Sustainability is fast becoming a key factor in many consumers' decision making processes. As we are all becoming more aware of our impact on the planet and the small changes we can make to reduce our global footprint. Choosing products and services based on the brand ethos and sustainability commitments is becoming increasingly important.

Here at Indeemo we have proudly supported many sustainability projects and got an invaluable insight into respondents' perception of sustainability and how companies can benefit from initiating sustainability policies into their way of operating. In this post we discuss how mobile ethnography, a remote qualitative research methodology can allow you to align your ethos with that of your consumers and create a more sustainable brand.

The Value of Sustainablility

Supporting sustainable business practices is no longer a “nice-to-have” but an essential step towards ensuring business continuity and sustainability.

Research shows that businesses implementing more socially conscious practices are able to:

• Build stronger communities

• Attract top talent 

• Drive higher profits

• Tap into increased customer demand

“Climate change and sustainability have become key decision factors for graduates and experienced hires. The report points out that nearly half of employees would accept smaller salaries to work for companies that prioritise sustainability. Furthermore, when choosing a company to work for, over 70% of people surveyed are more likely to work for a company that has a strong green footprint.” (Source: KPMG ).

Long term planning greatly outweighs the benefit of short terms gains. According to KPMG the shift towards sustainable business practices offers new growth and revenue opportunities “... the shift towards sustainable business practices offers new revenue opportunities due to demand for low emission and sustainable products and services from consumers. In Ireland we can see evidence of this shift through a rise in the availability and uptake of green products and services. For example, the value of organic retail sales in Ireland is €210m and in the renewable energy sector, the share of renewable electricity in 2019 was 33.2%.”

Patagonia - A Sustainable Brand

Looking at brands like Patagonia we can see just how powerful the socially conscious action truly is. With their effort to become carbon neutral by 2025 and the goal to proactively do good, the brand has been able to transform the way their employees and customers think about their part in supporting this mission. Their stance on climate change has also gained them a loyal following with CEO Rose Marcario saying  "We really know our customers and they know us, and what I see more is that younger people are coming to the brand because they recognize the climate crisis in a much different way than my generation, probably, and their experience is really first-hand." ( source : RetailDive ) 

Taking occasional ‘green’ actions and not seeing sustainability as a part of a long term plan no longer works. As customers’ understanding of sustainability and social responsibility grows so do their expectations. Rather than reacting to external challenges, businesses must ensure a more proactive approach to sustainability and see it as a part of their business growth strategy and ensure their practices support this mission. 

Sustainability - Going Beyond Reputation Management

A 2011 McKinsey study found that sustainability goes ‘beyond reputation management’ with 57 percent of respondents saying their companies have integrated sustainability into strategic planning - not only to align with their value and ethos but also to improve operational efficiency and lower costs. 

In a recent sustainability article by Nielsen, they argued that sustainability sells with products such as chocolate or bath products outperforming those with no environmental claims. The report also claims "Brands that are able to strategically connect (sustainability) to actual behaviour are in a good place to capitalise on increased consumer expectation and demand."

Even small sustainable actions can have a really positive impact on the organisation. Through understanding the customer and employee demands and making strategic, socially conscious decisions, sustainability can become the fuel for organisational growth. 

So How Does Qualitative Research Help With Sustainability?

Indeemo’s Mobile Ethnography application offers a unique, agile tool that allows for an honest insight into the customer behaviour and helps to establish what really matters to them. 

Mobile ethnography can help you establish what sustainable actions your customers take, what influences their choices, what inspires them, what challenges they face on a daily basis and how all these elements affect their decision making.

This intimate insight creates an invaluable opportunity to design a sustainable brand strategy that focuses on core customer values and aligns them with the organisational goals.

What is Mobile Ethnography? 

Mobile Ethnography is a form of qualitative research that allows researchers to remotely connect with respondents in any location, at any time via smartphone. It has a unique capability to give you an in-depth understanding of your respondents ‘in-context’ and in-the-moment experiences.  

By leveraging the power of the smartphone and using photo, video, notes, and mobile screen recording the researcher can connect with the respondent on a more intimate level. Combined with the probing capabilities of the researcher dashboard Digital Ethnography allows to explore ‘in-the-moment’ reasoning behind all respondent’s decisions.  This ‘in-context’ insight can help to shape the brand mission and design a product or service with sustainability at its core. The contect gathered during the research can not only help redesign a new, more socially conscious brand but help in building a strong community that shares similar ethos and passion. 

Capturing Powerful Insights

The Indeemo mobile ethnography app with a social networking / messaging style ensures fun and frictionless user experience. The familiar designs allows users to quickly familiarise with the interface and intuitively upload their responses promoting an organic and meaningful insight into their everyday lives.

As the researcher is not present, there is less of a risk of the ‘observer effect’.  Because respondents get to capture their own content, in their every-day context, the behaviours and feelings that are captured using mobile ethnography are highly authentic and do not contain the potential distortions possible due to the ‘researcher effect’ as described previously. 

Researchers who use mobile ethnography consistently tell us that the self-recorded behaviours captured in the familiar context of the respondent’s everyday lives are more intimate, authentic and revealing than any other data collection technique that the researchers have utilised before.

Mobile Ethnography and Sustainability

Our respondent app and researcher dashboard also enable you to run your project completely remotely, reducing the need for travel therefore reducing your carbon footprint. Thanks to the features such as recruiter or client login you can manage the project and share data and finding with all members of your team. The data can be easily analysed through the intuitive Indeemo dashboard and exported for the client. 

In the current challenging climate with social distancing still in place across many countries mobile ethnography can also allow for a socially sustainable business continuity plan ensuring the field work can still be carried out and research teams can continue their work with no interruptions. 

Transitioning to Mobile Ethnography 

When leveraging Mobile Ethnography as part of your remote qualitative research toolkit, you will need a completely new approach. What used to work with traditional methodologies or outdated technologies will not deliver the results you need. Shifting to a conversational approach will yield more impactful results and allow for a better understanding of the respondent. By keeping the tasks short you give your respondent’s an opportunity to take you on their journey and fully show their experience. In Mobile Ethnography ‘less is always more’ so design your projects around the end respondent keeping their user experience at the top of your agenda. Additional probing options within the Indeemo dashboard will also allow you to get an ‘in-the-moment’ and ‘in-context’ insight into their thinking process helping you understand their decision making on an even more intimate level. We understand undertaking a new methodology can be daunting but our dedicated strategists are there to help you to get the most out of the platform for your project.

Who is Remote Sustainability Research for? 

Mobile Ethnography and Diary Studies are cost-effective, scalable solutions. At Indeemo we support projects from Agencies, Enterprises, UX Designers, Official Institutions, Healthcare Providers and Independent brands. 

Conclusion 

The research clearly shows that more conscious, socially responsible brands have a significant advantage over their competitors. Companies that put sustainability at the forefront are enjoying increased brand loyalty, growing market share and increased revenues. Understanding the aspects of sustainability that really matter to the stakeholders can help to strengthen the brand ethos while aligning the company mission with sustainable goals. 

About Indeemo

Indeemo's mobile ethnography app and qualitative research platform helps researchers, designers, Insights teams, and brands capture authentic, in-context, in-the-moment behaviors and feelings that help them better understand what really matters to their customers. By merging mobile, video, and private social networking technologies, Indeemo's agile, mobile ethnography solution delivers rich, contextual insights at scale and in real-time.

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