The Future of Carbon-Neutral Commerce with EcoCart’s Peter Twomey

Eco-responsibility has quickly become a baseline for both consumers and brands. At the forefront of this trend sits EcoCart, a commerce platform that helps consumers and merchants offset environmental externalities by opting for a carbon neutral checkout. Here, Cofounder Peter Twomey unpacks his strategy on aligning mission and metrics while scaling the platform.
November 1, 2021
by
Blue background with Tydo and EcoCart logos with white text that says "Carbon-neutral commerce"

The Future of Carbon-Neutral Commerce with EcoCart’s Peter Twomey

Peter Twomey is the cofounder of EcoCart, an ecommerce plugin that helps consumers and merchants offset environmental externalities via a carbon neutral checkout.

We sat down with Peter to learn about how he aligns mission and metrics, approaches on-platform integration cycles, and thinks about today's generation of eco-conscious customers.

Social Pressure & Behavioral Trends

EcoCart works with 10K+ brands to offset the environmental costs of customer orders. 

A pair of sneakers might emit 75 pounds of CO2 while traveling to the customer's doorstep, but by paying an extra 50 cents through EcoCart, the customer can plant a tree that neutralizes the carbon emissions of their purchase.

EcoCart works with online merchants across all verticals, but according to Peter, there are four industries that have the most to gain from their solution: 
  1. Fashion
  2. Food & beverage
  3. Personal care
  4. Health & wellness 

Most consumers view these industries as highly wasteful—primarily due to their plastic use and unethical manufacturing. The personal care and health & wellness categories have recently gotten pushback from customers who are seeking out more sustainable, ethical options.

Now, big players across both these industries, such as Sephora and Ulta, are responding with new practices, including EcoCart.

The same can be said for fashion consumers, who are equally as motivated to shop sustainably, especially after watching viral videos of landfills filled with discarded clothing.

These cultural trends are pushing brands to openly address these problems and engage customers.

That might look like a brand sharing their environmental impact in their email marketing or presenting the consumer with alternative options as they're shopping.

“Commerce trickles down to how the end consumer feels emotionally about these industries. As it stands, shoppers view them all as wasteful.”

EcoCart’s Platform: Phased Integration

To maximize both the environmental impact and economic KPIs for merchants, Peter recommends incorporating sustainability messaging throughout the entire customer experience.

As a shopper, it's a "green flag" to see a brand's environmental impact on their homepage (i.e. "We've offset one million pounds of CO2 and planted 100,000 trees.").

Studies show that seeing a brand's commitment to eco-responsibility can convince a new customer to give the brand a try.

At checkout (where EcoCart comes in), customers have the option to pay a bit extra to make their order carbon neutral.

Most customers think going carbon neutral sounds great in theory, but in reality, they have no idea what that means. As a result, transparency and openness around impact scores is key.

With EcoCart, customers can click to read more about how the carbon footprint of their unique order is calculated—based on factors such as shipping distance, package weight, and more.

Then, EcoCart provides more digestible metrics to better understand the customer's carbon offset. For example, the average customer typically doesn't understand what 100 pounds of carbon emissions look like, but they're familiar with the equal value, which is driving 120 miles in a car.

EcoCart's offset projects include planting trees, building wind farms, and enabling sustainable agriculture; each initiative works to reduce or remove carbon from the atmosphere while doing good.

This information is strategically layered on top of the customer journey (in phases) to not obstruct the checkout process. When executed correctly, merchants can help their customers feel educated and engaged through tangible, customized experiences at scale.

“We're incorporating multiple layers of transparency so that the customer feels extremely engaged while going through a highly personalized experience.”

Mission & Metrics: The Perfect Alignment

EcoCart drives growth for its brand partners across three core metrics:
  1. Cart conversion
  2. Repurchase rate
  3. Average order value

As it relates to repurchase rate, over 20% of shoppers who go through checkout via EcoCart end up returning to that same merchant and using the EcoCart option again.

In addition to the short-term quantitative ROI of using EcoCart, there are a range of intangible benefits associated with stronger customer engagement and mission-driven marketing around sustainability.

Instead of burying info about environmental initiatives or charitable donations on an impact page, Peter recommends bringing eco-responsibility front and center.

During the early days of EcoCart, the team never expected to be able to drive alignment between mission impact and metrics impact.

To put it bluntly, Peter never expected the platform to drive such significant KPI improvements for partner brands. They initially believed that EcoCart's value would primarily lie in its ability to drive brand-building and engagement, but EcoCart actually makes a big difference.

