Green (Living) Review: Eco Enthusiast or Skint Sceptic? What is Your ‘Eco’ Identity?

New classification system identifies differing Eco identities across the UK

The issue of the environment and ethical living is a subject that continues to divide many. Whilst some like to be the font of all knowledge and live a green life, others pay no attention to global environmental and ethical issues that are taking place around us.

And whilst only decades ago the word ‘green’ was just a colour for most people, now you can see just how green you are with this new system that divides we Brits up into 13 different classifications for the British public and their attitudes towards the environment.

From the ‘Righteous Rich’ to the ‘Am I Bothereds?’ below is a summary of the six predominant types:

1. The Righteous Rich

An intelligent bunch of wealthy individuals, the Righteous Rich take great interest in all things ethical and environmental. Often heard debating the ins and outs of climate change or discussing the benefits of their ethical pensions; the Righteous Rich consider themselves to have an advanced understanding and awareness of environmental issues and want to make sure that you know it too.

Portraying a green image to the outside world is key for the Righteous Rich, who see the subject as an advert for their personal wealth and high morals. Everything they do is with thought for the environment and the wider good of the world. From clothes and food to pensions and investments, environmental and ethical credentials are always taken into consideration and they are happy to pay premium prices to ensure that they buy the best available products.

2. The ‘Green Is The New Black’ Luvvie

Often seen sipping fair-trade coffee on the move, for these eco-luvvies green and ethical issues are seen as ‘en vogue’. From their re-usable shopping bags, (designer of course!), to their environmentally friendly cleaning products, every item that they buy has been actively sourced and selected to make sure it meets up to their high standards.

100% clued up on the ins and outs of current ethical and environmental issues, those that fit into this group make it their business to understand green issues in depth and are the most likely of all groups to consider eco issues when voting. Burdened with a feeling that they could and should do more they are three times more likely than average to be actively involved in an environmental organisation.

3. The Eco Enthusisasts

Having embraced the idea that their actions can impact global issues, those belonging to this group tend to integrate green living into their daily routine by cutting down on car journeys, recycling and buying local produce.

Keen to make a difference, “doing what I can, where I can” tends to be their motto and people belonging to this group are willing to part with extra cash in their weekly shop to ensure they are upholding their principals. Fair trade features strongly on the radar especially when buying groceries whilst clothing, cosmetics and toiletries are also regularly bought with ethical issues in mind.

Vocal with their opinions, this group often feel that the government doesn’t do enough to encourage the country to act environmentally and that local councils make recycling difficult for individuals.

4. The Good Lifers

Living by the adage act local think global, Good Lifers believe that if everyone makes changes on individual level this can make difference needed to protect the planet.

At home, they have water butts, compost heaps, veggie patches and perhaps a chicken or two! They recycle anything they can, drive fuel efficient cars and cut down on unnecessary car journeys. Good Lifers are keen to uphold values but without facing unnecessary pricing mark-ups, tending to pay a bit extra only for products such as food and clothing.

5. The Skint Sceptics

Cash strapped and unaware of the issues involved, those belonging to this group simply ignore green and ethical issues. Most likely to be heard claiming “It’s all created by media this eco nonsense” they are not convinced about environmental problems and think that whatever they do won’t make a difference to the state of the world anyway.

They have a general perception that any products promoting themselves as green or ethical cost more and as budgets are tight are not worth considering.

6. The Am I Bothereds?

Ethical issues do not even register on the radar of these typically younger individuals. If something doesn’t directly affect their own lives they are not interested! They are simply too busy to care about the environment and believe they have more important things to worry about than their carbon footprints.

Believing that there is little they can do as individuals that will have any impact on a global scale they rarely recycle compost or consider the origins of anything that they buy. They would never pay more for organic or fair trade and have a general attitude of if it costs money or takes effort they won’t bother.

Chris Savage Managing Director, Callcredit Marketing Solutions said: “In today’s society, environmental and ethical issues are increasingly influencing consumer behaviour and purchasing decisions. These issues are starting to have a positive impact on the way consumers live their lives, how they shop, how they choose their energy provision and transport and even, in some cases, how they manage their finances”.

This information has been taken from Callcredit Information Groups’ ‘Green & Ethical’ segmentation, the latest addition to the company’s range of customer segmentation tools.

Chris added, “This unique classification has been built to segment individuals based on those behaviours and attitudes towards green and ethical issues at a local, national and global scale. In addition it also provides propensity scores into specific issues such as fair-trade, ‘green’ finance and a willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly products. With this unique insight companies can learn more about their customers and increase the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns”.

Callcredit Information Group’s leading approach to deploying consumer information brings together experts across the fields of credit referencing, marketing services, interactive solutions and consultative analytics to provide clients with a range of innovative and effective products to discover new customers and to engage with current customers to optimise and increase profitability.

Products include award-winning fraud verification tools and database solutions to positively verify consumers, global operations to help expand businesses into new markets, digital solutions to improve the overall journey consumers make during interaction with a brand, customer handling to ensure consumer satisfaction at all levels and consumer marketing data and segmentation to improve understanding and targeting of customers and prospects.

Callcredit also offers products for their clients to assess a customer’s credit risk and affordability and their experts in collections and recoveries provide tailored debt recovery and tracing tools. Their market analysis and network planning function helps organisations develop profitable retail networks, and their tools in multi bureau, analytics and metrics work to provide fully assessed bureau data.

Callcredit Information Groups’ Green & Ethical is the latest addition to its range of CAMEO customer analysis and customer segmentation tools. Designed to segment individuals based on their behaviours and attitudes towards green and ethical issues, the tool divides consumers into a total of 13 categories:

The Righteous Rich: They can afford to pay premium prices and almost always take ethical credentials into consideration.
Green Is The New Black: These consumers see green and ethical issues as in vogue and consider them a fundamental part of their daily lives.
Eco Enthusiasts: Keen to make a difference, they integrate green living into their daily routine.

Money Talks: They believe they can personally make a difference and are prepared to contribute financially to fighting the issues.
The Good Life: They always recycle anything they can and around half have a compost heap to help the garden or veg patch grow.
Doing Their Bit: Being on mid to high incomes purchasing is sometimes influenced by green and ethical issues, but they often fail to put their money where their mouth is.

Green Drivers: They contribute in their own way by driving green vehicles and trying to cut down on unnecessary car journeys.
Stuck In The Middle: They would be willing to spend extra if they could afford it but as it stands they are not willing to part with the cash.
It’s Not Easy: Some will have a family to support and may have to stretch finances further, meaning no budget is spared for green or ethical premiums.
Not My Problem: They don’t see these issues as their problem and are neither perturbed nor influenced by what other people think.
Skint Sceptics: With relatively low incomes, budgets are tight so fair trade, organic, ethically sourced products are avoided.
Other Priorities: Juggling busy lives with low incomes, these consumers have neither the money nor the inclination to think green.
Am I Bothered? The general attitude is that if it costs money or takes any effort, they are not willing to get involve