Seratti Group

The Challenge

Sierra Club Mutual Funds wanted to explore how environmentally conscious people make both short- and long-term investments; in order to do that they needed to better understand what drives environmentally responsible investment decision making. Sierra Club Mutual Funds commissioned the Seratti Group to conduct both qualitative and quantitative studies.

Qualitative Study Objectives:

Understand how being environmentally conscious influences investment decisions
Identify ways to communicate with environmentally conscious investors by determining which messages resonate and give meaning

Quantitative Study Objectives:

Confirm and/or deny findings of qualitative research

The Strategy

Phase one of the research, the qualitative study, was oriented toward both Sierra Club members and non-members. All participants self-identified as environmentally conscious and possessed investable assets, as well as meeting a target income level. Two focus groups were held, one in San Francisco and one in Seattle, as these are key geographic centers for environmentally conscious inhabitants. In order to expand the range of respondents, the Seratti Group recommended an email survey for phase two of the research, the quantitative study. Participants for this phase were identified via a random geographic sampling of the entire Sierra Club Member database, resulting in 3,000 contacts.

The Results

The Seratti Group quickly discerned that a meaningful message targeted to attract the ideal investor would consist of three themes: communicating successful performance of the fund, clearly outlining the stringency of and adherence to the environmentally responsible investment guidelines, and reinforcing the notion that a socially responsible investment helps to preserve the environment for future generations. A lower degree of knowledge about investing in general seemed to engender a belief that all socially responsible investments perform, by definition, at a sub par level. Among more sophisticated investors, a lack of awareness or information about socially responsible investments was indicated as the greatest barrier to making investments in these types of investment vehicles.

The client representative organized an in-person presentation of the findings and subsequent recommendations by the Seratti Group to the clients management team. In addition, the Seratti Group provided a tabulated summary of responses from both the qualitative and quantitative studies.



Financial Technology Consumer Partners Sierra Club Mutual	The Challenge Sierra Club Mutual Funds wanted to explore how environmentally conscious people make both short- and long-term investments; in order to do that they needed to better understand what drives environmentally responsible investment decision making. Sierra Club Mutual Funds commissioned the Seratti Group to conduct both qualitative and quantitative studies. Qualitative Study Objectives: Understand how being environmentally conscious influences investment decisions Identify ways to communicate with environmentally conscious investors by determining which messages resonate and give meaning Quantitative Study Objectives: Confirm and/or deny findings of qualitative research The Strategy Phase one of the research, the qualitative study, was oriented toward both Sierra Club members and non-members. All participants self-identified as environmentally conscious and possessed investable assets, as well as meeting a target income level. Two focus groups were held, one in San Francisco and one in Seattle, as these are key geographic centers for environmentally conscious inhabitants. In order to expand the range of respondents, the Seratti Group recommended an email survey for phase two of the research, the quantitative study. Participants for this phase were identified via a random geographic sampling of the entire Sierra Club Member database, resulting in 3,000 contacts. The Results The Seratti Group quickly discerned that a meaningful message targeted to attract the ideal investor would consist of three themes: communicating successful performance of the fund, clearly outlining the stringency of and adherence to the environmentally responsible investment guidelines, and reinforcing the notion that a socially responsible investment helps to preserve the environment for future generations. A lower degree of knowledge about investing in general seemed to engender a belief that all socially responsible investments perform, by definition, at a sub par level. Among more sophisticated investors, a lack of awareness or information about socially responsible investments was indicated as the greatest barrier to making investments in these types of investment vehicles. The client representative organized an in-person presentation of the findings and subsequent recommendations by the Seratti Group to the clients management team. In addition, the Seratti Group provided a tabulated summary of responses from both the qualitative and quantitative studies.