“Up until earlier this year, we genuinely didn’t expect to see metric growth across cart conversion, repurchase rate, and AOV. That was a surprise.”

Eco-responsibility as a Baseline

To the modern consumer, proactivity around a brand's carbon footprint is more of a baseline requirement than a differentiating factor.

To stand out, he recommends meeting new customers where they are.

Because consumers are more skeptical of brands’ public personas, they’re much more likely to do their own research and hold companies accountable for their carbon impact. That’s where EcoCart can help them out.

EcoCart’s ethos of transparency around how they calculate carbon footprints and spend the money provides shoppers with a sense of security and trust.

Without this transparency, Peter warns brands that they can quickly be accused of greenwashing—the practice of using eco-language to trick shoppers into thinking they're making a difference when they're really not.

“As an emerging brand, you need in-depth transparency around what you're doing to be carbon neutral. Otherwise, you’ll get called out. It’s that simple.”

Raising Capital: Playing the Long Game

In the process of raising their $3 million seed round, Peter says the team looked for a lead investor who understood the ecommerce landscape, aligned themselves with their mission, shared a climate-driven perspective, and prioritized making a long-term impact on the planet.

Since the intersection of climate tech and ecommerce is a hot space, Peter noted that they did turn down larger checks just so they could stay true to their strategy.

They landed on Base10 as their lead investor, along with 40+ individual investors such as Bark's Carly Strife and PopSugar’s Brian Sugar.

“Having the right people around the table is everything. It was crucial to ensure that investors were aligned with our mission and strategic goals.”


Checkout our roundup to learn:
  • What to pledge
  • How to improve
  • Which tools will set you up for success

Dale Wilson

Partnerships Manager,
adQuadrant
Resolution

I think the most important thing brands can do in 2023 is to better manage their customer data—both ethically and effectively. There’s an opportunity for brands to know their customers better than ever before—a clear benefit for both the customer and the brand. When you manage your data correctly, you’ll create stronger and more personalized ads, creative, site experiences, and so much more.

Tip

This is a classic: Let the data guide you. Go where the buyers for your products are and communicate with them on a personal level (i.e. by persona and funnel position) and nurture those relationships (past, present, and future customers). It’s possible—all through data.

Tool

It's an honest tie between Gorgias and Klaviyo. Both tools have amazing plans for 2023 and beyond, and I'm looking forward to seeing the impact both have on their clients this year.

Shawn Khemsurov

Co-founder,
Electric Eye
Resolution

We recommend that Shopify brands analyze and update their websites using data-driven decisions. Using analytics tools such as heatmaps and scrollmaps can help brands better understand how customers are interacting with their store.

Tip

Store owners tend to make assumptions about the way customers interact with their website. Most never go back and analyze their design choices to find pain points or areas of opportunity. By using heatmaps and scrollmaps, they can see where real customers are clicking and concentrating their attention. Leveraging this data, brands can start to iterate on design and make their online store experience streamlined and intuitive.

Tool

Hotjar provides a simple way to implement heatmaps, scrollmaps, and recorded user sessions on your site, helping you acquire incredibly informative user data. Additionally, it gives you the ability to create on-site surveys, which allows you to obtain direct and often critical feedback from users about their experience.

Katelyn Glass

Founder and CEO,
Fifty Six
Resolution

Test various attribution models and analyze the impact on your business. At Fifty Six, we are always here to help our clients identify and optimize their approach—a critical step in any successful marketing strategy.

Tip

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times–Customer Lifetime Value. And even more importantly, Future Lifetime Value (FLTV). With the ever-growing importance of first-party data, it is crucial that brands take a good look at their CRM and FLTV metrics.

Tool

OrderlyEmails is our go-to tool for transactional emails. It helps us level up our brands’ email aesthetics with customizable, quick-to-implement Shopify templates.

Lately, I’ve been really interested in Smile.io’s loyalty platform. Their UX is fantastic for teams with low bandwidth!

Tom Rees

Founder,
WIRO
Resolution

Stop allocating budgets to low-hanging fruit that doesn’t move the needle on conversion. Think about what’s really going to improve your CX and the return of undertaking different initiatives—not just on what’s top on your list of bugbears on the site!

Tip

One of the best ways to understand your customer behavior is by using HotJar. Their heat-mapping and screen recording tools shine a light on where customers are navigating to and from on your site, where they're rage clicking and experiencing frustration, and where conversion is dropping off within real life customer journeys and flows!

Understanding your customers’ pain points via data and analytics , will allow you to work with your CRO/CX Agency to solve customer frustrations and improve conversion.

