Customer Reaction to the Cost of Corporate Social Responsibility

The 2010 CSR Perceptions Survey presented the finding that 70% of U.S. respondents are willing to pay more for products from socially responsible companies.

Business leaders wanting to embark on a course of social corporate responsibility might tend to think a tough economic time is not the right time to proceed with a new CSR campaign. A recent study, conducted in February 2010 by Penn Shoen Berland, Landor Associates, and Birson-Marsteller provides data that stands in stark contrast to that limiting economic perspective.

Is Social Responsibility Really Important to Customers?

The exact definition of CSR tends to be cloudy and, up to a certain point, a matter of consumer perspective. Fifty-five percent of the study respondents claimed to be unsure of the exact meaning of Corporate Social Responsibility. However in spite of that uncertainty, more than 75% of the survey respondents stated that CSR is important to them as consumers.

Over half of the adults answering the survey questions stated that social responsibility is a deciding factor when making purchases, and even stated a willingness to pay more for products from a company that presents social corporate responsibility data to buyers. The consumers spending extra to buy the pink products created to help fund breast cancer research are an example of customers willing to pay more for socially responsible products.

What Are the Top Ways a Company Exhibits Social Responsibility?

According to the results of the Penn Schoen Berland study, survey respondents said there are several key ways companies exhibit corporate social responsibility.

1. Environmental responsibility
2. Energy efficient products
3. Dynamic labor relations strategies
4. Involvement with local community
5. Giving back
6. Strong business ethics policy
7. Providing fair value
8. Giving customer's their money's worth
9. Charitable donations
10. Sponsoring charitable programs
11. Accountability and transparency

What Does This New CSR Information Mean for Business?

With more than two-thirds of consumers planning to alter purchasing behavior to accommodate socially responsible corporations, only 11% of those surveyed have heard or seen any type of CSR communication - from any corporation - in the last year. This leaves a wide gap between what consumers are saying they want, and the information being presented.

While this survey was answered by only a small segment of the larger population, it offers a glimpse into predicted consumer behavior. The consumers interviewed expressed the desire to do business with socially responsible businesses. While willing to pay more for ethically produced merchandise, the consumers also expressed a desire to get a good value.

According to the CSR Branding Survey 2010, the business that provides a high quality product or service, while getting the message out to consumers regarding the company's social responsibility, is the company that consumers will be more likely to select when all other factors are equal.

Consumers cover a range of demographic profiles, and some will always balk at higher prices, whether the source of the elevated cost is company overhead or implementing a new corporate social responsibility program. Overall, the consumers involved in this 2010 survey seem to be asking businesses to communicate a strong CSR policy, even at a slightly increased cost.

The Penn Schoen Berland study included 1,001 United States adults, 18 plus years of age. The expected margin of error for the study is plus or minus 2.53%.