Green Marketing Claims Have Little Impact on the Purchase Decisions of Men

A new survey from Radius Global Market Research shows that women remain the most receptive to Environmental Responsibility messages.

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Radius Global Market Research

Oct 11, 2011, 08:00 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As U.S. marketers continue to increase spending on product development and marketing aimed at environmentally conscious consumers, a new study by leading research firm Radius Global Market Research shows that there's a good chance that green marketing efforts targeting men may be falling on deaf ears.

"More and more dollars are being dedicated to green marketing initiatives built to associate brands with environmental responsibility," says Chip Lister, Managing Director of Radius. "But our survey results show that in spite of this increase in spending, the majority of men are not significantly influenced by environmental responsibility when they make a purchase."

The Radius Know More™ internet panel survey asked U.S. consumers to rate brand attributes across a broad range of products and services in terms of the amount of influence they had on their decision to purchase.

Results show that when it comes to environmental responsibility, women consumers are much more receptive to marketing messages. A brand's reputation for being "green" matters nearly twice as much to women as it does to men.

Key differences between genders don't end with environmental responsibility.

Women place importance on a wider range of brand values than do men. Both men and women ranked the same three issues as having the most influence over purchases: (1) Value; (2) Quality; and (3) Trust. After that, however, men appear to be influenced little by any other brand values.

"We found that the value men and women place on environmental responsibility is part of a much broader pattern," says Lister. "Men are influenced by a much smaller set of brand attributes when they make purchase decisions. Marketers that stray too far from these core attributes run the risk of not being heard. By contrast women seem readily affected in their brand decisions by issues that could almost be considered 'bigger', certainly well outside the more direct or tangible deliverables offered by the brand/product."

Radius's study was conducted in the third quarter of 2011 and surveyed U.S. households. The firm's proprietary Know More™ panel represents over 3.4 million households, with over 6 million consumers in the U.S. and over 1.5 million consumers in Canada, the U.K. and Europe, Australia and Scandinavia.

About Radius Global Market Research

Radius Global Market Research is one of the largest independent market research companies in the U.S. The company's proprietary tools provide unique insights, effective processes and unmatched experience resulting in proven return on investment for leading global marketers in categories including: consumer products, financial services, pharmaceutical, communications, and traditional/new media. The firm is No. 33 on the Honomichl listing of the top 50 U.S. market research organizations. Headquartered in New York, Radius employs more than 100 people in key markets throughout the U.S. and Europe. More information can be found at www.radius-global.com.

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Chip Lister
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SOURCE Radius Global Market Research