Welcome back to Ecodrive’s guide to using corporate sustainability as both a powerful tool for environmental change and for growing your business.

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What is The Impact of Going Green?

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Increasing on-site conversions

Companies who go green are proven to be rewarded with increased sales, stronger consumer trust and an uptick in revenue.

But how much can offering your customers access to sustainable projects actually help your business?

Well, the impact can be significant.

Ecodrive clients offering incentives such as tree planting or pulling plastic from the ocean see an average increase of 17% in on-site conversions, with consumers far more likely to complete a checkout when presented with the option to purchase sustainably (as in the image below).

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Sustainable incentives also work extremely well when deployed as part of automated abandoned cart emails and SMS marketing, encouraging repeat purchases and reconnecting with previously defunct consumers, without offering discounts to your brand.

At Ecodrive, we offer the ability to incentivize almost every aspect of your online store:

• On a per order basis (drive conversions and repeat purchases)
• On orders over a certain dollar amount (this helps to incentivize Average Order Value. For instance, instead of a typical “Free Shipping” offer, our clients see success with promotional wording such as “we remove x amount of plastic from the ocean for orders above $x)
• On specific products or all products (helps to sell-through inventory and increase AOV)
• Via customer opt-in (this option is completely free for your brand and allows you to pass the costs to customers).

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Moreover, increased oversight with regards to understanding who your more eco-friendly shoppers are is a powerful tool to help segment customers and deliver targeted marketing.

Data driven marketing can help you to take sales to the next level.

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Driving Repeat Purchases Through Strategic Post-Purchase Emails That ACTUALLY Track the Evidence of Your Customers Impact

Crucially, all Ecodrive backed projects are verified on the ground. If you or your customer opted to plant a tree or pull a pound of plastic as part of their purchase, we make sure it happens, and have the data to prove it.

Not only does this allow for complete transparency, it also allows you as a business to incentivize repeat purchases.

A spike in sales due to a seasonal promotion is great in the short-term. Capturing repeat purchases long into the future is even better.

With Ecodrive, you can re-engage with customers in a unique way at key timelines to encourage long-term brand loyalty.

Impact update emails sent 30, 90 days, and 6 months after first contact can remind customers of the positive impact of their purchase, when their tree is planted or how much plastic has been removed from a particular ocean.

Tracking impact is an excellent excuse to touch base with your customers.

Combining check-in emails with CTAs encouraging consumers to shop again and continue supporting good causes is a sure-fire way of securing long-term revenue.

For example, an eco-friendly promotion started this week could reap huge rewards around Black Friday and Cyber Monday - times when you’ll naturally check back in with customers.

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Email flows illustrating exactly how your customer’s purchase has contributed to your chosen environmental projects is an excellent method of fostering brand loyalty.

Ecodrive clients report that their customers are 5x more likely to purchase again after receiving impact tracking emails!

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And those purchases can be incredibly valuable. Returning customers spend 31% more than new customers, and are 50% more likely to try new products, highlighting the importance of maintaining ongoing communication with your eco-conscious customers well after the holiday spike.

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Gaining Access to Major Chains and Opening More Retail Doors

Aligning your business with sustainable values can work just as well in-store as it does online.

Major retailers such as Whole Foods and Sprouts actively look to carry the products of environmentally friendly companies. Tangible impact helps develop these relationships even further.

Ecodrive clients have had huge success when tying in-store purchases to real-world projects, offering promotions such as a tree planted for each product sold, or committing to remove as much ocean plastic as is produced within their supply chain.

Customers react extremely positively to such incentives also, meaning everybody wins!

Providing QR codes with project information and tracking data can further engage retail shoppers and create deep brand loyalty.

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During Earth Month, Kodiak Cakes partnered with Ecodrive to facilitate a campaign in which they planted trees for in-store sales at Sprouts.

The results were dramatic.

Kodiak Cakes had their highest ever month of sales in Sprouts Retail:

• $67,000 increase in Incremental Dollar Sales
• 95.2% increase in Units (versus previous year)
• 11,000 trees planted
• 7,480,000 est. tons of C02 removed over tree’s lifetime

This helped Kodiak build on and enhance their own relationship with Sprouts while acquiring valuable data on their retail shopper, allowing them to re-engage down the road.

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In conclusion, going green is not just for the short-term. It’s proven to seriously improve your conversion rates, AOV and LTV, drive repeat purchases, and catch the eye of major retailers in your space.

There’s never been a better time to align yourself with sustainable projects. Doing so with the correct strategy and data management is key.

In Part 3 of our educational series in partnership with S.C.A.L.E we’ll show you exactly how you can get started on your journey with Ecodrive.

Have questions in the meantime? Contact us here.

Need help reaching retailers? Contact our partners at RangeMe here

Looking to scale your digital marketing efforts and better tell your story? Contact our friends at Hawke Media here.

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