Tool

Rewind backs up all product, customer, and order data for Shopify sites—essential since Shopify itself doesn’t provide this solution. It's saved so many of our clients time and money from administrative accidents.

Never miss an update from Tydo

Thank you! Be on the lookout for updates.
Hmm, something when wrong

Jimmy Aristizabal

Partnership Manager,
TalentPop
Resolution

33% of customer service inquiries are pre-sale questions. What does this mean? If you’re not investing in customer service, you’re missing out on revenue-generating opportunities.

Tip

The benefits of elevating your customer experience:

  • 10% to 25% increase in AOV for customers who engage with live chat pre-purchase
  • 21x higher conversion rate for customers who reach out via Live Chat or SMS compared to other site visitors
  • 87% of customers who have a great customer experience will make another purchase
  • 72% of customers share positive experiences with 6 or more individuals
Tool

Gorgias is our favorite Helpdesk platform. They can reduce costs by 35%, primarily by decreasing the average ticket handle time. Their machine learning algorithms are trained on millions of ecommerce-related interactions across Gorgias’ customer base and provide accurate, automated replies for the most common ecommerce inquiries. This helps our agents resolve tickets faster, which provides the customer a seamless experience.

Jessica Grossman

Founder and CEO,
In Social
Resolution

Trust your agency! Agencies do the same things across multiple brands and niches, so we see the trends and have the practice and experience!

Tip

Don't be afraid of data and insights. If customers aren't clicking on your emails, try a new CTA. If your ads are driving good metrics at a small spend, start scaling. If your customers are complaining about a product, look into QA! If the data tells you something isn't working, let it go and try something else!

Tool

I'm supposed to say Tydo, right? 😉

Rikin Diwan

Chief Growth Officer,
soona
Resolution

Double down on differentiation. There will be a lot of headwinds this year and standing out from the crowd will set you apart.

Tip

A picture is worth 1,000 words. A video? Probably millions. In ecommerce that value translates into engagement, acquisition, and retention—everything you need to impact your bottom line.

At soona, we've seen the we've seen the impact of creative and the continuous split testing of it yield results. Our resolution is to challenge ourselves and double down on innovation and creative optionality so that each brand we work with can distinguish themselves in a crowded sea of D2C ecomm. We'd love to see our brands share this resolution and keep pushing the creative limits.

Tool

Klaviyo. We're using it to power our email and newsletter at soona too!

Shayna Silvers

Director of Marketing Strategy,
Absolute Web
Resolution

Optimize your returns strategy! This can lead to valuable customer insights, enhanced user experiences, and increased revenue and customer loyalty.

Tip

Brands need to dive deeper into understanding their customers to set themselves up for success. Conduct research to gain insights into customer needs, preferences, and behaviors. By doing so, you can develop targeted strategies that will enhance customer experience and boost overall retention.

Tool

Right now I would say Gorgias. Having a good customer service tool is crucial to building strong customer relationships.

Wes Buckwalter

Resolution

Start paying heavy attention to data, specifically around retention. We see a lot of effort put towards acquisition with the assumption that once someone buys, they are your customer forever. Instead, get to know your customer, understand their needs, and analyze their behaviors once they are on-site and judge their sentiment after they have visited. Work with a retention focused and data-driven agency to implement tools that contribute to repeat business and customer delight. It will pay dividends.

Tip

When surveyed, about 80% of ecommerce merchants think that they are delivering a great experience to their customers. However, when the same customers are surveyed, only 8% of those customers think that they are getting a great experience from the merchant. Now, more than ever, retaining loyal customers is an essential part of any online business and you should spend time with your customers to judge their experience with your website and products and offer improvements based on that feedback.

Tool

Tydo's report cards are an essential tool, along with Klaviyo for email and SMS, Recharge for subscriptions and memberships, Okendo for reviews and surveys, Rebuy for AI driven collections and upsells, Loop for self service returns... each tool is great on their own, but their strength as the ultimate tool comes from when they are used together!

Never miss an update from Tydo

Thank you! Be on the lookout for updates.
Hmm, something when wrong

Report Cards

Free

Report Cards is a customized glimpse into your business, delivered to your inbox for free.

Report Cards consolidates all your key metrics across platforms for an at-a-glance pulse of your business.

Discover metrics for every team member so they can stay updated with the right data on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

It's free because we believe everyone should have access to the basics.

Learn more
Base for feature illustration

Portfolio

Portfolio is a hub for analytics across multiple Shopify stores. The perfect tool for agencies.

