How to Leverage Sustainability to Drive Revenue Growth

How to Leverage Sustainability to Drive Revenue Growth

Adrian Alfieri
Adrian Alfieri
CEO, Verbatim

Neutrl is a platform that makes it easy for consumers to shop sustainably. They're partnering with hundreds of brands like Enso Rings, Aura Bora, and Magic Mind to reduce the carbon footprint of consumer goods. 

We sat down with Ian Lazarus, Founder and CEO of Neutrl, to understand how his team enables DTC brands to operate more sustainably. Specifically, we cover:

  • Helping brands speak transparently about sustainability with their shoppers
  • What it means to build a community of like-minded shoppers
  • How to shift the narrative of being a modern brand that's aware of its carbon footprint


A Brand's Journey Towards Sustainability

Neutrl was born out of Ian's desire to help brands and consumers become more aware of the hidden cost of commerce and its impact on climate change.

He initially noticed that consumers were increasingly clamoring for brands to produce their products sustainably. In response, brands were trying to figure out how to address their relationship with climate change.

That's where Neutrl enters the picture. They built a tool that helps merchants calculate carbon emissions associated with customer orders.


You Have to Start Somewhere

When Ian pitches Neutrl to potential customers, they're often eager to plug the tool into their website immediately. However, Ian wants to ensure brands understand their climate footprint in addition to simply installing a shiny tool.

Brands can often spend months thinking about retooling their entire supply chain, but Ian reminds them that they can begin by offsetting the emissions from the thousands of packages they send out a day.

By waiting to reveal a brand's sustainability plans until they’re perfect, brands can miss out on a valuable opportunity to take action and share their sustainability journey with consumers immediately. 

"Consumers are more serious than ever about shopping sustainably. They want to combat climate change, but they just don't know where to start."


Building a Community Flywheel and Driving Value

Neutrl is focused on building a community of brands and shoppers aligned in their mission to be more carbon-conscious.

Making this their focus has allowed Neutrl to achieve incredible results for its partners, proving how serious both buyers and brands are about taking care of the environment. 

One of Neutrl's brand partners saw a 28% increase in revenue over a six-month window when consumers opted to offset their emissions with Neutrl at checkout, proving that sustainability is more than a fad.

While Neutrl's inclusion at checkout allows consumers to transact more sustainably, it also increases the chance they'll transact more often, driving greater LTV through customer retention.

"Increased revenue and conversions prove that buyers care about doing good."


More Than a Checkbox 

Neutrl is more than a checkbox. They are:

  • Addressing consumer desires to shop for products consciously
  • Empowering brands to speak about sustainability to their customers
  • Building long-term relationships with customers, leading to more revenue for the brands

"UPS won't help brands marketing their sustainable shipping efforts; that's our job."


Carbon Neutral; Shifting the Conversation

As carbon neutrality becomes more popular, Neutrl plays an active role in shifting the conversation for the general public.

The airline industry has normalized the option for customers to offset their emissions. 

Still, there isn't the same adoption when it comes to retail, even though apparel is one of the highest CO2-emitting industries in the world. By partnering with Neutrl, brands and consumers can actively take steps in the right direction.

"eCom continues to explode, meaning C02 emissions will only get worse. We have to change that." 


Being on the Right Side of History 

54% of Gen Z consumers think about their carbon footprint when shopping, and 88% of shoppers want brands to help them live more sustainably, but the reality is that many brands aren’t prepared to do so.

Neutrl solves this, seamlessly empowering brands to tell their sustainability story to consumers, building meaningful relationships as both combat climate change.

"We can't ignore climate change any longer. By partnering with us, you get to be on the right side of history."

Adrian Alfieri
Adrian Alfieri
CEO, Verbatim
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    Kennan Davison
    Kennan Davison
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    Thank you for reading this. My life has been a journey full of ups & downs & I’m grateful to be here.
    I grew up finding school extremely boring & slept through most of my classes. If I'm being real, no one thought I'd go anywhere (was Top 200 North America out of 100M+ players in League of Legends though).
    Everything changed when I was 18: I had a big wakeup call & had to start supporting myself.
    This triggered me in a good way & I worked 100-hour weeks until I destroyed coding interviews. Soon after, I dropped out of college after 1 year to join Pinterest (youngest employee).
    After being a minion at Pinterest, I quit cold turkey & started my 1st company, Skio. I fluked into Y Combinator as a solo founder & completely failed during the batch. Thankfully, pivoting worked well ($15M+ ARR & profitable, $8M seed, 50+ teammates).
    But it's not over yet: I've started Icon because I have a massive chip on my shoulder.
    I know I’m not supposed to say this publicly, but I want to make Icon the greatest company of all time.
    I want to deliver insane value to our customers.
    I want to create generational wealth for my team & investors.
    I want to break the $0 to $100M ARR world record.
    I want to make the $12M I spent on the icon.com domain worth it.
    I want to win so bad that I'm sacrificing my life working 7 days a week for it. I'll even eat dog poop if it means winning.
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