A fundamental way to address this knowledge gap is through ongoing product education provided by dispensaries. Execution is vital in this area that’s why dispensaries must find ways to deliver education in a way that engages consumers through accessible platforms like a cannabis mobile app.

How Mobile Apps Deliver Product Education

Apps can be Social Networking Enabled

Cannabis brands can take advantage of the social networking aspect of mobile apps to create engaging content that encourages customers to interact with each other and the brand. By allowing users to share pictures, videos, and feedback on a social feed within your app, you’re giving them an easy way to spread information about your products. 

This gives you a direct line to your customers where you can continually advocate for the products you carry through content marketing. Curate brand content, share tips and tricks, advertise special promotions and expand your reach within your very own platform. A potential downside would be content moderation. Good brands know how to protect their business as well as their members. Brands must ensure that they’re taking all the measures to keep a safe space for all their app members. But apart from that, adding a social networking feature does cultivate that sense of belongingness for which your users can feel understood and accepted for their lifestyle choices. 

Related: Marketing Your Cannabis Business on Social Media

Blog

Most retailers have blogs on their websites. Blogging is a fantastic way to educate consumers and potential clients about products and the industry as a whole. When done right, long-form articles boost your website’s SEO and drive digital traffic. You can also bring in more eyeballs to your app by integrating it with your content management system. Your app developer (*cough*, *cough*) can mirror your website blogs and make the overall consumption richer and more engaging through add-on features. 

Every time you publish a new article, anyone who downloads your app and has turned on their push notification settings will receive an alert about it. This not only captures a new set of audience (you now have your website visitors + app users), but you also get to reel them in, read the blog and sell to them inside the app. 

App articles can be shared with peers much like how you’d share a link on your iPhone, and when your article is shared, you can potentially link them back to the app in order to read it. In case they don’t have an app, they can be redirected to a download page or your brand’s app store page for easy downloads. 

Just a reminder, maintaining blogs require a long-term commitment. It’s important to keep your content up-to-date so that users don't feel like they're being sold outdated information when they access it on their phones. Having outdated content can ruin a brand’s reputation by making them look “inactive” or that there’s not a lot of interest surrounding your brand which can make people look the other way. 

App's push notifications to educate customers

Push notifications are a great way to educate your customers. Companies like Uber and Lyft use them frequently, regularly sending out reminders about things like expiring promotions or new features.

Dispensaries could send push notifications instructing customers on how to use different products, especially since many people may be new to cannabis or using it recreationally for the first time. Get creative and maximize this awesome feature by doing an education campaign. Take “Weekly budtender tip” for example, you can push short, punchy trivia that capture interest and potentially encourage them to open your cannabis mobile app and buy your merch.

Move toward an omnichannel strategy

The cannabis mobile app, website and all other channels you have should be linked together. Add external links to your app and make it into a user’s “main platform” where they can connect with your brand.  Users who have downloaded the app and need more information or research can navigate back and forth from the main platform with ease. Don’t forget to incorporate download links to your app on all the other channels though, as brands should be able to acquire new and existing users across all touchpoints. 

Adding links that point directly at various social media pages allows you to increase exposure across multiple platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) as well. 

QR Scanning Feature

Enable QR scanning and generate handy codes for your marketing and product education campaigns. If you operate through brick-and-mortar, you can put QR materials on your shelves. These QRs must redirect a user to the app or blog where they can learn about a certain product, pairings and so much more. This way, you increase app awareness and utilization in the process. Once they’re in the app and have read your content, you can swoop in and offer a personalized welcome offer that can come in an app voucher or code for their purchase.

Customized UI/UX

Developers who care take a good look at your business and help you identify how you can maximize app features to help you achieve your company goals. Your developers should help you design the best way to deliver content through a customized app design. Depending on what your priorities are or where you are in terms of your business, a custom app can house a variety of functions and multimedia content on your app’s home page. 

For example, if you have a strain or product that's new and unfamiliar, you could include instructions on how to use it through infographics as you scroll midway. And if the app user just got on board, you can give guidance about dosing and other beginner-friendly tips. Separate tabs on the app can be incorporated to make shopping, reading blogs, and contacting a store really easy as well. 

Now that you know how to create a dispensary mobile app for your cannabis business, use this information to get started. Take it one step at a time and don't be afraid of making mistakes along the way. Remember that there is always room for improvement so make sure that you keep up with the latest trends and features as well! 

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