Here’s the hard truth. We have to prioritise and make the right decisions for our business to survive day to day. We want to reduce our impact and do the right thing, but we also have to keep the lights on for another month! 

Investing in understanding and improving on your carbon impact can be a significant investment.

So is it all worth it? 

I believe that it is. But I wanted to prove it! 

Who am I? My name is Max Sinclair and I run a paid ads agency called Snowball Creations. We specialise in brands that have a goal of making the world better! 

So luckily we’re able to test this theory. In a way that matters most. Sales. 

We’ve A/B tested tens of thousands of copy variations over the years across Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and other networks with millions of British pound sterling, Americano dollar bills and European euros! 

And so in this goal of discovering whether ‘sustainability sells’, we directly put up copy focused on sustainability against other value propositions.

The results are in! Read on to see black and white in 3 concise case studies, showing whether sustainability really did make an impact on customers' behaviour. 

Waste Management Zero to Landfill 

A waste management business in the UK was promoting itself through Google Ads already and seeing acceptable results. 

Their business was focused on upending the history of bad service that the industry was infamous for. They also care passionately about trying to help transition more companies towards zero waste to landfill, but their copy didn’t highlight the latter and instead focused purely on the selfish.

We adjusted their entire Google ads strategy to correct for this and over the months ahead saw a significant and sustained uptick in conversion rates. The business has gone on to turn over millions in revenue from Google ads.

Focus on sustainable materials to fire up ecom store

A brand selling a popular climbing product came to us looking for help to grow direct sales from their ecommerce store.

The week of the 24th of October we adjusted the ads to test new copy options focused on the sustainable materials used in the product, and how much more eco friendly it was to use compared to their competitors. 

This made an obvious impact within the week and we saw it as a pivotal factor in the continued sales growth they saw over the coming months. Ultimately, the sustainability attributes they used in their marketing allowed them to differentiate in their niche.

Sustainable promo items

This company selling promotional items with a sustainable twist came to us to try to help grow B2B leads. A major breakthrough for us came from testing two responsive search ads within Google Ads. 

For one ad, we focused on the fact it was possible to add your branding to the products. In the other, we focused on the fact they were a great environmentally friendly alternative to the typical promotional swag on the market.

The sustainability-focused copy crushed the branded value proposition and reduced the average cost per conversion by half! 

Conclusion

So there we have it. Whilst each business with its own niche or products is a unique case, sustainability we have seen time and time again, can be a powerful selling point across the board.

Climate change is a global issue that most recognise and care about personally. So it should come as no surprise really that aligning your business with helping to solve that challenge will help attract customers.

If you’re curious for more advice on how best to produce this kind of copy you can read a more detailed guide here. 

Or just get in touch through my agency and I’m always happy to give a free audit over any campaigns already running! 

Either way, I encourage you to invest in and deliver on making your business that bit more sustainable! 

It’s a great moment in time that us making positive changes like this can be supported by the general public.

Max Sinclair

Founder of Snowball Creations