See an aggregate view of all your data for all your stores in one place.

Make real time assessments on marketing initiatives across every storefront you manage.

Analyze the performance of one store versus another in seconds.

Learn more
Screen 1
Base for feature illustration

Book a demo

Join 1,000+ brands managing their data with Tydo

Noah Wunsch

Founder & CEO,
Ruby
BOOK PICK
Ramping Your Brand
James F. Richardson, PhD
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Paul Voge

Founder & CEO,
Aura Bora
BOOK PICK
High-Hanging Fruit: Build Something Great by Going Where No One Else Will
Mark Rampolla
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Andrew Benin

CEO & Cofounder,
Graza
BOOK PICK
Salt Sugar Fat
Michael Moss
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Becca Millstein

Cofounder & CEO,
Fish Wife
BOOK PICK
The Secret Life of Groceries Benjamin Lorr
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Allie Dempster

Cofounder,
Lupii
BOOK PICK
How to Change Your Mind Michael Pollan
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Michael Sharon

Cofounder & CEO,
Taika
BOOK PICK
The Beginning of Infinity
David Deutsch
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Michael Wieder

Cofounder, President, & CMO,
LALO
BOOK PICK
The Checklist Manifesto
Atul Gawande
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Stefany Nieto

Cofounder,
Mojo Microdose
BOOK PICK
The Immortality Key
Brian Muraresku
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Cattie Khoury

BOOK PICK
Extreme Ownership
Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Alex Onsager

Cofounder & CEO,
Character
BOOK PICK
Competing Against Luck Clayton Christensen
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Steph Hon

Founder & CEO,
Cadence
BOOK PICK
Open
Andre Agassi
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Katina Mountanos

Founder & CEO,
Kosterina
BOOK PICK
Pour Your Heart Into It
Howard Schultz
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Dee Charlemagne

Cofounder,
AVEC
BOOK PICK
Shoe Dog
Phil Knight
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Cristina Ros Blankfein

Cofounder,
Swoon
BOOK PICK
Shoe Dog
Phil Knight
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Peiman Raf

Cofounder & CEO,
Madhappy
BOOK PICK
Shoe Dog
Phil Knight
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Libie Motchan

Cofounder,
Fulton
BOOK PICK
Burn Rate
Andy Dunn
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Chris Meade

Cofounder,
Crossnet
BOOK PICK
Double Your Profits
Bob Fifer
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Maggy Nyamumbo

Founder,
Kahawa 1893
BOOK PICK
The Big Brand Lie
Eddie Yoon, Nicolas Cole, Christopher Lochhead
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

David Phan

Founder,
Huppy
BOOK PICK
The Slight Edge
Jeff Olson
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

Cole Pearsall

Cofounder & Chief Sales Officer,
Acid League
BOOK PICK
Business Stripped Bare Richard Branson
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

David Fudge

Cofounder & CEO,
Aplos
BOOK PICK
The Big Leap
Gay Hendricks
0:00
2:00
Show transcript
Hide transcript

More about the project

Here at Tydo, we try to highlight DTC founders who run their business in various ways. And, that's because there's no "right" way to run a DTC brand.

This project illustrates exactly that. Whether it's how a founder supports their team or how they talk about mental health in the workplace, every founder has a different approach. How do they discover these different approaches? One way: reading. Discover the greatest books that have changed the way 15+ founders think about or operate their business.

You can also listen to these book picks on Spotify or Anchor.fm.

Brandon Amoroso

Founder & President,
Electriq
GIFT PICK
AM to PM Set
by Brooklinen
For the friend who has everything (or when I have no idea what else to get!) this Brooklinen candle set is my go-to gift. It has a classic look, and each scent gives off a homey, exceptionally cozy vibe—perfect for the winter months.

Juliana Casale

Head of Brand and Community,
Wonderment
GIFT PICK
Desert Planter
by Jungalow
A lot of my friends either have a ton of indoor plants, or aspire to be the kind of person who has tons of indoor plants. Jungalow has a nice little selection of live plants in their online store, and they sell super cute planters like this one to house them in. Instantly add ambiance to any party you attend!

Tom Shea

Cofounder,
Adgile
GIFT PICK
Long Jambys
by Jambys
I try not to show up to a dinner party empty-handed. I love bringing “performance inactivewear”—better known as Jambys!  After a night spent entertaining, every host needs time to sit back, relax, and reset. And, what better way to do that than in a pair of super soft, Jamby joggers?!

