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Digital Product Passports
Helping consumers make informed decisions across the smartphone lifecycle.
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Explore key findings & recommendations for action

Digital Product Passports can help consumers make better decisions

Digital Product Passports are digital records that give people access to key information about a product. For smartphones, that can include repair options, software support, battery condition and recycling routes.

A new project has looked at how these passports can be designed so consumers can actually use them in everyday decisions. Digital Product Passports work best when they: 

  • are easy to understand,
  • focus on practical decisions,
  • are relevant across the product lifecycle, and
  • Are backed by clear, trustworthy governance.

When DPPs are built with and for consumers, not only do they benefit but we see improved repair, resale and recycling outcomes. In addition, businesses are supported to manage responsible value chains, and policymakers are able to strengthen implementation and enforcement.

Based on testing with 1,000 consumers in Germany, the findings offer practical guidance for policymakers, businesses, and designers working on consumer-facing product information.

Key Numbers
3x
Global resource extraction has tripled since 1970
1,000
Consumers in Germany took part in the pilot study
72-84%
Rated the DPP easy to understand across use cases
Person holding smartphone
© Jonas Leupe/Unsplash

Key findings

Consumers see strong potential in DPPs when they are easy to understand, clearly useful, and designed around real decisions across the product lifecycle.

Consumers find DPPs useful.

68–77 % rated the DPP useful across the tested use cases.

DPPs are easy to understand when designed well.

72–84% percent rated the DPP easy to understand across use cases.

DPPs can influence behaviour.

53–70% percent said the DPP influenced their decision-making, depending on the use case.

Trust needs governance.

Consumers expect binding standards, transparency and credible verification for DPPs to be trusted and used.

“Knowing in advance how much a repair is likely to cost and where I can get original spare parts makes it much easier to say yes to a repair.” — Survey respondent, female, 25

“I would use this information if it helped me compare products before buying.” — Survey respondent, male, 34

“It needs to be clear and trustworthy, otherwise people will not use it.” — Survey respondent, female, 42

Infographic

Infographic
© Consumers International/adelphi

Recommendations for action

Smartphone purchase

Manufacturers & retailers

  • Build DPPs into the way people buy, use and return products
  • Highlight the information that matters most
  • Use DPPs to build trust, not only for compliance
Policy-makers

Policy-makers

  • Make DPPs not only digitally accessible, but also work for consumers
  • Connect them to repair and collection schemes
  • Define governance and verification roles clearly
Designers and developers

Designers & developers

  • Support and incentivise responsible decision-making
  • Make DPPs simple to find and use
  • Design for different users, languages and digital literacy
Read the full recommendations for action in the report