Why Do Customer Reviews Matter For Cannabis Business?

The cannabis retail industry is rapidly growing, and the role of cannabis dispensaries in this growth is immutable. More states have begun supporting legalization that enhances the scope of opportunities available for dispensaries. As competition heats up, companies start to look for distinguishing features to promote their brands as the best in the segment. These features need to be something more than just trendy logos, slogans, and discounts. It is more of what customers are seeking in this segment, which is quality, trust, and accountability.  

Positive customer reviews are a means of providing these elements to potential customers. Reviews can help to clear skepticism and promote your brand, among others. Here are a few ways customer reviews can influence a dispensary business. 

Improves SEO Ranking:

There are very limited marketing channels available for cannabis businesses today. Online marketing is among the most influential streams of advertising a cannabis dispensary. Here comes the importance of local SEO that makes your business noticeable to the user. 

Enhancing SEO rankings in the google search engine increases the visibility of the business, especially to the local customers. Customer reviews play a huge role in this case. Googles algorithm picks out the best answers for a user looking for a local product or service. The presence of positive customer reviews and testimonials indicates satisfied customers. The algorithm picks up on this data and boosts your SEO ranking to include you in the list of top businesses in the category in your region. 

The total number of reviews and the freshness plays a critical role in elevating your rankings. Reviews indicate to the algorithm that the business has happy customers and quality products and services. It is proof that people interact and appreciate your brand. Hence the algorithm will provide your service as the best choice available based on the customer’s query, thus improving foot traffic. 

Few other factors help to enhance ranking, such as fast loading time, keyword-based content optimization, and backlinks. Beware of low-quality backlinks as they sway the ranking algorithm.  Submit Disavow to the search engine provider, in this case, to stop these links from affecting your SEO ranking. 

Reflects On Customer Loyalty And Trust:

Most of the foot traffic in cannabis dispensaries consists of novice users who have trouble navigating through the terms, strains, and products of cannabis. It might be their first time shopping for the product, which means they have several reservations, including quality, the right product to choose, usage, or even cannabis laws in some cases. These reservations tend to restrict them from trying the plant, especially because they might feel awkward to pose their doubts. 

Providing a knowledgeable and comfortable experience for the customer by patiently attending to their queries, clearing their doubts will make them feel more welcome. These customers are most likely to come back as well as share their experience online about how the dispensary helped them get through their first time shopping for cannabis. Such testimonials and customer reviews indicate that the user is becoming loyal to the store. It also encourages more new users to visit the dispensary as they are assured of the quality of assistance that will be provided to them. 

A friendly attitude and a knowledgeable conversation with the customer will reflect on their testimonial that will promote your business among new users, especially in the same region, to choose your dispensary for their cannabis needs. It assures a good experience for a new customer based on the experience of individuals with similar needs as them.  

Builds Brand Value 

One of the many factors that can influence the future of a cannabis business is brand value. New customers mostly research to understand the many aspects of shopping for cannabis. They will look for reviews online that describe other`s experiences while going through the same phase before choosing a brand to make an informed decision. 

Online customer reviews help to create a brand value for the dispensary while highlighting the customer experience, which is a crucial factor for decision making. Studies show that 96% of shoppers today base their purchasing decisions on online reviews. Receiving good customer testimonials builds a strong first impression with a new client. It shows them that the company puts the needs of the customers before everything else, which can influence their decision. 

Apart from good reviews, responding to complaints, queries reflect on the business values. It shows that the business strives to enhance transparency and pays attention to the needs of their customer. Statistics show that American consumers are likely to switch brands if they receive poor service, even if they have to cancel a planned transaction. It indicates that customers seek a proper and timely response from companies to stay loyal. These customer reviews can easily build a strong brand image and impress new buyers to shop from the dispensary.

Improves Business:

Research conducted by Harvard relating to the service profit chain suggests that a 5% increase in customer loyalty towards a brand can boost the profits by about 25% to 85%. Customer reviews play a huge role in reaching out to new customers through word of mouth. But it also helps to retain existing customers who play a huge role in the growth of a business. 

Online reviews not only depict positive experiences but also indicate the areas that require improvement in a business. By responding and inculcating the learnings from these testimonials, dispensaries can enhance their customer service to create a positive brand image. It will please existing users and win their loyalty and appeal to new users to try your brand. 

How To Get More Customer Reviews:

Don`t shy away from requesting your customers to review and share their experience. Encourage them to rate their visits and provide feedback on the many ways you can improve your dispensary service. 

You can add a feedback or review link to the online receipt, which reminds them to provide their valuable review. Create a social media page to add images with happy customers and tag them. 

As long as you give a comfortable experience to your loyal customers, they will not hesitate to provide a review in return. Harness these reviews to grow your business.