• by Adrienne W. Fawcett , October 3, 2007

From light bulbs to appliances to the towels in some hotel rooms, marketers are touting "energy efficiency" with, well, renewed energy. Are Americans paying attention to these claims?

An exclusive study for Marketing Daily by Synovate eNation found that energy efficiency is a very important component in 36.9% of consumers' buying decisions, while it's considered somewhat important to almost half of consumers. Only 3.5% of consumers believe that energy efficiency is somewhat unimportant or not at all important, while 10.6% of respondents said it was a non-issue. The online survey of 1,000 adults over age 18 was conducted Sept. 19-21.

While consumers feel energy efficiency is important to them, fewer than 10% of respondents said marketers' claims of energy efficiency were "very believable." The good news is that people have not tuned these claims out completely. The majority of respondents--70.3%--said marketers' claims of energy efficiency are somewhat believable.

"This is a great score for advertisers," says Tom Mularz, senior vice president at Synovate. "Most people feel that advertisers' claims of energy efficiency are somewhat credible. The advertisers aren't believed to the extent they would like to be, but less than 1% of people think they're not at all believable."

Friend or fad?

Every year, consumers are deluged with new marketing claims that sometimes have less longevity than new TV shows. But when it comes to the energy-efficiency claim, most people who responded to the survey said they think it's a long-term trend: 84.2% said the marketing emphasis is here to stay, while 15.8% said it's just a passing fad. Interestingly, younger Americans are more inclined to think it's going to fade: 21.4% of 18- to-24-year-olds feel energy efficiency is just a passing marketing fad, compared to 10.2% of people age 65-plus.

"The tendency is to think young people are more pro-environment and focused on green aspects," says Mularz. "Either they're cynical or they're just not as attentive to the issue because it doesn't affect their pocketbook directly, since many in this age group still are on a parental-support basis."

In general, more people said energy efficiency is important when shopping for appliances, autos and gas/fuel than other categories. The survey found that 56.7% of respondents said energy efficiency is very important when shopping for gas/fuel and for appliances, and 51.9% said it's very important when shopping for autos. To compare: 10.6% said energy efficiency is important when shopping for hotel/travel accommodations; 36.5% said it's very important in consumer electronics, and 39% said it's very important in home-improvement materials.

"The low score for hotel and travel accommodations connotes the feeling that people want to be efficient in their homes, but when they go to someone else's house or a hotel, they're less mindful of the issue," Mularz says.

Interestingly, when asked if they're doing anything to conserve energy, people said home-related efforts far exceeded those of driving and traveling. For example, 83.9% of respondents said they're turning off lights more often at home; 66.7% said they're using more energy-efficient light bulbs; and 62.7% said they're lowering the heat at home. But just 42.8% said they're driving less, and 19.8% said they're driving a more fuel-efficient vehicle.

Food manufacturers and grocery stores should be interested to note that 30.3% of respondents said they're conserving energy by buying locally grown produce. The appearance of "locally grown" stickers is a relatively new trend in mainstream grocery stores.