Stop Sending Surveys. Start Building Supplier Relationships.
Most supplier sustainability capability assessments are designed to gather data. The best ones are conversation starters and relationship builders.
There's a difference — and it shows up in your response rate, your data quality, and whether your suppliers see this coming back next year as a burden or a collaboration.
Here are 4 questions I ask before and after sending a capability assessment to suppliers for the first time.
Before you send:
🎯 What goal or commitment does each question serve? If you can't answer that, cut it.
🎯 Does the supplier understand what's in it for them? Be clear about why you're sending this. It's their first signal that your company has environmental goals — and that their input shapes how you show up as a partner before requirements ever land. That framing changes response rates.
🎯 Do you know who's actually receiving it? Question design should speak to your audience and be broad enough in the first round to accommodate different maturity levels.
🎯 What's the minimum viable version? What can wait until next year?
After the data's in:
✅ Who responded — and who actually answered it? A sustainability manager completing this reads very differently from an operations coordinator doing it because no one else had time.
✅ Did suppliers respond in the format you sent, or did they request alternatives? Survey platforms vs. Excel tells you something.
✅ Who sent their sustainability report instead of completing the survey — and what does that signal about their maturity?
✅ What surprised you, positive or negative? What questions fell flat — and is that a design issue or a maturity signal?
Before next year:
What format served the widest audience and worked for how you operationalize the data? It won't be perfect the first round — you're still getting to know the contacts at each company.
Who surprised you? And can that inform your Scope 3 strategy?
What's the one change you make next year to improve the experience for your suppliers?
The assessment is the starting line. Delivering on the supplier experience — and learning from it — builds the relationship over time.