DO YOU KNOW WHAT your CUSTOMERS THINK ABOUT YOUR SUSTAINABILITY performance?

We know that sustainability is an important part of the customer experience. We have worked on sustainability issues for over 30 years, but so far only as part of other studies. Now we are taking a big step forward.

In March 2022, our research results were published in Sustainability. The results show that sustainable development is an aspect that is playing an increasingly important role in the customer experience. The development of a model-based Sustainability Index is partly a result of EPSI’s many years of academic research on customer needs, preferences and drivers. EPSI’s Sustainability Index captures the customer’s view of whether their selected supplier is making investments with future generations in mind, is striving for financial success without sacrificing social or environmental factors, and whether the supplier is operating in a socially, environmentally and financially responsible manner.

“Adding a sustainability dimension from a customer perspective has been a big part of our research in recent years. We are now gradually introducing a separate Sustainability Index in our industry studies,” Love Westin explains. “This means that all the companies we measure in the future will be able to find out what their customers think of their sustainability performance, and how this affects satisfaction and loyalty.”

How do your customers experience your sustainability performance?

Read more by clicking on the image.

WHICH QUESTIONS CAN WE HELP YOU ANSWER?

IMPACT ON THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

EPSI Sustainability Index can give you an idea of ​​what your customers think of your sustainability performance, in the form of a clear rating. The index also tells us how this affects other elements of the customer experience. Using the index, we can answer questions such as: Does the customer see what you are doing to promote sustainability? What impact does this have on customer satisfaction, and on the overall customer experience?

SUSTAINABILITY FROM THE CUSTOMER’S PERSPECTIVE

We can also make deeper analyses through our Sustainability Model to explain the underlying aspects that drive the Sustainability Index, which in turn drives customer satisfaction. With this model, we can see what type of sustainability efforts matter most to your customers. This more in-depth study of the index can also answer questions such as: What type of sustainability efforts are most important for your customers? What do you need to do to make your customers perceive you as more sustainable?

IMPORTANT NOW, AND IT will only BECOme MORE IMPORTant.

For many years, we have had a question in our surveys about how our respondents rate their supplier’s performance on social responsibility. The picture shows the effect of corporate social responsibility on customer satisfaction. To put it simply, it is clear that customers are increasingly looking for suppliers who take responsibility.

SWEDISH RESULTS FOR 2021

Since 2020, we have been working on developing a sustainability index to measure customer-perceived sustainability. Why perceived sustainability? Why not just sustainability? Firstly, because sustainability as such is difficult to measure. Who decides what is actually sustainable? Secondly, we are seeing that perceived sustainability actually makes a difference. If you as a supplier excel in terms of sustainability and are rewarded for your efforts with more and more satisfied customers, that’s when we are making a difference for the world. If, on the other hand, you are promoting sustainability but have no customers then your sustainability efforts will have little impact.

In 2021, we collected data and now we are ready to launch the index and show our first real results. Looking at the Swedish results we see that the energy and insurance industries come out top, while the telecom industry has a lower rating. The figures shown are based on both private and corporate customers.

As this is the first year in which have compiled the index, there are no previous years to compare with. It is therefore difficult to say whether the scores are low or not. However, if we compare the figures with normal levels for other parts of the customer experience, and consider that the index is presented on a scale from 0–100, it is clear that there is significant scope for improvement.

Contact

Love Westin

Head of Research & Doctoral Student

+ 46 70 339 87 17
love.westin@kvalitetsindex.se

Karolina Kregert

Analyst

+46 70 381 65 55
karolina.kregert@kvalitetsindex.se