Sustainability is everywhere. Today it is the focus of many businesses to look for more sustainable solutions, but how can you improve sustainability online? It’s a good question and one which, when the team at Fashion Rider raised the question, we thought we’d delve in and investigate a little further.
Sustainability, as we know, can be a great way to win over customers. Especially as the world is growing more and more eco-conscious and consumers demand environmental credentials from everyday brands.
Below we’ve collected some of our top tips on how you can improve your online sustainability:
Charity Donations
For every product/service sold, you could donate a percentage of the proceeds to a charity or environmental cause close to your heart. Explain why you’ve chosen the charity and that it doesn’t affect the price that the customer is paying.
Eco-friendly packaging
Look to use more eco-friendly packaging materials such as natural, recyclable materials. Often these can also be unique solutions that allow you to convey your brand perfectly.
Reduce packaging
Look at how you can reduce the packaging required to ship goods and services out to your customers. For example, Amazon now offers customers the choice of receiving their parcels separately as they are scheduled to arrive at different times. If a customer is happy to wait, they can be packaged up together to help reduce waste.
Check your Web Hosting
Web hosting can play an important role in the sustainability of your online presence. This is because your site is hosted on servers. Servers that use energy to operate and run, and trust us, they use a significant amount of energy at that. This all results in a high carbon footprint. However, this can be reduced by using renewable energy sources to power the servers.
Look at carbon offsetting initiatives
These initiatives are specific programmes that will actively reduce carbon emissions—things such as planting a tree, increasing insulation in properties, opting for electric cars, etc. Often businesses take part in these initiatives to counterbalance their high carbon footprint.
Build sustainability into your brand
Build your online presence and voice with sustainability at the core. Build it into your content strategy, telling the story of your brand’s sustainability commitments.
Provide value and engagement
Online on your site, offer news and updates, including insights into environmental issues happening in your local area.
Implement an environmental CSR strategy
Placing your CSR strategy online can be crucial as it highlights the activities your business carries out to show its social responsibility.
Have you thought about your ‘offline’ sustainability efforts? For example, think about your recycling habits, whether you operate in a paperless office, have energy-saving lights, partner or collaborate with any green charities, have hosted any environmental events recently, etc.
Trust us; your offline presence will impact your online one too.
Sustainability online is about going beyond what your customer can see. You need to demonstrate clearly that you are doing more than simply paying lip service, that you are instead fully embracing sustainability from your core.
Ideally, it would be best if you made your online presence as sustainable as possible, promoting initiatives that empower you, your business, and your customers.
If you have any other ideas to share with our community, then get in touch today: contact@fashionrider.com
