They say that knowing is half the battle, right? That understanding how to take action is just as important as taking action. The same is true in the cannabis industry when it comes to dispensary text message marketing- knowing how to fine-tune each campaign to make it as effective and impactful as possible is crucial to a successful dispensary marketing strategy.
We know most people do the best they can with what they’ve got. But a lot of people could be doing better if they knew how to use the resources they’ve got. That’s why we think it’s important to share our insights into best practices when it comes to text message marketing for dispensaries.
The more dispensaries know about how to use SMS and MMS advertising to their advantage, the more they will benefit from having access to the fastest and most efficient texting engine in the industry.
Sometimes to get the right answers, you have to ask the right questions. So here are some of the big questions to ask yourself about text marketing, and we will answer each with our insights on best practices.
what time should we text?
They say there is a time and a place for everything, right? Ever been at the right place at the wrong time? Sure, you might be excited to wear that new speedo to the beach, but your sister’s wedding probably wasn’t the best moment to strut your stuff.
The same is true with dispensary SMS messaging, especially because cannabis is categorized as fast-moving consumer goods. And while SMS and MMS messages can be delivered to any place your customers are, you don’t want to catch them at the wrong time. Maybe you can’t ask your customers to synchronize their watches, but there is generally a window when you can have the best impact on the most amount of people.
Generally, the best time to send a text message promotion is 12:00 pm. To open that window a little more, text message campaigns sent between 8:00 am and 12:00 pm typically have the best response. Conversely, the worst time is the end of the day. Sending a campaign any time after 5:00 pm is just a bad move, so try to avoid it.
Remember, the top spot still goes to 12:00 pm. For dispensary owners, just call it high noon.
how often should you text?
It is possible to have too much of a good thing. For instance, every edible on your menu is probably good, but you probably wouldn’t eat all of them on your next shift would you. You might wake up back on the beach in that speedo again.
The same is true for text marketing. Text marketing isn’t just good for cannabis retailers, it is a crucial cannabis marketing channel because of the barrier against accessing more traditional methods. But it is still possible to overdo it and drive customers away. The last thing anyone on your subscriber list wants is to feel spammed by constant messages.
If you want to keep building your subscribers list you don’t want to gain a reputation for constantly sending messages to everyone on the list.
The best practice in terms of message frequency is no more than one time per day. This is especially true if your dispensary has daily deals running because it gives you a reason to remind your customers without them feeling inundated. Most customers don’t need to be reminded every other hour that you’re open.
After all, nothing looks more desperate to a millennial than a double text, right?
what day should you text?
While we did say that texting once a day is best practice, that doesn’t mean you must text every day. If you don’t run daily deals or simply don’t feel like texting every day is the right fit for your operation, there are still optimal time frames to send messages.
For the best results, the best day to send a campaign is Sunday, no matter the time.
Now, this doesn’t mean to only send campaigns on Sunday. But if you were only going to send one campaign a week, that would be the best way to get your money’s worth.
how should you prepare for weekends?
Weekends are big opportunities to pull in bigger sales numbers. According to Gallup data based on consumers’ self-reported average daily spending, Americans spend the most on Saturdays, followed closely by Fridays. This is probably because more customers have the time to visit a cannabis dispensary during business hours. After all, we can’t all be so awesome that we work at our favorite dispensary (lucky you).
One best practice for SMS marketing is preparing your customers for the weekend ahead of time. Staying open late on Friday? Send a text. Have some happy hour specials on Saturday? Send a text. Closing early on Sunday and want everyone to get their supplies in time? You know what to do!
Keep in mind, you want people to have a little time to plan ahead. If you are running special deals or making announcements for the weekend, set campaigns to go out by Thursday.
how should you prepare for the holidays?
We know with springbig every day feels like a holiday! Still, there are plenty of actual holidays throughout the year that can bring some serious business to your dispensary. From New Year’s Eve to 4/20 and even Labor Day, holidays are a huge opportunity for cannabis businesses.
For example, cannabis retailers in 2018 saw a sales increase of 184% on April 20th. Meanwhile, there are some other holidays you may not expect to be so busy. Did you know that Labor Day weekend is actually the busiest multi-sales weekend in cannabis?
When it comes to text marketing, you want to take a similar approach as suggested for weekends. Make sure to create campaigns that inform your customers of any special sales, changes in store hours, or events you might have planned. As always, give them time to plan ahead by sending your messages out early.
highlight your dispensary’s loyalty program
You ever get to have your cake and eat it too? Well, springbig wants to help you wake and bake with marketing software that gives you a comprehensive loyalty program and a text message marketing engine to promote it.
Did you know that even though loyalty members-only account for 10% of your customer base, they will account for 74% of your dispensary’s total revenue for the year! Use your text messaging platform to remind customers of the value of loyalty rewards.
An easy way to do that is to send messages with the ‘target wallet’ extension, checking the ‘home page’ box. This will drive customers to their digital wallet and get them excited about their rewards.
use MMS messages and emojis
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. We think an emoji is worth plenty of pixels, and a well-timed gif is priceless. That is why we highly recommend that you use multimedia when creating text marketing for your dispensary.
Using different kinds of media is a great way to get your customers engaged in your messages. It adds personality and makes the content more interesting. Your customers are actually more likely to engage with your content if it includes some kind of visual element. According to recent data:
- Texts without MMS or emojis have a click-through rate (CTR) of only 3%
- Texts with emojis have a CTR of 5%
- MMS messages have a CTR of 10.7%
- Texts that include both MMS and emojis have a CTR of 13%
Additionally, using images or gifs with your logo is a great way to create brand recognition.
A best practice is always about taking the resources you have, the knowledge you’ve collected, and making the most out of them. Make sure that when you create your next text message campaign for your dispensary that you take into account all the little details that make your messages more likely to convert, by sending them at just the right moment.
CEO and Co-founder of springbig
Jeffrey Harris