Green Marketing Works

Consumers spend more with firms that promote their green credentials in their marketing messages, new research for the Royal Mail has found.

The findings of ‘Green Marketing: What Works; What Doesn't - A Marketing Study of Practitioners' were released earlier this month from daily online energy and environmental publication Environmental Leader and Watershed Publishing.

Direct mail, the report also discovered, was one of the most popular channels for promoting green credentials. The study examined the use of green marketing techniques and found that marketers perceive green marketing to have real value for their businesses. Just 7% said it was less effective than the average marketing message, with more than 80% of respondents saying they expected to spend more on green marketing in the future.

The most popular medium for green marketing currently is the internet with 74% having spent money online. Print came second at 49%, followed by direct mail at 40%. Outdoor (7%), radio and TV (7%), and mobile (6%) were used far less for promoting green marketing messages.

Another interesting finding was that the respondents who used the most trackable media were also those for whom green marketing worked better than the average marketing message. Nearly half (48%) of those who used direct marketing in their media mix said it was more, or much more effective, indicating that green marketing works better than those who can't - or don't - measure results think.

‘We found customers were willing to pay more for the same product when presented in a green marketing message,' says Jennifer Nastu, the study's co-author. ‘This was generally seen as a nice opportunity, as most firms perceived that they were greener than customers initially thought they were.'