A brand’s commitment to the environment being “very important” to consumers jumped from 31% in August 2022 to 43% in March 2023, a 39% increase in a little more than six months, according to two surveys of 400+ US consumers.

About three-quarters of consumers said that a retailer being eco-friendly is at least “somewhat important” when shopping. In August 2022, seventy-four percent (74%) of respondents said a merchant’s commitment to the environment was at least “somewhat important” as they looked towards holiday shopping in 2022. The March 2023 survey found that 79% said it was “important” as they anticipate summer 2023 shopping. Optimove, the first Customer-Led Marketing platform, conducted the surveys.

In the August survey, forty-nine percent (49%) of respondents said they would pay a bit more to companies committed to the environment. A separate June 2022 survey revealed that 66% of Americans are willing to pay more for sustainable products.

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According to Pini Yakuel, CEO of Optimove, “Sustainability is becoming a ‘must have’ for brands – not a ‘nice to have.’ Consumers expect brands to be eco-friendly – as a result, we believe that they will avoid companies that harm the environment. We know that price and quality are the top determinants of consumer purchase. With that said, brands need to connect one-on-one with each consumer to determine their ‘hot button.’ We are in a world where consumers expect personalization. Brands that listen to consumers on issues like the environment and more will build loyalty.”

The Optimove 2022 Consumer Holiday Retail Shopping Survey queried 514 U.S. consumers in August 2022. The Optimove 2023 Consumer Summer Shopping Survey surveyed 400 U.S. consumers in March 2023. Respondents for each survey were ages 18-plus, 50% male/50% female (no respondents were non-binary or declined to answer), and household incomes were $75,000-plus.

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Optimove is the first Customer-Led Marketing Platform. Its solutions ensure that marketing always starts with the customer instead of a campaign or product. Customer-Led Marketing has been proven to deliver brands an average increase of 33% in customer lifetime value.

It is the only Customer-Led Marketing Platform powered by the combination of 1) rich historical, real-time, and predictive customer data, 2) AI-led multi-channel journey orchestration, and 3) statistically credible multi-touch attribution of every marketing action.

Optimove provides industry-specific and use-case solutions for hundreds of leading consumer brands including BetMGM, SodaStream, Pennsylvania Lottery, Papa John’s, and Staples.