliefs, their knowledge (sustainability related and otherwise) and self identity (how they perceive themselves in relation to the world around them)
Social norms
This considers the culture and society a person lives in as well as the structures and behaviours that are seen as normal in their environment
All of the above provide the individual with a start point for how they would like to act as a consumer, their ‘intention’ if you will.
Area 2: Product
We then add the ‘product’ into the mix, the two main influencing areas here are product attributes and marketing:
Product attributes
These are the features and characteristics, along with the benefits it provides the customer. Here we are also considering how they access the product; is it from the local shop, next day delivery or a 3 month wait etc.
Specific attributes vary in importance to customers depending on the product, e.g. furniture is seen as something that will be kept for a while and therefore durable materials are desirable. In contrast to this, clothing is a key way to express identity and creativity, therefore durability may not be as high up on the wish list as aesthetic appeal.(2)
Product marketing
This is the marketing message and methods used to communicate. This includes marketing channel, tone of voice, content, packaging, labelling, certification provided, brand etc.
Area 3: Decision making
People don’t interact with products in isolation though. We are not making all of our buying decisions on our ‘best’ days, where we fully adhere to the values we would like to, we’re all human and therefore other elements tend to come into the mix. The drivers here are habits, emotions and outside influences.
Habits
Behaviours we perform regularly, research has shown that 40% of daily behaviours are habits (Duke University), so we can see that these play a big factor in how we act
Emotions
How we’re feeling in the moment and leading up to the buying decision
Outside influences
This is any other element of the situation that might impact a person’s decision. An example of this, is that research has shown if we are feeling connected to the environment (e.g. in nature) we are more likely to make sustainable purchase choices.(2)
All of this to say, it’s not as simple as “if customers really want to shop sustainably they will”. In any buying decision, ‘individual’, ‘product’ and ‘decision making’ factors are combined together to reach the outcome. Thus whatever we can do as businesses to encourage sustainable behaviour we should.
What does this mean for business?
The two main take-aways to consider:
Businesses need to understand their customers.
Through considering social norms and common individual attributes in customer groups we can better shape our products and marketing to suit the needs of a customer as we transition to a sustainable offering. This might mean that we learn customers have a sustainability knowledge gap in our product area that we can help to fill through marketing. Or, for example, that durability is incredibly important so can’t be sacrificed in the sustainable version of our product.
Point of sale is key in helping transition to sustainable behaviour (whether this be online or in-store).
Businesses should consider how can they help customers break bad habits, form new ones and avoid emotions leading to making unsustainable choices.
I’d love to know your thoughts on this topic and if you’re interested in receiving insights that are relevant to your industry, leave your details here and we’ll send over more tailored information.
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References:(1) Frameworks & theories combined / referenced: Comprehensive action determination model, Theory of reasoned action and behaviour, Theory of planned behaviour, Value-Attitude-Behaviour model, Norm-activation model, Integrative influence model of pro-environmental everyday behaviour by Ellen Matties (2) Zhang, X. and Dong, F., 2020. Why Do Consumers Make Green Purchase Decisions? Insights from a Systematic Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, [online] https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17186607. 