For whom do labels work? Heterogeneous effects of popularity and environmental information in coffee choice

• Environmental and combined labels significantly increase sustainable coffee demand. • Popularity cues alone show no aggregate effect but influence high-conformity consumers. • Right-leaning conformists respond most to popularity; left-leaning environmentalists to eco-labels. • Women, younger, and college-educated participants are more influenced by environmental cues. • Targeted labeling outperforms blanket requirements for promoting sustainable consumption. We examine the impact of two common food labels on consumers’ choices: environmental certification and popularity cues. In a randomized experiment, participants chose between two similar coffee products, with treatments varying the presence of environmental and/or popularity information. We also collected measures of conformity preferences, environmental concern, political identity, and demographics. At the aggregate level, the environmental and combined labels significantly increased the selection of the target coffee, whereas popularity information alone had no effect. These averages conceal substantial heterogeneity: high-conformity participants responded to all labels, especially popularity cues, while those with domain-specific environmental concerns responded only to environmental and combined labels. Political identity further shaped these effects. Right-leaning high-conformity participants were most influenced by popularity cues, whereas left-leaning participants with great environmental concern were most responsive to environmental framing. Our findings show that label effectiveness depends on alignment with consumers’ psychological traits and political identity. This suggests that targeted labeling strategies are more effective than blanket labeling approaches in influencing consumer choice.