Switching from springbig: the dispensary loyalty migration
Moving a dispensary loyalty program off springbig is a data exercise before it is a marketing one. Your member list, your consent trail and your point balances have to arrive intact, and your customers have to keep earning while it happens. Sticky Cards runs that migration for you and you stay on your current tool until the new one is sending.
Why stores look at leaving
Stores tend to start this conversation for one of three reasons, and it is worth being plain about all three rather than selling against a competitor.
The first is the bill shape. Operators tell us their cost moves with store count and with the months they send hardest, which makes a growth plan hard to budget. Your own invoice is the only version that matters here, so pull last month's and read the per-location and overage lines before you compare anything.
The second is where the loyalty card lives. An app-based card asks the customer to install something before they can carry it. A wallet pass is a real Apple Wallet or Google Wallet card, issued through Apple's PassKit and Google's loyalty card APIs, that installs from a web link with no app store download (Apple Developer, Wallet Passes, Google Wallet, loyalty cards).
The third is the exit itself, which is why most of this page is about the migration rather than the comparison. Two dates decide whether you can leave this year: when your term renews, and how much written notice you owe before it does. Find both in your own agreement first. Starting the migration so it lands near your renewal is what keeps you from paying two vendors at once.
The migration checklist
Work the migration in four stages: export, import, reconcile, cut over. Sticky Cards runs each one with you, and the checklist below is what to expect and what to check yourself.
Export. Pull the full member export from your current platform: names, phone numbers, emails, birthdays and any custom fields your stores use. Pull the loyalty ledger separately, with point balance, tier and redemption history per member. Pull the consent record, meaning every opt-in with its date, source and channel, and the suppression list of everyone who has opted out. The consent trail is the item that is easiest to leave behind and the one you cannot recreate later.
Import. Sticky Cards deduplicates members across your stores on the way in, maps your custom fields, and rebuilds the point of sale connection so orders arrive live rather than as a nightly file. A point of sale, or POS, is the register system that records every dispensary transaction. Your suppression list is loaded before anything is sendable, so nobody who opted out can be messaged by accident.
Reconcile. Balances are reconciled against the source export before launch, with a before and after report you sign off on. This is the stage to insist on. Ask for the count of members in and out, the sum of points in and out, and a named list of any record that did not match. A migration that cannot produce those three numbers has not been reconciled.
Cut over. Your creative and your automations are rebuilt in Sticky Cards and tested while the old platform is still sending, so there is no window where a customer can earn nothing. You send your first campaign from Sticky Cards, confirm the point of sale feed is attributing revenue, and only then cancel.
What customers see on day one
Your customers should notice the card and nothing else. Their balance is the balance they had, their tier is the tier they had, and anyone who opted out stays opted out.
What changes is where the card sits. Instead of an app they have to find, the loyalty card installs into Apple Wallet or Google Wallet from a QR code and a short form, and it updates itself from the register after every purchase. Wallet push is a notification sent to that pass over Apple and Google notification rails rather than through a mobile carrier, which matters in this category: CTIA, the United States wireless industry association, publishes the Messaging Principles and Best Practices that carriers apply, and the May 2023 edition sets out the restricted content groups the industry shortens to SHAFT, for sex, hate, alcohol, firearms and tobacco (CTIA, Messaging Principles and Best Practices, May 2023). Cannabis campaigns are checked against that framework and can be filtered after approval, so a channel the carriers do not sit in front of is worth having.
The first message they get should say what happened in one line and give them the card. Sticky Cards drafts that message with you rather than leaving it to the week of cutover.
What stays and what changes
| Stays the same | Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Member list | Names, contact details, birthdays, custom fields | Deduplicated across your stores |
| Loyalty balances | Points, tier, redemption history | Reconciled against your export before launch |
| Consent | Every opt-in record and your suppression list | Nothing; opt-outs carry across intact |
| The loyalty card | The program your customers know | Moves from an app to an Apple or Google Wallet pass |
| Channels | Email and text | Wallet push is added, on the same customer record |
| Point of sale | The POS you already run | Read live for points and in-register redemption |
| Billing | Month to month, no setup fee, credits that do not expire |
Two questions are worth putting to any vendor in this category, including this one. What happens to accrued balances on the way in, and what happens to your customer data if you leave. Sticky Cards exports on request and deletes on termination (Sticky Cards security).
The reason to do any of this is a number in the register rather than in a campaign report. Headset computes its figures from register transactions at licensed dispensaries and puts average cannabis brand retention at 34.0 percent of tracked category customers, with a median of 32.6 percent, as of July 2026 (Headset, Cannabis Brand Loyalty). Two in three customers do not come back to the same name, and the platform is only worth moving if it moves that.
Frequently asked questions
Will my customers lose their points? Your point balances, tiers and redemption history are migrated and reconciled against your source export before launch, with a before and after report. Ask for the member count in and out, the point total in and out, and a list of any record that did not match.
Can I switch mid-contract? You can, and it usually costs you. Switching before your renewal means paying two vendors for a stretch, so find your renewal date and your notice period first and time the migration to land near it.
What happens to my opt-outs? Your consent records and your suppression list come across intact, so anyone who opted out stays opted out. That trail is also the item hardest to recreate if it is left behind, so export it early.
Do my customers have to download anything? No. The loyalty card installs into Apple Wallet or Google Wallet from a QR code and a short form. There is no app store step and no password.
What if it does not work out? Billing is month to month, so the exit is a cancellation rather than a negotiation. Your data can be exported at any time and is deleted on termination.