People love being appreciated for what makes us different. Even when we are connecting with others, we like being seen for what sets us apart. And when it comes to gifts, the more personal they are, the more authentic it feels. So why would customers stay loyal to a dispensary that treats them like just another number?
After all, the whole point of joining a dispensary loyalty program is to be rewarded for being different from the average customer. Whether you’re a medical or recreational cannabis dispensary it’s your business’s way of saying ‘we see what makes you special,’ so it only makes sense that personalizing the dispensary text marketing experience is the best way to connect with your audience and incentivize customers to buy more and visit more often.
custom consumer experiences
Face it, data rules everything around us. Every action we take online feeds into a consumer profile that companies use to better advertise to us, and a lot of companies are taking full advantage of this golden opportunity.
Did you know that 89% of digital businesses are investing in personalization? And this is no different in the cannabis industry, consider the recent partnership between Headset, Deloitte, and Nielsen in an effort to bring data-driven marketing insights to the cannabis space.
According to a survey by Infosys:
- 74% of businesses that implemented personalized marketing saw increased sales
- 61% of those businesses also saw an increase in profit
- 55% saw an increase in loyalty
Additional research also indicates:
- 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that provide relevant offers and recommendations
- 80% of customers are more likely to purchase products or services from brands that provide personalized experiences
- 72% of consumers in 2019 only engage with marketing messages that are customized to their specific interests
- 80% of those who consider themselves frequent shoppers say they only shop with brands who personalize their experience
It couldn’t be more simple if we called it ‘using data for dummies.’ The best way for a business to utilize its digital communication is by creating a custom experience for each customer. This is especially true when it comes to text message marketing. And given the unique nature of the cannabis industry, personalized text message marketing is a consequential resource.
benefits of personalized texting
Here, we can take a look at some of the substantial benefits of personalization in dispensary text marketing. These are just a few examples of how getting personal with your messages can move your cannabis business forward:
1. build better relationships
First and foremost, we have to remember that the purpose of any cannabis CRM is to connect with people. To that point, building better relationships is easier when you get personal. One-to-one marketing allows you to speak to individual customers in a way that better engages them, leading to more relevant advertising and better conversion rates. This level of personalization shows that you care about enhancing the customer experience with your dispensary.
2. marketing with personality
The same old sales pitch gets boring really fast. Without knowing your audience, you are essentially throwing everything at the wall hoping something will eventually stick. However, it would be a lot easier if you throw sticky content. In other words, getting to know your audience helps you learn to speak their language. Once you know your customer’s tastes and how to communicate with them, your text marketing can show a little more creativity and personality.
3. increase brand loyalty
If a customer trusts your brand enough to provide their personal information, it is typically because they expect you to tailor offers for them based on their interests. If your dispensary does this right, you will earn that customer’s loyalty. Not only does it create huge opportunities for conversions, but it will also increase the overall lifetime customer value. Consumers are 40% more likely to view items that are recommended based on the information they’ve shared with the brand. Meanwhile, the more a dispensary can successfully leverage customer information for a better experience, the more regular visitors will be converted to loyal customers.
4. shorter sales cycles
Part of the convenience of personalized text marketing is that you can streamline the sales cycle. Today’s consumer wants easy solutions delivered quickly. By sending your customers texts with information that excites and more importantly incentivizes them to buy, the more likely they are to make a move. When a dispensary can identify brand or product preferences and apply it to their text marketing, the customer is quicker to act on the offer than if they receive a generic text.
By integrating directly into your dispensary’s POS system springbig’s cannabis marketing platform can segment customers based on the product categories they purchase. Customers can also provide you with lifestyle interests through their digital wallets, like sports, outdoors, etc… This allows you to target them with campaigns and promotions specific to them. springbig’s software can even predict, with 89% accuracy, the next time a customer will visit. This allows you to take a proactive approach to closing the gap between sales.
5. increase average spending
Think about it this way; would you rather get a coupon for 50% off at a store you don’t like or 10% off at a store you love? It only makes sense that people are happy to spend their money with a company they love versus a company they have no relationship with. Most people are willing to spend more for a convenient and personalized experience.
6. improve your ROI
Marketing 101 tells us that the more effective our marketing is, the less we have to spend. If you invest in targeted text marketing that is tailored to specific customers, the chances of seeing a return are far higher than if you just send the same one-size-fits-all mass group texting campaign. Too many businesses waste tons of money on running ads that try and cater to the widest range of people as possible, through mass media. Instead, you can send targeted text marketing messages directly to the phones of customers who are most likely to respond to them. This way you’re only paying for advertising to the people who you already know care to see it.
ways to connect
At the end of the day, regulars at your dispensary want a more personalized experience, whether you know it or not. With springbig’s automation feature and versatile segmentation, cannabis retailers have a long list of ways to personalize each experience at their fingertips.
Some of the easiest ways to make your dispensary text marketing more personal and gain some serious cool points with your customers include:
- Personalized messages for birthdays
- Exclusive offers on specific brands
- Messages relating to a customer’s personal interests
- Celebrating visit milestones with each customer
- Acknowledging spend milestones with customers
- Reaching out after a certain amount of time passes between visits
Our text marketing software also takes this a step further by allowing you to combine segments to get even more personal with your texts.
example
Imagine you have customer A who:
- Spends big
- Visits every week
- Loves concentrates from Brand X
Meanwhile, customer B:
- Has a below-average spend
- Only visits once every two months
- Always buys flower
Now, imagine today is both customers’ birthday! How do you personalize these texts for maximum impact?
For customer A, you could try sending a Happy Birthday text with an offer for 50% off concentrates from Brand X to be redeemed in 48 hours. Because they already visit a lot, this is a great way to bring them into your store as soon as possible. By giving them such a significant deal on their favorite product, you are making a meaningful investment to keep a loyal customer who spends more than enough to compensate.
For customer B, you might instead send a Happy Birthday text offering them a $1 preroll that must be redeemed within the next 7 days. This way, you’re giving them a product you know they will like, but you’re not giving too much away to a customer who does not spend a lot with your business. Additionally, the 7-day time-limit will either bring them into your store sooner than they typically visit, or it will expire and cut your losses.
Even better, you can stack these segmentation options in the springbig dashboard to help you get extremely detailed in your targeting. Our software allows you to set up automated text marketing that delivers unique messages to very specific audiences to maximize the impact of your offers and rewards. You can create a variety of custom campaigns around whatever criteria matter most to you, then set it and forget it.
Give people an experience that matters to them, letting them know they matter to you and your business.
CEO and Co-founder of springbig
Jeffrey Harris