Introducing "Customer Framing Capacity" in Sustainability Transitions: Entrepreneurial Approaches

I see that entrepreneurial students mostly struggle with exploring customers' perspectives in emerging technological solutions for addressing global challenges. Customers do not directly experience the consequences of those challenges for the meantime. Framing new technologies aimed at addressing future global challenges, like climate change or resource scarcity, is particularly challenging for several reasons:

Temporal Distance: Many global challenges, like climate change, have effects that unfold over years or decades, making the benefits of preventive action less immediate. Humans tend to prioritize short-term rewards over future outcomes (present bias), making it difficult for consumers to feel a sense of urgency about long-term issues.

Uncertainty: New technologies often involve uncertain outcomes, which can lead to skepticism among consumers. If the benefits or risks aren’t guaranteed, customers may perceive investing in them as risky or premature, particularly if the technology seems experimental.

Geographic and Experiential Distance: If the consequences of a global challenge aren’t visible locally, consumers are less likely to relate to it personally. For example, consumers in regions less affected by extreme weather may struggle to connect with technologies meant to combat climate change.

Lack of Personal Relevance: Many consumers struggle to relate global challenges directly to their lives, leading to a "that doesn’t affect me" mindset. This lack of relevance weakens their framing of the technology as something they need urgently.

Technological Complexity: Cutting-edge technologies, especially those addressing complex issues, can be difficult for consumers to understand. This complexity can hinder consumers’ ability to connect the technology to a practical benefit or to recognize its potential impact.

Lack of Knowledge: Often, consumers do not have sufficient knowledge about global challenges or new technologies, making it hard to evaluate the benefits. Without education, technologies addressing global challenges may seem too futuristic, technical, or even unnecessary.

Existing Habits and Solutions: New technologies require consumers to adjust their existing habits or adopt new behaviors, which can create resistance. Consumers tend to prefer familiar, tried-and-true solutions over innovations they don’t fully understand or need to change behaviors for.

Price and Convenience Barriers: Often, sustainable technologies come with higher initial costs or require lifestyle adjustments, which can be perceived as barriers. Even if the technology promises long-term savings or environmental benefits, these may not be sufficient motivators if cheaper, conventional alternatives are available.

Lack of Social Adoption: Consumers are more likely to adopt new behaviors when they see others doing so (social proof). For nascent technologies addressing future issues, there may be limited examples of other people using or endorsing them, which can create a perception that they’re not necessary.

Cultural and Societal Norms: Some technologies don’t align well with current cultural expectations or values, especially if the technology represents a significant lifestyle shift. For example, shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy may challenge cultural habits in some regions, making adoption slower.

Failure to Connect Emotionally: Abstract or future-oriented messaging often fails to tap into strong emotions. Consumers are more likely to act on issues that feel emotionally relevant, so framing must bridge this gap by connecting with values, emotions, and identities they already hold.

Technical Jargon and Impersonal Messaging: If the technology is marketed with scientific or technical language, customers may not see how it fits into their everyday lives. Personalized, relatable messaging is often essential for helping consumers feel connected to a new technology.

An entrepreneurial approach can play a powerful role in increasing customer framing capacity for future-oriented, global challenge-focused technologies. Entrepreneurs can leverage innovative strategies to make these technologies feel more relevant and accessible, enhancing how customers perceive and prioritize their value. Here’s how entrepreneurial approaches can be applied to increase customer framing capacity:

Create Immediate, Tangible Benefits

• Bundle Short- and Long-Term Benefits: Entrepreneurs can package new technologies to include immediate, practical benefits that customers can experience directly. For example, a company selling energy-efficient appliances might emphasize not only long-term environmental benefits but also immediate cost savings on energy bills, offering an incentive to act now.
• Gamification and Rewards: Rewarding early adoption can help bridge the gap between long-term benefits and short-term motivation. Entrepreneurs can use loyalty programs, gamified experiences, or rewards to reinforce the tangible value of a technology, helping customers feel an immediate benefit and a sense of accomplishment.

Leverage Storytelling and Personalization

• Craft a Compelling Narrative: Storytelling can frame abstract global issues in a way that resonates emotionally. Entrepreneurs can create narratives showing how a technology will impact people’s lives positively, particularly on a personal or local level. Real-life testimonials, case studies, or “day-in-the-life” stories can help customers see the product’s relevance.
• Personalized Experiences and Demos: By offering personalized demos, interactive apps, or simulations, entrepreneurs can allow customers to see the impact of the technology in their own context. For example, using augmented reality to visualize how a solar panel installation would look and function on their home could make the product more relatable and real.

Empower Early Adopters as Advocates

• Cultivate a Community of Ambassadors: Entrepreneurs can strategically engage early adopters as brand advocates or ambassadors to create social proof. Seeing others – especially influential or relatable figures – use and support the technology can increase trust and perceived relevance among a broader audience.
• User-Generated Content: Encouraging customers to share their experiences on social media or through testimonials allows entrepreneurs to build a library of user-driven narratives, showing real people experiencing real benefits from the technology. This adds authenticity and helps bridge the gap between abstract benefits and real-life use cases.

Apply Behavioral Insights and Nudges

• Default Settings and Subtle Nudges: Behavioral insights, such as default options, can help nudge customers toward sustainable behaviors. Entrepreneurs can incorporate sustainability as a default feature, where customers must “opt-out” rather than “opt-in.” For instance, an electric vehicle company could make renewable energy-powered charging the default option, making sustainable behavior the path of least resistance.
• Highlighting Loss Aversion: Entrepreneurs can frame messages to emphasize the “cost” of not adopting the technology, tapping into customers’ natural aversion to loss. Instead of only discussing potential gains, they can highlight what customers stand to lose, such as increased future costs or diminished quality of life, if they delay action.

Leverage Local and Contextual Framing

• Focus on Local Impact: Entrepreneurs can use localized messaging to make global issues feel more immediately relevant. For example, emphasizing how an air purification technology can improve local air quality in cities with pollution challenges connects the product’s global benefits to an issue the customer can directly relate to.
• Cultural Adaptation: By adapting marketing to reflect cultural values and regional priorities, entrepreneurs can bridge the gap between a global technology and a local audience. In regions where environmental concerns are secondary, the same technology could be framed as an economic or health innovation, aligning with local priorities.

Offer Flexible Business Models

• Subscription and Leasing Models: Rather than requiring a full purchase upfront, entrepreneurs can offer subscription-based models, leasing options, or “as-a-service” alternatives, making the technology more accessible. This approach can lower the barrier to entry and let customers experience the technology’s benefits firsthand before committing fully.
• Pay-for-Performance Models: Entrepreneurs can structure their offerings around actual results, where customers pay based on measurable outcomes (e.g., energy savings, emissions reduction). This way, customers feel confident they’re only investing if they see tangible benefits, reducing perceived risk.

Educational Campaigns and Transparency

• Educate Through Interactive Campaigns: Interactive educational campaigns help customers understand how the technology works and its importance. Entrepreneurs can use workshops, webinars, or interactive online content to educate potential customers, framing the technology as essential to a sustainable future.
• Transparency and Trust-Building: Providing transparent, verifiable information about a technology’s impact builds trust. Entrepreneurs can share data on product efficacy, sustainability metrics, or even environmental contributions (e.g., CO? offsetting) so customers feel informed and empowered to make decisions based on evidence.

By using these strategies, entrepreneurs can shift the perception of new technologies from something distant and intangible to something meaningful and actionable in the present. This helps create a mindset shift where customers can not only understand but also feel invested in solutions for long-term global challenges.