Elevate

Cassi Dean

Customer Experience Optimizer

Understanding What Drives Customer Loyalty

Cannabis retailers have access to more purchasing data than ever. Most dispensary owners can see purchase frequency, average order value, product preferences, promotion response and how often someone returns. But there is one question that behavioral data alone cannot always answer: why did they choose us? Repeat behavior tells us what happened, but preference can help us understand why. 

In an increasingly competitive cannabis market, the ‘why’ is more important than ever. When multiple dispensaries in one area offer similar products, pricing and promotion strategies, the customer has more than enough reasons to shop around. A discount might win you a transaction or two, but it does not necessarily create a connection that keeps a customer coming back.

There is No Single ‘Best Dispensary’ 

The challenge (and opportunity) is that cannabis customers are not a monolith. One customer may prioritize discovering a new favorite product or strain at each visit. Another is hunting the best price, a specific product or a fast refill of the same thing they bought last week. And someone else may simply like an easy-to-navigate parking lot on their route home from work. There is no single customer experience that creates preference for everyone. 

The strongest retail brands do two things well. They make shopping easy, and they focus on creating an experience that feels right for the customer they are trying to keep. 

Preference is About Removing Friction

Think about the moments that can quietly push a customer toward another dispensary: the product they wanted is out of stock, the online menu says something is available when it isn’t, the wait is unpredictable, or they can’t figure out how to navigate your ordering process. 

These are preference pinch points–the details that can determine whether a customer thinks, ‘easy peasy’ or ‘never again’. 

Functional factors are the fundamentals that cannot be missed. Is the store close to home, work or the customer’s errands? Are wait times predictable and manageable? Is there a drive through? Is inventory reliable, especially for products people want again? Price belongs here too, but it is rarely the whole story. It definitively matters when nothing else separates two dispensaries. 

For a majority of customers, the dispensary visit starts in the palm of their hand. The online menu needs to be easy to browse and order from, with availability that matches what is actually in the vault. Product descriptions and imagery should reduce uncertainty, not leave customers stuck comparing six similar-looking options. 

Human factors can make your team one of your most powerful preference drivers. Can budtenders answer questions effectively and make a decision easier? Do they recognize returning customers? Did their recommendation pan out last time, and can they offer another? Trust is built or lost in that gap, and no one should ever leave feeling rushed.

Brand factors can be easier to overlook. Does the store reflect the customer’s values? Do customers feel like these are their people? Is the atmosphere comfortable? Does the music match the vibe?

These factors will not matter equally to every customer. That is precisely the point.

Start Understanding the Why 

For growth marketers, the opportunity is to connect behavioral data with customer insight. A retailer may know that over the course of six months they see the same customer seven times. While that is valuable information, it does not tell us whether they are loyal because the dispensary is on their way home, because their favorite products are well-stocked, or because they genuinely connect with the brand and budtenders. 

The most useful customer insights come from combining what people do with what they say. Start with a simple post-purchase survey. Ask customers why they chose the dispensary, what they prefer about that location, and what would make them choose another retailer next time. 

Use heatmapping and session-recording tools to understand how customers navigate the mobile ordering experience. Are they finding products positioned on the first page? Searching by terpenes or specific strain names? Or are they having repetitive challenges, like rubberbanding due to technical issues? 

Spend time in the retail environment. Shadow budtenders. Talk to customers. Drive around the store. Notice what competitors are offering–and what your customers encounter before they ever walk through your doors. 

In markets where every dispensary is interchangeable, a deal is not what earns loyalty. Preference comes from understanding what customers value and removing whatever stands between them and an easy, personal, and repeatable experience.