Sponsored by News
Tactics Views
Tactics
For example, most respondents noted that within their businesses the importance of environmental concerns had increased. They cited “consumer demand for more environmentally aware services”, “brand values”, “being seen to care”, and keeping up with the times, as the main reasons for the growing need to become more eco-friendly. When asked what factors prevented
environmental issues being more important to respondents’ businesses, only one individual answered “no buy-in at board level”. The most common factor was “money” closely followed by time and effort or involvement. The least common answer was “lack of knowledge or available information”; not surprising given the proliferation of green advice we receive as consumers on a daily basis.
Seen to be green Seventy-six percent of respondents
said it was either “important” or “very important” to their customers that the companies they are doing business with are environmentally friendly. In order to emphasise their commitment to becoming more eco-conscious, 21 percent were ISO 14001 accredited and a further 12 percent were working towards achieving the standard. Another benefit cited by one of the respondents was that having ISO 14001 accreditation helped him have the edge when securing favourable contract rates. For those that weren’t accredited, time and money were cited as a barrier for
Taking action
In order of greatest response to the Sustainability Tracking Study, the top six steps companies are taking to become more environmentally friendly are:
1 better list hygiene
2 asking suppliers to meet sustainability standards
3 moving from print to online
4 using less packaging for parcels 5 using recycled paper 6 sending catalogues naked
working towards the accreditation, with only two respondents citing the standard as “irrelevant” to their business. Two respondents also stated they did not know what ISO 14001 accreditation was. On the other hand, there was almost an even split regarding awareness of PAS 2020, a British Standards Institute (BSI) standard that is a framework of best practice to minimise waste (See page 19 for more on PAS 2020). Of those who had heard of it, some still didn’t know what it was, or said they had received confusing messages from the BSI.
In the mail
The study found that the majority of mailers do cleanse data before mailing, the most common practices are deduplication and running files against the Postcode Address File (PAF), Mailing Preference Service (MPS), and suppressing goneaways and deceased names. Half of respondents are using paper products containing recycled fibre within their direct mail pack and almost half of respondents are also including a recycle logo or message on the outside of their direct mail pieces in order to “increase the perception in the mind of the recipient that the brand cares about environmental issues”, “give confidence to customer”, and “to encourage customers to recycle the paper”. A few respondents also said they displayed the logo and used recycled fibres in order to achieve postal discounts using Royal Mail’s responsible/sustainable mail product.
pages 10-19
Special focus: The Green Issue Exploring eco-friendly print, consumer attitudes to direct mail, plus examples from the field
pages 20-21 Small-business spotlight
Adding video to your ecommerce website
pages 22-23 Contact centres
and customer services Is self-service just an excuse for poor service?
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40