Conscious Customers

Conscious customers are aware and mindful of the impact of our purchasing decisions on the environment and society. We take into account factors like sustainability, ethics, and how organizations treat people.

From a business perspective, the goal of advertising is to attract and entice us as new customers or to get our business again. But isn’t it the experience we have that will keep us engaged?  

What many companies have yet to understand is that everything rests on creating trust, which ultimately results in solid long-term relationships with conscious customers. 

And when people care about brands like Be Good to People, for example, we create trusted communities. But it takes conscious leadership, caring and effort to build trust. It is also weaved into the fabric of the organization’s DNA. 

The Disconnect

Did you know (or care) that the global digital advertising market in 2023 is valued at $681.39 billion. This is only 69% of the overall expenditure on media ads that ‘brands’ spend.  And in 2019, the entire customer ecosystem spend was at $323 billion.

Is there an inherent disconnect between the spending that goes into acquiring customers and providing customer service? Would it make more sense to invest in sustainable relationships and build strong supportive communities of connected conscious customers? 

It does but the current world is still very much goal-oriented around hitting the numbers. There is much less attention set on the holistic experience provided because most organizations are siloed by design. And the internal departments probably don’t talk to each other if it is a large organization.

It’s also interesting that to brand, advertise, and broadcast, companies hire experts to reel in more and more people who will increase revenues. But to build the relationship, once acquired, we automate the systems for “greater efficiency and productivity.” And often senior leadership is not aware of the importance of communities. 

Conscious Customers and Businesses

We have a huge opportunity to build living systems based on why we’re in business and maybe create new metrics around community building. There is a whole word to tap into. And maybe we can use some human intelligence around when to position people, automated systems and AI. 

Just like we want meaning in our lives and relationships, many of us now want to give our business to conscious businesses who not only care about us but also care about society and the planet. Trust is the currency and to build it we connect human to human with purpose. 

At this intersection, the choices conscious customers make matter when it comes to who and what we consume. This is why asking questions and setting expectations is key. 

And for people running marketing and customer service, this is an opportunity to build whole systems with the human in the center. This is an opportunity to integrate systems and technologies and create holistic end-to-end customer experiences.

If we each raised the bar on how we want to be treated, companies will need to respond to our needs. But if we simply put up with poor service then that’s what we will receive, every time.

What if everything comes down to trust, relationships and community? How do we want to be valued and what do we value?