Marketing automation software has created a monumental shift for consumer-facing businesses in recent years, but dispensaries are still catching up. Now, thanks to automated texting, cannabis businesses can easily nurture relationships with their customers.
The Rise of Marketing Automation
Over the past couple decades, companies like Mailchimp have perfected automated emails. You’ve certainly experienced it yourself. After joining a company’s email newsletter, you immediately receive a warm welcome email from the CEO. As your birthday approaches, you might notice a flood of automated emails from multiple companies offering coupons and special offers to go along with your special day.
Why did marketing automation become so popular? Because it works! With sophisticated software, modern marketers can eliminate repetitive tasks and send messages to the right people at the right time which increases sales and boosts loyalty. Today 67% of marketing leaders use marketing automation tools.
What About Dispensaries?
In the early days of legal cannabis sales, dispensaries were juggling so many challenges, from legal compliance to handling giant bags of cash, that marketing automation wasn’t on their radar. Even if they were interested, most of the leading companies like Mailchimp would (and still do) refuse to work with cannabis businesses.
Now the tide is turning, and dispensaries have more options when it comes to email marketing. However, it’s worth asking – is automated email marketing the best choice for modern dispensaries?
The Rise of Texting Automation
Email had its time. Today, dispensary text marketing reigns supreme. Just because dispensaries can find suitable email platforms doesn’t mean they should. When 85% of customers would rather receive texts over emails, why devote your time and dollars to email marketing?
Here at Leafbuyer, we have seen firsthand the benefits of implementing automated dispensary text campaigns. Dispensaries who use our Auto-Connect feature are often stunned by the return on investment (ROI). In just a few minutes, dispensaries can customize several automated campaigns that send SMS or MMS messages based on customers’ activities..
Using Auto-Connect to Cultivate Loyalty
Marketing automation works best when the goal is nurturing customer relationships. It is not worth your time to manually send a text message to every customer on her birthday, but using smart tools to automatically send these messages is a no-brainer.
Here are 5 ways that dispensaries can use automated text messages to enhance customer loyalty.
1) Win Back Their Business
When a customer walks out of your dispensary, don’t rely on mass texts or luck to bring her back. Automated texts based on the last purchase date are far more targeted and effective. With a “Win Back” Auto-Connect campaign, you can make sure that your customer gets a text if she doesn’t return within a specific number of days.
“Long time no see! Stop by this weekend for 15% off! (Limited time only)”
2) Remind Them of Upcoming Rewards
Some medical or recreational dispensaries only use the basic version of the “Visit Summary” Auto-Connect campaign (e.g. “Thank you for your business”), but this feature has much more potential. We always recommend that our clients include points earned and the total point balance in the message. Seeing that growing balance will remind your customer that she is on track to earn a great reward.
“You are racking up rewards! You earned 75 points today. That means you have 350 loyalty points.”
3) Get Valuable Feedback
Dispensaries who want to stick around know they must obsess over their customer experience. Without hearing from customers though, it is impossible to improve. One of our dispensary clients with this mindset decided to use the “Visit Summary” feature to get feedback. Once a month, they add a survey link to their texts. They change the questions each month to keep learning from their customers and improving their business.
“We hope you had a great visit today! Please fill out this short survey to help us improve: http://bit.ly/yv8zi”
4) Special Text for a Special Day
Not everyone wants a surprise party on their birthday, but we all appreciate nice texts and free gifts. The Leafbuyer dispensary loyalty program has date-based automation, so you can schedule texts to go out to each customer on his or her birthday.
“Happy Birthday! We know you might be busy today, so stop by in the next 3 days for a pre-roll on the house. 😊”
5) Weed on the Way
In the modern era where people can track their Uber and their pizza, you need to keep them up to date on active orders. Make sure to choose a marijuana online ordering system with automated texting for dispensaries and deliveries. For example, with Leafbuyer Pickup or Delivery, customers automatically get texts as the order moves through each stage of the process.
“Your order is in route to your location! Stay tuned!”
The Future of Automation
As technology improves, marketing automation will become more powerful. Businesses tracking customers’ movements and interests will be able to send targeted messages based on dozens of behaviors. Obviously, this could get unsettling very quickly. People may (and should) resist marketing automation that is based on nonconsensual tracking. With that being said, customers do appreciate personalization. Sending birthday texts to customers who have willingly provided the date creates delight. If you send an edible deal to people who love infused treats, you will see more clicks and happier customers.
Ultimately, your best bet is to work with a reputable cannabis marketing platform that wants to help foster a healthy relationship between you and your customers. To learn more about Leafbuyer Loyalty and how you can use Auto-Connect to nurture customer relationships, click here to request a free demo.