Smart business talk today revolves around meeting stakeholder interests. But it can be daunting for companies to do that. Whereas before they were primary liable to shareholders, they’re now pressed to satisfy consumer demands for products that are sustainable as well as affordable and durable; they’re expected to take the environment and the community and their suppliers and sometimes their suppliers’ communities into account. Yikes, no wonder there’s confusion about where to start and how to balance expectations!
Yet for all their good intentions to satisfy diverse needs, companies are failing to do what consumers (also speaking on behalf of the environment and the community) want. Three-quarters of American consumers “assign companies a “C,” “D,” or “F” on how well they are engaging consumers around critical business issues,” reveals Cone’s latest study on Shared Responsibility.
But here’s your glass half full, your genie in a bottle. Consumers say they would be 60% more likely to buy a company’s products and services, 54% more loyal to the company and 51% more willing to recommend it if the company incorporated their ideas. Let’s rephrase because there is enormous opportunity here. Consumers have ideas about how to make products more aligned with what they care about and they are willing to share them with your company. Actually, they are jonesing to share them with your company.
Specifically, 85% of consumers want to share their insights on how a company conducts its business; 83% have suggestions for products and packaging, 81% for the company’s support of environmental issues and 74% on marketing and advertising. The missed opportunity is that only about half feel encouraged to speak up.
We don’t need to a statistician to tell us that’s a lot of innovation lost.
Engaging consumers goes beyond 1-800 numbers that customers can call to question, complain or compliment your product. It goes beyond tweets and Facebook Fan pages. How can we re-focus the focus groups from How thinly do you prefer your bread sliced? to Where do you want the company to source its flour? Which preservatives can you live without? and How we turn our factory into an asset to your community instead of a polluter?
Companies who feel they can’t go it alone are right. Consumers are stepping up to suggest, guide and reward you. Let them. Ask, listen, ask again, implement and show them what you’ve done. Consumers realize that companies don’t know it all and that’s okay, because we have ideas we’d love to share.
I'm Olivia Khalili. I created Cause Capitalism to show you how to grow your business by incorporating a social mission. 
Hi Olivia,
Your quote:
“Specifically, 85% of consumers want to share their insights on how a company conducts its business; 83% have suggestions for products and packaging, 81% for the company’s support of environmental issues and 74% on marketing and advertising”
This is quite an incredible set of statistics. I think companies will have to stand up and take more notice of what their customers want due to the increase in social media. Platforms such as Twitter and Facebook can only encourage better interaction. If not, they are the perfect sounding board to air consumer dissatisfaction.
David
Hi David,
Thanks for your comment. I agree with you that the percentage of consumers that want to engage companies is astonishing. While I believe it’s a good policy to *respond* to consumers, I also see companies as able to lead a shift in consumer behavior. Ikea is one example of this, charging shoppers for shopping bags several years ago and, most recently, eliminating incandescent lights bulbs from their shelves and stores.