Making sustainability cost effective

Utility Week speaks to Institute of Customer Service chief executive Jo Causon about the opportunities for utilities to tap into growing consumer zeal for sustainable products and services. She stresses that while the public is keen to go green, businesses must also counter concerns around the cost of doing so.

Q: Have you seen the role of environmental concerns and sustainability in customer decision-making change in recent years?

JC: The simple answer is absolutely it has changed and it has moved from what might have been seen more as corporate social responsibility issue to being much more mainstream and important in terms of customer decision making.

According to our Green Goes Mainstream? Customer service and the green agenda report, 20% of customers have deliberately chosen an environmentally sustainable product in the last 12 months and something like 12% of people have said that they’ve stopped buying products which are not sustainably sourced because of their adverse impact on the environment.

There have been some terrible things that have happened as a result of Covid, but maybe because we have been more at home and been a bit more reflective on our local environments, I think there’s been a bit more of a shaping around being more mindful of our footprints. I think we are seeing a shift and, if you look at our research, the areas that are particularly being drawn out are utilities, health, beauty and retail where there definitely has been an increase in awareness.

However what customers are telling us is that yes, there is an increasing desire, but they’ve also got many other things that they’re having to navigate at the moment – obviously cost is a part of that – so there’s a really big challenge to us as organisations about making sustainability more cost effective.

Q: How have you seen companies get creative with their messaging or activities to cater for this change in mindset?

JC – I think you’re starting to see organisations genuinely thinking more innovatively and as 55% of customers say that in the next five years environmental sustainability will either remain or become one of the highest priorities for them, there is the sense that it’s not just short term.

To give you some examples, Marks and Spencer created a series of concise, specific messages that were talking about what they were doing on this, including on farming standards, animal welfare, ethical sourcing of products and a large insurance company talked about offering claimants brand new or recycled parts for repairs – and saw quite a significant uptick in people choosing recycled parts.

Obviously the utility world has also seen a significant increase of energy providers – people like Octopus, Bulb etc. – being very clear about what their position is.

Q: How do you feel COP26 will change consumer attitudes towards sustainability?

JC –My general sense is that there is a significant increase in awareness – which has got to be a good thing. But obviously, this requires all of us to play our part, whether that’s around organisations, government, countries, and consumers.

I think that it is likely to continue that push in consumers wanting more sustainable products and services, and again I think that’s a good thing. But we’ve got to see action on the back of that. I think the hard work happens when we leave the conference.

Q: From the Institute of Customer Service’s perspective, what are the standout points or lessons from COP26?

JC – I think it shows just how connected we are. The world’s a very small place – without sounding trite – and the impact we are having on each other requires organisations to work together far more for consumers.

The world has changed quite a lot in terms of both expectations and dialogue, so as organisations we’ve got to get much better at explaining our credentials, making it easy for customers to be able to choose the right thing and to do the right thing.