Many organizations are jumping on the green bandwagon, and consumers are witnessing vast claims of environmental benefits or greater sustainability.

However, as superficial claims continue to be exposed, consumers are distrustful of the credibility and honesty of green marketing messages – on and off the Web.

To overcome this lack of trust and avoid the greenwashing accusations, Forrester’s Cindy Commander suggests marketers need to ensure their green strategies adhere to the seven Es of green marketing:

1. Encompassing
2. Evident
3. Earnest
4. Engaging
5. Empowering
6. Enlightening
7. Evolving

It’s one thing to state something. It’s another to demonstrate a point. Support all your claims with evidence.

Backing up your claims is especially important on the Web, where trust needs to be built with every word and pixel.

For example, Zaui Software’s website states: “The electricity that powers the servers operating our applications are now Green Power,” which links to Green Power Certificate information on a utility organization’s site.

That builds credibility. Simply stating “We’re green” doesn’t. When it comes to web content, be sure to back up your claims.

In a recent article, we explored how Internet users like to gather information on the Web, and how they process it.

More than 63% of Internet users indicated in our online poll the written word is their choice of communications on the Web. However, according to neurolinguistics expert Dr. Genie Z. Laborde, only 20% of people are primarily auditory, meaning they gather and process information most effectively via written text and the spoken word.

Dr. Laborde notes 40% of people are strongly visual, and 40% are kinesthetically dominant when it comes to learning.

So while the majority of people indicated they prefer accessing information on the Web through web writing, it’s in website owners’ best interest to support and augment web copy with other communication forms, i.e. visuals, to connect with a higher percentage of people.

Which learning channel do you fancy? Here’s a neat test offered in an intriguing book called Neuromarketing: Understanding the “Buy Buttons” in your customer’s brain:

Read the following sentence and quickly count the number of fs in it. When you are finished counting the fs, jot down the total number you found.

It is only after a thorough evaluation of the prospect’s pain that the astute seller will demonstrate the proven value of her uniqueness. She will do so with the impact of a grabber that uses the three learning channels of her audience.

There are five fs. However, most auditory people will only find one because when they read the word of, they hear the v sound, which does not include an f.

Read the complete article: How Internet users prefer and process information.

Despite recent economic woes, Forrester Research reports online retail sales are projected to grow 17 per cent in 2008 and surpass the $200 billion mark.

What is more, reports Principal Analyst Sucharita Mulpuru, the bulk of online retail sales are driven by tenured Gen Xers and Boomers, a cross-section of the web buyer population that values the convenience of the online channel and is actively spending more on the Web.

She noted: “These folks are less price-sensitive, disproving the theory that online shopping inevitably leads to brand-disloyal shoppers.”

Gen Xers account for 34 per cent of all online shoppers, while Boomers represent 38 per cent.