Marketing & Communications Marketing & Communications

Study:
Many Consumers Willing to Pay More for, Switch to Completely Transparent Brands

A new study reveals that consumers’ demand for product transparency is on the rise – overall, they desire more product information and are inclined to be more loyal to brands that provide more detailed insights. About 40 percent say they would switch to a new brand if it offered full product transparency, and 81 percent say they would consider a brand’s entire portfolio of products if they switched to that brand as a result of increased transparency.

By Sustainable Brands | Published 8 years ago | About a 2 minute read

Label Insight, a cloud-based data refinery for product data, released the findings in its 2016 Transparency ROI Study based on a survey of more than 2,000 consumers. The study provides insights on what information consumers seek from brands, how they want to access that information, and how that information affects their purchase behavior and brand loyalty.

“This study reveals what matters most to consumers in terms of the products they use and consume, and draws a clear correlation between transparency and improved consumer trust, enhanced brand loyalty, and overall long term value in repeat purchase,” Label Insight’s Chief Marketing Officer Patrick Moorhead said in a statement.

94 percent of respondents said that they are more likely to be loyal to a brand that offers complete transparency. Nearly 9 in 10 said transparency is important to them across every food product category – even snacks and sweets – and about the same number said they verify claims such as “healthy” and “nutritious,” by checking the label and/or searching for information on third-party sites.

Millennial moms are leading this charge. 86 percent of 18- to 34-year-old women with children said they would pay more for completely transparent food products compared with 73 percent among all respondents. 53 percent of Millennial moms said they would prefer to use a mobile app to verify brand claims about healthy products.

“For brands to succeed in today's marketplace, they must understand that consumers place transparency above many other factors, and switch to competitive products that provide detailed product information,” Moorhead added. “By providing information consumers want in one place, brands have the opportunity to create lasting trust and valued relationships with their customers.”

Most consumers (77 percent) said they believe a food brand is transparent when it provides a complete list of ingredients in its products, followed by in-depth nutritional information about the ingredients (54 percent) and certifications (51 percent) such as USDA Organic or Low Sodium. Information about how products are produced (40 percent) and sourced (35 percent) were also determining factors for over a third of consumers. 56 percent reported that additional product information about how food is produced, handled or sourced would make them trust the brand more.

Label Insights highlighted its SmartLabel solution as one way companies can reach consumers with this information; 79 percent of respondents said they are likely to use SmartLabel technology and 44 percent said they would trust a brand more if it participated in the SmartLabel initiative.