Pitfalls of Sustainability Communication

Responsible companies communicate their sustainability efforts, yet consumers still don’t buy. Why does the value-action gap, or the green gap, persist?

It’s clear that consumer behavior is influenced by many external factors. However, this makes it even more important for sustainably operating companies to communicate in ways that strengthen their competitiveness.

In this article, I highlight 4 potential reasons why sustainability communication may not work the way the companies had hoped for. What these pitfalls have in common is that they relate to how sustainability communication can support a company’s commercial goals: the value-action gap is bridged when a purchase decision is made.

The following points are based on my own observations, experience in sustainability communication, and research conducted on the value-action gap.

The Customer Journey Breaks Off

Sustainability communication is most effective in bridging the value-action gap when it is integrated naturally into the entire customer journey. Without taking the whole consumer decision-making process into account, the journey remains incomplete from a sustainability communication perspective. I would argue that sustainability communication often “clusters” narrowly around societal or corporate-level factors that generate positive purchase intentions but do not actually drive the purchase.

It’s likely that the value–action gap shapes the way sustainability communication is typically structured. When people generally say they want to buy responsibly produced clothing and support companies that operate responsibly, we easily assume that communication reflecting these statements will have a stronger impact than it actually does. By emphasizing these sustainability factors in our messaging, we may end up communicating to a theoretical customer rather than the real one.

As highlighted in the newsletter The Gap, positive intentions alone are not enough to bridge the value-action gap. Decisions are influenced by personal needs, wants, and everyday realities. Sustainability communication can play a meaningful role in guiding the journey, from first interest to life after purchase.

The Function Is Unclear

Sustainability communication is often assumed to add value on its own, without much reflection on what it’s actually meant to achieve. Like most activities, communicating about sustainability is easier when objectives are clear. Even so, the role of consumer-facing sustainability communication is often left undefined.

Meeting general expectations, regulatory requirements, and standards is, of course, a natural and necessary starting point. Yet this alone does not clarify what sustainability communication aims to achieve in the customer journey or what role it plays in the company’s overall communication.

When the function of communication is unclear, two potential approaches tend to emerge in practice:

• Following a model from other companies. This is likely to work to a certain point, but it may fail to leverage the company’s unique qualities that are crucial for bridging the value-action gap.
• Creating a unique approach: Without a clear function, communication becomes intuitive, and its impact on the customer journey is unpredictable and unplanned.
  

Both approaches can be valid starting points, but without a guiding function, reaching the full potential of sustainability communication is left to chance.

Sustainability Information as Self-Service

A traditional channel for sustainability communication is the company website, where sustainability information is gathered in its own section. This is a good and effective practice that helps customers find information, and it works best when the sustainability section is carefully integrated into the customer journey. But without thoughtful connections to the customer journey, sustainability information can remain isolated, relying solely on the customers own activity.

I´d say that we often rely too heavily on the customer’s initiative and willingness to explore websites and sustainability information in depth. When sustainability information is purely self-service, its potential added value is easily lost.

Ignoring  the Barriers

From a sustainability-focused mindset, it’s easy to forget that sustainability does not automatically represent the same values for everyone and can even carry negative associations. Research shows that sustainable clothing can trigger biases related to design, quality, comfort, and price. Attitudes based on personal experience, assumptions, or hearsay can work against a brand. 

These same factors appear at multiple points along the customer journey and ultimately shape the final purchase decision.

Ignoring the barriers to purchasing from the consumer’s perspective limits our ability to reduce or remove them effectively through communication.

Some might argue that these are not, strictly speaking, issues of sustainability communication. Still, they play an essential role. Building value and strengthening the status of sustainable clothing can take many forms, including those that sit at the margins of sustainability communication, all aiming to bridge the same gap.

Where the Pitfalls Come From

What these pitfalls have in common is that the role of sustainability communication in different stages of the customer journey often remains partially unfinished, or the potential in each stage is not fully utilized.

Often, these issues stem from not fully understanding the consumer’s decision-making process or their true motivations, or from not recognizing the opportunities that this understanding could create. When sustainability communication is considered more broadly, as an integral part of the company’s overall communication and operations, the potential to bridge the value-action gap grows in ways that may not have been anticipated before.

How can I help you avoid the pitfalls?

In my services, I teach companies how insights from behavioral psychology can be applied to sustainability communication to bridge the value-action gap. You’ll learn the stages and factors of consumer decision-making and discover the opportunities they present.

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In the next  article, I will continue exploring the pitfalls of sustainability communication, diving into aspects related to the meaning and logic of communication from the consumer’s perspective.