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How to Use Customer Loyalty Marketing in the Cannabis Industry

The growth of the marijuana industry is of the likes of cable television in the 90’s and broadband internet in the 2000’s. We are at the helm of a business market that is on par to grow at astronomical proportions.  

The state of Colorado alone has seen a 30 million dollar monthly revenue increase from recreational marijuana since August of 2015.  Dispensaries are in a time now referred to as the “Green Rush”. So how does a dispensary best stand up and stand out in a time when the competition is rising larger and larger?  

Marijuana dispensaries have made the shift from being associated with tye-dye clothing and the Grateful Dead to now having to meet the standard of modern retail. With dispensaries spending thousands on their aesthetic, the bar has now been set for dispensaries to be on par with the rest of the retail world.

Dispensaries are now resembling more of the likes of an Apple store than your average head shop. So what can one dispensary do to stand out above all of the noise?

To be successful, one needs to act successful, and successful businesses implement strong advertising and marketing into their business plan so that they can grow their customer base and increase their revenue. Dispensaries must now meet this standard of business strategy by best implementing marketing tactics to help them grow their customer base.

Today, marijuana dispensaries have the ability to create a unique sense of loyalty with their customers.

There is a certain sense of community and relationship that a dispensary can offer that is not like many other retail stores. Having outgoing and knowledgeable budtenders and a clean and aesthetically pleasing environment can strongly boost a dispensaries’ sales and customer loyalty.  However, arguably the strongest way to increase customer retention is through loyalty programs.  

Loyalty customers spend 60 percent more than regular foot traffic customers, and loyal shoppers make up 80 percent of a company’s revenue.  Catering to this demographic of your customers is a vital tactic to propel your business and set your dispensary above all of the noise.  

Customer loyalty is an essential part of any business that wants to establish a healthy relationship with their customers. Statistically, 20 percent of your customers will make up 80 percent of your sales. So keeping your friends close pays off.  Those 20 percent are the customers who are loyal to your company, and loyalty should be rewarded.  

That is why establishing a customer loyalty rewards program is a very beneficial aspect to any business, especially a dispensary. In the ever-growing marijuana industry, dispensaries are having to meet the standards of modern retail. To reach this bar that has been set, dispensaries now have to implement strong marketing tactics, especially to get ahead of the curve with the number of dispensaries growing exponentially.

A loyalty program allows a dispensary and its customers to enter into a mutually beneficial relationship. Customers come and spend money at your dispensary and in return they are rewarded for their business and loyalty. The great part about a customer loyalty program is that they are cyclical – essentially, they begin to work for themselves. The more customers purchase, the more rewards they know they will receive, encouraging them to come back and redeem their rewards and ultimately spend more money at your store – beginning the cycle over again.  

This platform begins to work on its own, bringing customers back to your dispensary to continuously redeem points for the money they spend at your store. Customers are more inclined to spend money at a store where they know they receive something in return for their dollars spent.  

A dispensary is unique from other retail stores because a lot of weight rides on the environment and the care taken by the store. The environment of a dispensary can be a sort of community feeling and everybody wants to feel part of a community or circle. A great way to sharpen this attribute of dispensaries is by offering a customer loyalty program.

A customer loyalty program will show customers that you appreciate them and their business and that their loyalty does not go overlooked. This inspires customers to remain loyal to your dispensary and the community it creates. Implementing a customer loyalty program drives up customer retention rates astronomically – a necessity in the booming cannabis industry, and all of the dispensary options becoming available.

Customers get hooked on the rewards of a loyalty program, and return again and again to their dispensary because they feel a personal investment to the store. Furthermore, a loyalty program allows dispensaries to effectively advertise to their customers, a feature that is vital to the cannabis industry and all of its advertising hurdles.  

A loyalty program can be set up so that when a customer checks in to earn their points towards rewards, they use their mobile number to check in, which then gets compiled into the dispensaries contact list. This allows a dispensary to organically build a contact list of valuable customers, who the dispensary can then send focused and effective text messages to using a text messaging campaign platform.

Take charge of the booming cannabis industry by implementing a marketing strategy that works – a customer loyalty program.  A proven model to grow your business and drive up your sales, a loyalty program is a vital organ of a successful dispensary.

Jeffrey Harris

Jeffrey Harris

Jeffrey Harris is the founder and chairman of one of the largest loyalty marketing firms in the nation, Inte Q, providing loyalty marketing and data driven marketing solutions for big box retailers and financial services companies. Prior to founding Inte Q, Harris held various executive positions for S&H Citadel, Inc. a national incentive marketing services firm headquartered outside of Chicago. In 2011, Harris saw an opportunity to provide this same solution for small businesses and by using his expertise in the industry, created springbig. Harris just completed a 20 year run as a member of Vistage, an organization dedicated to improving the effectiveness of CEOs, since 1998. Harris is also heavily involved in charities and currently serves on the board of various local non-profit organizations in Boca Raton, Florida.

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