How ESG and Sustainability Elevate Customer Experience

In today’s market, ESG and customer experience aren’t just connected, they’re inseparable. Only one in five consumers believe brands’ sustainability claims are trustworthy. That skepticism isn’t just about climate targets; it extends to how you treat employees, communities, and governance too.

In today’s market, ESG isn’t just a compliance exercise. It’s the foundation of customer trust, and trust shapes the entire customer experience.

Customers Expect More Than Promises

Sustainability has evolved beyond corporate responsibility into a competitive advantage. But customers today don’t separate your ESG efforts from their customer experience. They expect actions, transparency, and follow-through.

Take Patagonia: their Supply Chain Environmental Responsibility Program tracks energy, water, chemicals, and emissions across suppliers, with over 90 % of their products now made in Fair Trade Certified factories. Customers don’t just buy a jacket, they buy into a sustainable promise made real.

Still wondering why that matters? Let’s dig deeper. Where does your company stand? Are you merely checking boxes or embedding sustainability into every touchpoint of your customer experience?

For a closer look at how trust translates into measurable business impact, explore our blog post How to Build Customer Trust and Boost your ROI

Understanding Customer Expectations Through Data

Customers want brands that align with their values, but companies must rely on data-driven insights to understand what sustainability and customer experience factors truly matter to them. 
So how do you know what matters most to your customers? 

By analyzing two key dimensions:

• Importance: How much does sustainability impact customer decisions?
• Performance: How well does your company meet these expectations?

This is where a simple importance-performance matrix can be helpful. Imagine plotting your customer insights on a grid to uncover your strongest differentiators and your biggest blind spots. It’s a practical way to prioritize based on both perceived impact and your actual performance.

Ready to Act on What the Matrix Reveals?

Learn how to ask the right questions that uncover your customers’ priorities, including trust, effort, and sustainability, in our guide to Crafting Engaging Customer Surveys.

Download the Guide Now

Trust Is the New Currency

When trust is missing, the customer experience suffers. When trust is present, customers stay loyal, advocate for your brand, and deepen the relationship.

Want to go deeper on the “S” in ESG? Read our blog How to Measure and Report on the 'S' in ESG.

ESG as a Customer Experience Accelerator

Sustainability is more than reducing emissions. It’s about creating meaningful and consistent interactions with customers.

And the impact is real. According to Ennova research, companies that perform well on ESG dimensions see measurable gains in both customer loyalty and commercial outcomes.

Here’s what strong ESG performance can lead to:

• Stronger brand loyalty: Customers actively support brands that share their values.
• Operational efficiency: Sustainable practices can streamline processes and improve service quality.
• Deeper engagement: Transparent, purpose-driven brands create long-lasting customer relationships.

Making ESG a Core Part of Customer Strategy

To move beyond ESG compliance and turn sustainability into a strategic business advantage, companies should:

1. Measure and act on ESG performance: Use data to track progress and uncover what to focus on.
2. Embed sustainability in your brand promise: Show customers that ESG is more than a side initiative; it is part of your identity.
3. Communicate transparently and back it with governance transparency: Customers notice the difference between genuine impact and greenwashing. Governance is what makes transparency credible by setting clear accountability and ethical standards. Novo Nordisk sets the bar high: their annual Corporate Governance Report outlines accountability structures, adherence to Danish governance recommendations, and a strong commitment to business ethics. This level of openness reassures customers that sustainability is more than PR.
4. Adapt based on customer insights: Let feedback guide and evolve your sustainability efforts.
   
   

Sustainability Is a Business Imperative

Sustainability isn’t just a marketing trend but the new foundation for customer trust, loyalty, and long-term business growth. 

So, what’s next? Companies that act now by listening to customer expectations, using insights to guide decisions, and embedding ESG into their brand and strategy will future-proof their business and lead the way in CX excellence.

The real question isn’t if sustainability matters. It’s: How effectively are you using it to build trust, create value, and strengthen customer relationships?

Where to Start: Your ESG & Customer Experience Checklist

Use this checklist to move from intention to action and start integrating ESG meaningfully into your customer experience strategy:

Understand What Matters to Your Customers

• Collect data on how much sustainability influences customer decisions.
• Use surveys, interviews or ESG-specific CX metrics.
• Map importance vs. performance across ESG dimensions.

Analyze Your Current ESG Performance

• Review your existing ESG initiatives from the customer’s perspective.
• Compare internal ESG data with external feedback.
• Spot performance gaps in areas customers value most.

Define Your ESG-CX Strategy

• Prioritize ESG areas that matter most to customers.
• Weave ESG messaging into your brand narrative.
• Design CX initiatives that reflect your ESG values.

Communicate Authentically

• Be transparent about your progress, not just your goals.
• Back claims with evidence to avoid greenwashing.
• Share stories that show benefit for people and planet.

Monitor, Learn, and Adjust

• Gather feedback continuously to track expectations.
• Use an importance-performance matrix to guide decisions.
• Adjust ESG and customer experience (CX) strategies as insights evolve.
  
  

Turn ESG into a Customer Experience Advantage

Customers won’t separate your ESG efforts from their experience with your brand, and neither should you. The winners are the companies that make sustainability a lived reality, not just a report.

At Ennova, we help organizations connect the dots between ESG commitments and customer experience, building trust that lasts and relationships that grow stronger.