Shelton Group and Worldview Thinking Reveal New Way to Understand and Motivate Consumers: Full Spectrum Insights

For years, almost all consumer profiling has examined American consumers’ behaviors, attitudes and opinions. Occasionally, consumers’ life goals and belief systems entered the conversation. And rarely, if ever, did consumers’ ways of thinking about and interpreting the world – or worldviews – become part of the profile. Simply put, traditional marketing research and segmentation answered the who, the what and occasionally the how – but not the why. Co-Authored with John Marshall Roberts

Shelton Group, a leading advertising agency in the sustainability space, recognized that a complete picture of consumers needed to be developed in order to motivate more people to make sustainable choices. There was a need to understand the why of sustainable consumer behavior in order to move sustainability messaging forward with more resonant and motivating communication. For example, traditional market research might point to Baby Boomers with high green behaviors and attitudes as likely purchasers of a hybrid car, but that information doesn’t help us understand the ‘why’ of that choice. There are numerous different reasons why someone would buy a hybrid, and those deeper drivers are what this white paper seeks to reveal.

Using its proprietary consumer segments to address ‘the who’ and ‘the what,’ Shelton partnered with leading behavioral scientist John Marshall Roberts to discover ‘the why.’ Together we designed and ran a national study to test predictions about the deeper psychological drivers of sustainability-related attitudes and behaviors among mainstream consumers. Our intention was to create the most complete, actionable and deeply insightful profile of American consumers on this topic – a full spectrum approach. More importantly, by answering the why, we hope to help marketers everywhere achieve breakthrough results for their sustainable ideas, products and services by crafting messages that will make it easier for consumers to make sustainable choices without threatening their foundational worldviews.

What’s a worldview?

According to Roberts, a worldview is a specific, habitual way of looking at the world that helps answer the why of consumer behavior. There are four predominant worldviews in society today:

• Absolutistic worldview “Navy” – Characterized by an unwavering respect for authority figures and a deeply-held belief that there is only one right way. Life is a test. To be successful, self-discipline and denial are required to pass life’s ultimate test of righteousness.

• Individualistic worldview “Copper” – What’s in it for me? Defined by the drive for personal power, profits and status. Believes in survival of the fittest. Life is a game to be won or lost. Success, power and competition are valued.

• Humanistic worldview “Jade” – Personal connections and relationships create meaning and happiness. Relativistic thinking prevails. Values equality, community and human rights. Sees the world as a large – and often dysfunctional – family.

• Systemic worldview “Gold” – Sees the world as a complex and interrelated system that evolves. Innovation and pragmatic idealism dominate. Values are integrity, sustainability, flexibility, balance, vision and effectiveness.

Key findings from this research include:

• How the overall American population falls within the worldview framework and the Shelton segmentation model

• The defining characteristics of the worldview and sustainability segments

• Which worldviews dominate within each of Shelton’s sustainability segments

• How each of the predominant worldviews interpret and react to sustainability in terms of attitudes, behaviors and communications

• Proven strategies and tactics for communicating sustainability to each worldview segment

Predictions for the research

Given our full-spectrum approach towards understanding the consumer, we expected to find that the Shelton segmentation system and the worldview segments based upon worldview research would correlate. Before conducting the research, Shelton Group and Roberts hypothesized potential relationships between the agency’s sustainability segments and the Worldview Model, as follows:

• Prediction One: Shelton Skeptics would most often think from a Navy Absolutistic worldview

• Prediction Two: Shelton Indifferents would most often think from a Copper Individualistic worldview

• Prediction Three: Shelton Seekers would most often think from a Jade Humanistic worldview

• Predication Four: Shelton Actives would most often think from a Gold Systemic worldview

As the data will show, our predictions were accurate. Each Shelton segment showed a clear propensity toward a specific worldview. Although each worldview is represented in each of the Shelton segments, this paper will only address the “default” worldview of that segment – or the worldview that each segment is more likely to have than the rest of the population.

Why is this important?

This study outlines the full spectrum of consumer behavior, answering the whats, hows and whys of their decision-making process in the sustainability marketplace. Ultimately, this framework helps to explain many things we’ve been trending in our years of sustainability research – including the frustrating gap between attitudes and behaviors among many mainstream consumers and why so many sustainable marketing initiatives have turned-off the majority of the mainstream market.

We now know, definitively, how to frame sustainability messaging in values, language, images and terms that will resonate with your target audience. For example, if you are addressing Indifferents or Skeptics (likely to be Copper Individualistic thinkers) you must explain “What is in it for me?” and you can motivate them by tapping into their sense of competition and desire for social acceptance. Whereas for Seekers (the Jade thinkers), you need to connect the purchase or behavior to the greater good and relate to their sense of community. Finally, for Actives (the Gold thinkers), you must frame your message around their part in the greater system and appeal to their senses of empowerment and pragmatism.

Find out more

To learn more about worldviews, please contact John Marshall Roberts at Worldview Thinking (www. worldviewthinking.com) For more on the Shelton segmentation system, please contact Suzanne Shelton at suzanne@sheltongrp.com.

The whitepaper will also be available for free download beginning 11/16 at www.sheltongrp.com and www.worldviewthinking.com

At Shelton Group, Karen is the consumers' voice. She knows them inside and out—what they love and hate; what they say they do versus what they actually do; what they believe in; what they fear—and ultimately what motivates them to action. It's her job to synthesize research, cultural macrotrends, behavioral science and strategy to produce the compelling insights that fuel powerful creative campaigns. [Read more about Karen Barnes]