How customer feedback shapes our decision-making

Listening to our accredited businesses is central to how Ethical Clothing Australia works.

In late 2023, as we began planning our new Strategic Plan for 2024–2029, we took the opportunity to pause and reflect. We wanted to better understand the experience of accredited businesses: what was working well, where we could improve, and how we could best support the sector into the future.

To do this, we partnered with Insync, an experience management and research organisation, to design and deliver a comprehensive customer experience survey. Their involvement ensured the survey followed industry best practice and gave us clear, reliable insights to guide our next steps.

All accredited businesses were invited to take part in the survey, which ran from March-April 2024. Larger organisations were encouraged to submit multiple responses so we could capture a broad range of perspectives across roles and teams.

We were pleased to achieve a 39% response rate of our 140 invitees. According to Insync, a response rate of 30-50% is considered strong for a business-to-business survey, making this a valuable and representative snapshot of our customer experience.

All survey data was aggregated and de-identified to keep responses confidential, and respondents were given the option to share feedback with identifying information. We also captured contextual information such as length of accreditation, state, and job level. This helped us to identify patterns and better understand how different businesses experience our program.

Most importantly, this feedback didn’t sit on a shelf; it directly shaped our priorities and informed our strategic plan, including our five pillars of effectivity​, scalability​, viability​, advocacy​ and visibility​.

Marketing and consumer recognition

One key finding from the 2024 survey was the importance of marketing and brand recognition. While respondents ranked marketing was the third most important factor in being accredited, only 36% were satisfied with our marketing efforts at the time. Just over half (53%) felt satisfied with our recognition and recall amongst consumers.

This feedback directly informed the visibility pillar of our strategic plan.

In response, we finalised a National Marketing Plan in 2025, and launched new brand awareness initiatives. A key initiative was the ‘See the e’ campaign, a long-term multi-channel campaign designed to increase recognition of the trade mark, educate consumers, and encourage ethical purchasing.

Launched in late 2024, the campaign included social media, digital advertising, outdoor posters and billboards, paid partnerships, radio and podcast ads, and influencer collaborations. We also hosted awareness-raising events including the ‘Ethically Made in Australia’ pop-up in June 2025, which had 825 attendees and featured 14 accredited businesses.

To measure progress, we commissioned polling companies Pure Profile in September 2024 and YouGov in July 2025 to conduct Brand Awareness Surveys. Over the 10-month period, awareness of Ethical Clothing Australia jumped from 10.1% to 16%.

Growing brand recognition is central to our work because it helps accredited businesses leverage the trade mark with confidence and reassess consumers that the products they choose are ethically and locally made.

Advocacy

The survey also highlighted opportunities to strengthen our advocacy work. While advocacy to government was ranked seventh out of nine factors influencing accreditation, only 28% of respondents were satisfied with our performance in this area at the time. This feedback shaped the advocacy pillar of our Strategic Plan. 

Since 2024, we have significantly expanded our advocacy efforts for local Textile, Clothing and Footwear (TCF) businesses.  

This has included hosting an event at Australian Parliament House to connect accredited manufacturers with politicians, providing evidence to government inquires: NSW Ethical Clothing Extended Responsibilities Scheme 2005 and on an inquiry into the impacts of NSW Government procurement practices. We have also held regular meetings with representatives across all levels of government.

To further strengthen our case for local manufacturing, we commissioned a Social Return on Investment Report. The findings were powerful: for every dollar spent procuring from an accredited manufacturer, $1.13 of social value is returned to the community. This evidence has helped us clearly demonstrate the economic and social benefits of ethical, local production. 

Customer engagement

Overall, the survey showed solid foundations, with 55% of respondents rating our performance as moderate to strong. At the same time, 38% reported neutral sentiment, and only 53% felt positive about our efforts to understand of business requirements.

These insights aligned closely with our scalability pillar, which focuses on retaining and growing our accreditation community. The survey findings became the foundation for our Engagement and Retention Strategy, helping us refine our services and better respond to the needs of accredited businesses.

Under the effectivity strategic pillar, which focuses on how we operate as an organisation, we reviewed our operating model, communications, and staff KPIs. This led to changes in internal processes and a stronger focus on proactive, relationship-based engagement.

One practical learning was that many businesses, particularly manufacturers, prefer to be contacted by phone over email. In response, we introduced an SMS subscription service to share timely reminders, updates, and event information in a way that better suits how businesses work.

In 2026, we’ll be launching our second customer satisfaction survey. This will allow us to track our progress, understand how recent changes we’ve made have been experienced and identify new opportunities for improvement.

We know that the needs of accredited businesses evolve over time. Ongoing feedback helps ensure our program remains relevant, effective, and supportive of local ethical manufacturing. This survey is one of the most important ways for our accredited businesses can shape the future of Ethical Clothing Australia. By sharing your feedback, you’ll help guide our priorities and strengthen the support we provide across the sector, now and into the future.