Dairy milk is part of the cultural and geographical landscape of the United States. Due to postwar state incentives and, later, successful marketing campaigns, people in the U.S. developed a real love affair with dairy milk. However, in recent times, milk production and consumption have declined, and consumers have increasingly become interested in plant-based alternatives.

Today, U.S. consumers can try different plant-based alternatives that retain the taste, look, and mouthfeel of dairy milk — minus dairy milk’s environmental and animal welfare harms.

Given the urgency of embracing sustainable plant-based alternatives, plant-based brands must find novel, evidence-based ways to attract consumers and generate loyalty to their products.

This study offers useful insights into the factors affecting U.S. consumers’ interest in trying plant-based milk alternatives and sharing information about these products through word-of-mouth. These insights can help marketers and the beverage industry target different consumer groups according to their specific needs, values, and preferences.

To identify the factors influencing consumers’ attitudes towards plant-based milk alternatives, researchers administered an online survey to 486 respondents. Those taking part in the study were at least 18 years old and had an interest in — or had already tried — plant-based milk alternatives. The respondents belonged to different dietary groups: around 49% ate meat, 20% were vegan, 2% identified as vegetarian or pescatarian, 5.5% didn’t consume dairy due to health issues, and 4% didn’t want to disclose their diet.

The survey captured socio-demographic information and measured five potential predictors of consumers’ attitudes and behavior. These were:

1. Animal welfare concerns;
2. Environmental concerns;
3. Dairy preference;
4. Health consciousness; and
5. Enthusiasm towards plant-based milk alternatives.

The research team then tested whether each predictor influenced people’s willingness to try plant-based milk alternatives and use word-of-mouth to tell others about it.

The results showed that animal welfare concerns, dairy preference, and enthusiasm towards plant-based milk alternatives are all significant predictors of consumers’ willingness to try these products. Furthermore, environmental concerns, dairy preference, and enthusiasm towards plant-based milk alternatives are predictors of word-of-mouth sharing.

Specifically, participants who exhibited enthusiasm towards plant-based milk alternatives were most willing to try new products and share positive feedback through word-of-mouth. While those who preferred dairy milk were less interested in trying plant-based alternatives, they were also willing to share feedback through word-of-mouth — albeit not necessarily favorable feedback. The researchers suggest that this may be because most participants were omnivores, and previous research has shown that omnivores often dislike the differences in taste and texture between dairy and plant-based milks.

Animal welfare concerns influenced people’s willingness to try plant-based milk alternatives without affecting word-of-mouth, suggesting that perhaps these concerns fail to translate into a higher commitment behavior like sharing opinions with others. Conversely, environmental concerns affected word-of-mouth but not people’s willingness to try plant-based milk alternatives. The researchers believe that the relatively low number of veg*ns in the sample might explain this somewhat surprising result.

Health consciousness was not associated with an increased willingness to try or share word-of-mouth opinions about plant-based milk. The researchers discuss the nutritional qualities of plant-based milk alternatives compared to dairy milk, including lower protein, higher fibre, and lower unsaturated fat, as well as the sugar and salt that are often added to improve their taste and imitate dairy milk. Given these mixed benefits and drawbacks, perhaps people feel less certain about the healthfulness of plant-based alternatives.

Finally, the researchers offer a number of suggestions for marketing plant-based milk alternatives according to their findings — namely, highlighting their animal welfare, environmental, and health benefits to target audiences most concerned about these factors.

• Marketing plant-based milk alternatives as cruelty-free should appeal to consumers concerned about animal welfare.
• Consumers concerned about the environment should be drawn to the environmentally-friendly and sustainable nature of many plant-based milk alternatives.
• Consumers with health conditions requiring low protein or lactose-free diets should consider plant-based milks a suitable alternative due to their lower protein and zero lactose content.
• Health-conscious consumers should be interested in the higher fibre, lower fat, and lower calorie content of plant-based milk alternatives.

The researchers recommend keeping plant-based milk enthusiasts updated and engaged with storytelling and social media, as they tend to be active promoters of these products. For consumers who drink both dairy and plant-based milks, the researchers suggest either emphasizing the dairy milk-like sensory features of plant-based alternatives or highlighting the difference in taste to help avoid disappointment and negative word-of-mouth.

However, perhaps of more interest to animal advocates is the researchers’ argument that future marketing efforts should be directed at positioning plant-based milk alternatives as a complement to dairy milk. Because dairy milk has so long been seen as essential to a balanced diet, plant-based alternatives have been advertised as milk substitutes. Given that plant-based alternatives have their own unique benefits, promoting them as an addition to rather than a replacement of dairy milk provides an opportunity to appeal to loyal consumers of plant-based alternatives while avoiding stronger negative reactions from dairy enthusiasts.