Is the organic industry talking to consumers the right way?

New research suggests the organic industry’s go-to health and sustainability messages that helped the market reach $76 billion in annual sales may not be the most effect way to drive its next phase of growth and reach its goal of $100 billion in annual sales in the coming years.

A survey by the Organic Trade Association of 1,025 Gen Z and Millennial organic shoppers in the US found nine in 10 respondents recognize the USDA Organic seal, and more than three-quarters associate with it some of the hottest health claims dominating the market today, including no artificial flavors, colors, additives or preservatives as well as no synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and growth hormones. Likewise, more than a third associate it with animal welfare, positive climate impact and supporting farmers.

While these benefits remain important to the category, the research suggests they may not be the most effective messages for driving purchase intent. It also points to the importance of how those benefits are communicated: overly complicated, confusing or condescending language or messaging that makes consumers feel guilty can undermine a brand’s efforts to connect with shoppers.

This episode of FoodNavigator-USA’s Soup-To-Nuts Podcast explores insights and actionable tips based on the research shared at the Organic Trade Association’s recent Climate Week meeting in Washington, DC. Sandy Pfaff and Irene Cardozo of the Organic Trade Association, Amanda Kauffman of creative agency Guru, and Carla Malin of Amy’s Kitchen explore what may be organic’s most powerful invitation to purchase, how brands can communicate value without relying on overly clever or lengthy explanations and how marketers can strengthen consumer connections and make organic more compelling at the shelf.

Understanding organic shoppers today

Previous OTA research suggests that organic has a loyal and growing following among younger shoppers, many of whom understand what the USDA Organic seal represents, according to OTA’s VP of Media Relations Sandy Pfaff. But, she told attendees, to further drive sales and consumer engagement, the industry needs a better understanding what motivates shoppers.

“This year we decided to focus on messaging to find out … what really moved people and what will change their intent to purchase. We hoped to find more white space for storytelling, which makes such a difference for all of us as marketers, as brands out in the world of just what would what will move our consumers, and we covered some interesting surprises and helpful insights,” she said.

Among the top takeaways was taste and enjoyment was a “clear winner” for motivators when compared to health & wellness and climate & sustainability. About half of consumers surveyed said messages about taste and enjoyment would sway their purchase, while 30% said the same about health messaging and 22% about sustainability.

“The message that really resonated was very clear: Your pasta doesn’t need to taste like compromise,” said Pfaff, adding that messaging about taste can include ingredients, sensory experience and even indulgence paired with organic.

Why taste wins

Taste’s emergence as the top driver for organic may surprise some given a key objective of USDA’s Organic seal is to promote agricultural practices that conserve biodiversity, maintain soil and water health and avoid synthetic fertilizers, GMOs and sewage sludge.

But for VP and Head of Marketing at Amy’s Kitchen Carla Malin taste taking the top spot is a “very obvious outcome.”

She explains that food is sensorial and people eat for fuel, but also enjoyment. While they care about macros and antioxidants, they also want to enjoy the experience. And if they don’t, they won’t buy it again.

Organic’s established quality associations can also help signal taste, Malin said, creating a virtuous circle in which quality reinforces taste and taste drives choice.

Ultimately, she said, “health gives organic a lot of credibility, but taste gives it craveability, and then we should focus a lot on craveability as well.”

Amanda Kauffman, director of client service at Guru, reiterated the power of taste-focused messaging to reinforce health messaging and ultimately amplify marketing power.

“When we asked the consumers how the messaging made them feel, taste made consumers feel healthy more than the health messages did,” she said, adding that outcome “makes me think there is more juice to squeeze out of that taste messaging.”

Kauffman explains organic brands shouldn’t stop talking about health or sustainability simply because taste-focused messaging resonated most strongly in the survey. Rather, she said, taste can create the initial appeal and ingredient quality and the USDA Organic seal can reinforce the decision.

Simple messages pack outsized punch

As brands weave these messages together, however, they need to avoid overcomplicating the story. OTA’s research found that simplicity was a common thread across the messages that resonated with younger organic shoppers, said Kauffman. The finding also reinforces the premise behind OTA’s “Seal Makes It Simple” campaign, which launched last year.

Simplicity should not be confused with basic or generic, though, she said. She explained that simple messaging still needs to be tailored to different consumer needs. For example, Gen Z respondents valued clear messaging to help cut through confusion when making healthy purchasing decisions, while Millennials were more focused on reducing the stress of decoding labels.

Justifying premium pricing

Clearly communicating the value of organic is important in part because organic products often command a price premium that needs to be justified to consumers.

The good news is the survey suggests many younger organic shoppers are willing to pay more.

According to the OTA survey, about one-third of respondents were willing to pay 20% or more for organic, while more than half were willing to pay 10% more.

According to Malin, the percentage of consumers willing to pay a premium is even higher for heavier users of Amy’s Kitchen products, according to the company’s own research.

“Price is one thing, but value is something else. And I know that feels like such an obvious thing to say, but I think it is crucial for us to understand that consumers do make the equation in their minds when they’re looking at brands and products. What is the value that I am getting from this, and is it worth the price? And what we see is that consumers very often are not choosing the lowest priced item because that item doesn’t provide the value of what they’re looking for, and that value comes from the quality of the food, the experience of the food, the organic nature of the ingredients,” she said.

Clear beats clever

Taken together, the panelists’ comments reinforce how value is easier to communicate when the consumer can connect a benefit to a product experience. Taste is one way to do that, and specific ingredient information is another.

Either way, the benefit must be communicated clearly. Kauffman stressed that companies should avoid clever quips or attempts to be memorable at the expense of clarity.

She explained that the test messages that performed best with survey respondents were direct and specific. They resonated in part because they took the guesswork out of interpreting the taglines and avoided common pitfalls of clever quips, which can come across as condescending, judgmental or out of touch.

Kauffman explained that doesn’t mean every message needs to sound the same, or that creativity has no role. It means creativity should clarify the value rather than obscure it.

The same principle applies to sustainability. A broad statement about climate impact can ask consumers to make several mental connections. “Healthy soil,” by contrast, gives them something concrete to picture and a more direct way to connect a farming practice with an environmental benefit.

Next steps

Based on OTA’s research and the panel’s insights, OTA’s Director of Industry Marketing & Communications Irene Cardozo outlined four strategies for marketers looking to strengthen organic messaging.

These include:

• Lead with taste to invite interest, while using the USDA Organic seal and other benefits to reinforce trust.
• Recognize that Gen Z and millennials are not interchangeable audiences.
• Keep messaging simple and resist the urge to be clever for its own sake.
• Build on familiar associations with organic and use tangible concepts, such as healthy soil, to explain broader benefits.

Taken together, the findings offer a practical challenge for organic marketers: As the category looks to grow beyond its current scale, the answer may not be to tell consumers more about organic, but to make the most important benefits easier to understand — and more compelling to choose.

That starts with taste, which can create desire without asking consumers to sacrifice enjoyment for health. It continues with clear, specific language that respects shoppers’ time and intelligence. And it leaves room for the broader benefits of organic, including the farming and environmental practices that matter to the category, without trying to squeeze every claim into every message.

For brands, the opportunity is to connect those benefits in a way that feels relevant at the shelf and makes the value of organic easier to see.