In today's Thursday Thoughts on Foodtech, we talk about how behavioral design is being used to influence consumer decisions toward a sustainable food sector.
In words quoted to Stephen Wendel, Head of Behavioral Science at Morningstar, “Behavioral design is not about using psychology to manipulate people. It’s about using psychology to help people achieve their goals.”
Enter Special Projects, a London, UK-based design and invention agency, co-founded by Clara Gaggero Westaway and Adrian Westaway, on a mission to revolutionize customer experiences. They have published a study in collaboration with the University of Bristol's School of Experimental Psychology, that investigates the impact of labels with sustainability credentials (i.e.: eco-labels) on packaged food to promote more eco-friendly food choices.
In the study, 55% of participants admitted gaining awareness of the sustainability and environmental impact of their choice, recognizing that their decisions were influenced by the message in the labels.
The treatment of the design options “introduce a softer nudge to influence behaviors, and steers away from the often offputting warning symbols, sustainability jargon and guilt imposing messaging.” In other words, finesse in design and behavioural science combined to direct our attention to good causes and, more specifically, environmentally friendly food products.
The "Eco Lenses" project – that’s the name of the research - encompasses five digital solutions each tailored to a different food purchasing environment. Each of them uses specific design and behavioural techniques:
- Cafes: Labels on food packaging display sustainability credentials using a traffic light color system. This simple visual cue helps consumers quickly assess the environmental impact of their choices, leveraging the principle of salience to draw attention to more sustainable options.
- Restaurants: An app uses image recognition on menus to prioritize dishes with lower environmental impacts, effectively using choice architecture to nudge consumers towards greener options.
- Fast Food: Scanning the menu makes sustainable options visually stand out. This design uses the contrast effect, highlighting eco-friendly choices in a visually engaging way, which can influence quick decision-making at the point of sale.
- Online Food Ordering: An app feature shows the overall sustainability score of a meal and allows users to modify ingredients to improve this score. This empowers users with knowledge and control, enabling informed decisions about their food's environmental impact.
- Online Grocery Shopping: A digital interface displays the sustainability scores of items in the shopping cart, with a swipe function to explore more sustainable alternatives. This leverages the principle of ease and provides immediate feedback, helping users make greener choices with minimum effort.
In a different online experiment aimed to investigate how eco-labelling and social nudging influenced sustainable food choices, researchers at Cambridge University, found that eco-labelling effectively increased the choice of sustainable food items, especially among those already inclined to make sustainable choices.
Eco-labelling and social nudges could be powerful tools if integrated into policies to help achieve global climate goals. At CFIN, we support food sector leaders that leverage technology towards a sustainable food industry. The Eco Lenses project offers a glimpse into how digital solutions can lead to real-world changes in our food choices. It’s our turn to influence change: explore these tools, apply their principles in your daily choices, and spread these practices.
How are you using your online marketing, product packaging and label design to influence more environmentally friendly choices?
#sustainability #Foodtech #Innovation #EcoLenses #digitaltransformation
Illustration: Digital Bites: Navigating Sustainability in Food Choices through Technology (by DALL.E)
Thursday Thought on Foodtech is an experimental weekly column or post co-written between my colleague @Lavina Gully and myself. We may use generative AI tools to research and enhance the content. When content from AI tools is used, it is credited in the post.
Disclaimer:
None of the organizations, companies, or products or mentioned in this article are sponsors nor have provided financial support for it. Our discussions and references to these entities are based solely on the relevance and context of the topic at hand, without any endorsement or promotional intent.
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