Cannabis Loyalty 101: You Need to Know This About Cannabis Loyalty Programs.

What Are Cannabis Loyalty Programs?

Cannabis loyalty programs are one of the best marketing strategies that dispensaries use to keep customers coming back.

In most dispensary loyalty programs, customers earn points/stamps on the basis of a visit, although some states allow points to be earned based on the purchase amount by the customer (i.e. $1 spent = 10 points).

Now you've given your customer a reason to come back. And a reason to fall in love with your brand!

Collecting stamps and points give customers a gamified rush – It's like getting a gold star! It feels good, and it works on encouraging your customer to come right back to your store.

Why Are Cannabis Loyalty Programs Important?

There is a lot of competition in the Cannabis world.

There are also very few options for effective cannabis marketing. Weedmaps and other marketplace platforms already charge a lot of money, and get more expensive every year.

Dispensaries should focus on developing marketing channels that

(1) they own and

(2) work despite all of the cannabis restrictions.

Loyalty plans are a tried and tested way to make customers want to come back.

How Do Cannabis Loyalty Programs Work?

These loyalty programs help make visiting your dispensary an extra-special experience.

They might have come in to purchase a pack of pre-rolls, but are now leaving with something more than they expected. This is what marketers call a “surprise and delight”!

Every time your customers visit your store they can earn stamps or get points, and eventually redeem these earned stamps or points towards eligible rewards.

While laws and compliance around cannabis loyalty programs can be confusing, we're going to try to dig into the the difference in programs by state or province.

But before we jump to compliance, let's understand how loyalty programs actually help.

What Are the Benefits of a Cannabis Loyalty Program?

Here's why these programs are awesome:

Customers Keep Coming Back: If you give them rewards, they'll want to come back for more.

More Visits, More Sales: Get customers to make that extra trip this month with rewards and offers.

Happy Customers: Everyone loves rewards. We love feeling special. We love birthdays!

Spread the Word: Built-in referral programs help happy customers tell their friends.

How to Make a Great Cannabis Loyalty Program

Here's how to make a program that people will love:

Choose the Rewards: Pick fun and compliant rewards that people will want. If you're curious about the legalities within your state or province please contact a Sticky Card loyalty expert and they'll be happy to help.

Make It Personal: Find out what your customers like and give them more of it. Make sure your loyalty program integrates with your Point-of-Sales (POS) system so that they have the ability to learn and segment your loyal customers based on their purchase history.

Keep It Simple: One of the most common pitfalls of a loyalty program is making it overly complicated. Let's be real – your customers aren't coming to your store to collect stamps or points, they're coming to buy weed! So keep things simple and help your customers with a straightforward loyalty program. We'll go through some of the most successful loyalty programs in this article below. Make sure it's easy for people to understand how to earn and use their points.

Talk to Your Customers: “Are you collecting points with us today? You'll get 5% off on your order for joining today.” This is what the largest retailers in the world do – whether it's H&M, Starbucks, or McDonalds. It's as easy as that to start a long-term relationship with your customer.

How to Tell People About Your Cannabis Loyalty Program

So you've finally launched your loyalty program. How do you get all of your customers on board?

You can tell people about your program in so many ways, here's some simple tips:

Emails: Send fun emails with all the details on rewards and potential prizes that they can win. Also – try a “1-2-3” format in your emails to make it easy for them to sign-up.

Social Media: Share it at least once a week on all of your social media platforms (that haven't been banned yet amiright?) Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, and other forum websites.

Signs in the Store: Put up bright and colorful signs showing the loyalty program structure as well as a QR code for customers to scan and sign up. If you're working with Sticky Cards, we'll arm you with a bunch of NFC-enabled stickers for your checkout counter and posters! Take a look at some of the stickers and posters from Sticky Cards clients below.

How to Know If Your Program Is Working

Here's how to check if your program is a hit:

Are Customers Coming Back? One of the common traps of setting up a loyalty program is making it overly complicated. Keep it simple – if they keep coming back, it's working!

Are They Using Their Points? You'll start speaking to clients and learn that they've tweaked their purchase behaviour. More than 60% of customers change their purchasing behaviour based on a loyalty program. If they use their points, they like the rewards.

Are They Buying More Often? Another common misconception with loyalty programs is “I'm just giving away discounts to customers I already have”. The idea here is to increase the number of visits from the customer to your store – so if they were coming by 4 times a month, your loyalty program should bring them in for that 5th visit! If they come back more often, they love the program.

Conclusion: Make Your Store Special with Sticky Cards

Cannabis loyalty programs are a fun way to make your store special. They help you connect with your customers and give them reasons to keep coming back. By planning a great program and telling people about it, you can make your store a favorite place to shop.

So, if you want to make your customers happy and your store successful, start a loyalty program today. It's like throwing a party where everyone gets a prize!

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