Rhian Beutler

CEO/Founder,
Govalo
GIFT PICK
The Mini Essentials
by Brightland
Brightland's capsule sets are one of my favorite things to gift a party host. This set does it all—perfect for a charcuterie board or a drizzle on a crusty loaf of bread. It comes in a beautifully designed gift box that makes you feel like you are giving a gift that everyone can enjoy together and use even after the party is over!

Mike De Santis

Direct of Biz Ops,
Doris Dev
GIFT PICK
Humidifier
by Canopy
With winter right around the corner, you have to make sure your loved ones and friends don't dry out! When the heat comes on, the Canopy Humidifier helps to provide humidity in your home! Plus, the built-in aroma diffuser is a great alternative to candles!

Yair Slasky

Business Operations,
Fondue
GIFT PICK
Sampler Pack
by Olipop
You can never go wrong with Olipop—the soda that tastes good and is good for you! Same-day delivery makes for a perfect last-minute gift! I'll be stocking up on a few Sampler Packs this holiday season.

Robi O’Cleirigh

Marketing Manager,
Relo
GIFT PICK
The Classics Box
by Bad Brownie
Whilst I’ve never needed a party as an excuse to chow down on these bad boys, they’re the perfect gift for your host! Easy to share, and a real crowd pleaser, Bad Brownies are a great go-to, holiday sweet treat.

Arjun Jolly

COO/Cofounder,
adQuadrant
GIFT PICK
Sandwich Thins
by Outer Aisle
A healthy and allergy-conscious addition to any dinner, these delicious cauliflower sandwich thins are a top-notch alternative to bread (gluten free and sugar free). They’ll be a fan favorite at the dinner table.

Never miss an update from Tydo

Thank you! Be on the lookout for updates.
Hmm, something when wrong

Zack Elias

Director, Partnerships,
Plobal Apps
GIFT PICK
Open House Bundle
by Life in Lilac
The name says it all—Open House. This is my go-to gift for anyone hosting during the holidays (and a bottle of wine, of course)! Open House is a clean, crisp scent perfect for every day. If fresh laundry isn’t your vibe and you prefer woodsy/smoky notes, Life in Lilac has plenty of A+ scent options.

Nik Sharma

GIFT PICK
Matcha Variety Pack
by Chamberlain Coffee
No one says no to a good cup of caffeine in the morning. In fact, if there was a way to inject caffeine in my veins, I'd be open to testing that. But, the issue with most caffeine is there's always a crash! The crash sucks... you feel tired and unfocused, you just wanna take a break. This is where matcha comes in... but for those who don't want JUST the taste of green soil, Chamberlain Coffee created the perfect flavored matcha. Emma personally worked on these blends, so you know they taste amazing and just as good (if not better) than they look.

Jessica Grossman

Founder/CEO,
In Social
GIFT PICK
Best Seller Bundle
by Three Ships
Who doesn't want the gift of better and brighter skin? Our friends at Three Ships Beauty are the leaders in natural skincare that actually works! Starting with the bestseller bundle helps giftees discover which products (if not all!) work best for their skin.

Kate Cassidy

Partner Marketing Manager,
Tydo
GIFT PICK
Drizzle & Sizzle
by Graza
I love showing up to a party with a practical gift the host can and will actually use. Graza's Sizzle and Drizzle squeezable olive oil set is a welcome addition to any kitchen—plus, they fit perfectly in a wine bottle sized gift bag.

Marcus Ohanesian

Partners Manager,
Trellis
GIFT PICK
Lastra Holiday Mug
by Vietri
This hand-painted Italian stoneware mug is a great gift for any hot cocoa or coffee drinker! If you want to go the extra mile, include a bag of coffee beans or hot chocolate mix.

Phillip Jackson

Cofounder,
Future Commerce
GIFT PICK
Tile Mat
by Letterfolk
I’ve waxed poetic about Pattern Brands over the last few years—and I’ve quickly fallen for one of their newest brand acquisitions. The Letterfolk Tile Mat is a unique gift for any host. It looks on point in any home. Plus, it’s endless fun to customize!

Maier Bianchi

Founder,
Bemeir
GIFT PICK
Haitian Moringa: Hair, Skin, & Nails Vitamins
by Kreyól Essence
Haitian Moringa vitamins are a versatile gift with multiple uses and beneficial health properties. I love giving the Pineapple Rhum Punch flavor! Introducing items from diverse cultures, especially ones from black-owned businesses that deserve recognition, brings me joy.

Never miss an update from Tydo

Thank you! Be on the lookout for updates.
Hmm, something when wrong