Greetings, cannabis industry professionals! My name is Samuel Fisher, and I’m the founder of Green Dispensary Marketing. I’m here to share with you the secrets for ensuring SEO success in the cannabis niche. In this post, I’m going to focus on one of the most important aspects of dispensary marketing: how to automate dispensary reviews.
Why You Should Care About Reviews
Reviews are essential for any business, but especially for dispensaries. Reviews can make or break your online reputation, which can have a huge impact on your sales and customer loyalty. According to a study by BrightLocal, 87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses in 2020, and 73% of consumers only pay attention to reviews written in the last month. This means that you need to have a steady stream of fresh and positive reviews to attract and retain customers.
Bad reviews can hurt your business in many ways. They can lower your ranking on Google and other search engines, reduce your visibility on local directories and maps, discourage potential customers from visiting your store, and damage your brand image.
On the other hand, good reviews can boost your business in many ways. They can improve your SEO and local business visibility, increase your trust and credibility, encourage word-of-mouth referrals, and enhance your customer loyalty and retention.
>> Click here to get your free dispensary site audit
SEO Benefits of Reviews
Reviews are not only important for your reputation, but also for your SEO. SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is the process of improving your website and online presence to rank higher on Google and other search engines. SEO is crucial for dispensaries, as it can help you reach more customers who are searching for cannabis products and services in your area.
One of the key factors that Google considers when ranking local businesses is reviews. Google uses reviews to understand the quality, relevance, and popularity of your business, and to provide the best results for users.
According to Moz, reviews account for 15.44% of the local pack ranking factors and 6.47% of the local organic ranking factors. The local pack is the section of Google’s search results that shows the top three local businesses for a given query, along with their ratings, reviews, and location. The local organic results are the regular web pages that appear below the local pack.
To improve your SEO with reviews, you need to have a high quantity, quality, diversity, and recency of reviews. You need to have a lot of reviews, as Google favors businesses with more reviews than their competitors. You need to have positive reviews, as Google favors businesses with higher ratings and more satisfied customers.
Not to mention, you need to have diverse reviews, as Google favors businesses with reviews from different sources and platforms, such as Google My Business, Yelp, Facebook, etc. You need to have recent reviews, as Google favors businesses with fresh and updated reviews that reflect the current state of your business.
>> Click here to get your free dispensary site audit
Enhancing Reputation and Customer Loyalty
Reviews are not only important for your SEO, but also for your reputation and customer loyalty. Reputation is the perception that customers and the public have of your business, based on your online and offline presence. Customer loyalty is the degree to which customers are satisfied with your business and willing to repeat purchases and recommend you to others.
Reviews can help you enhance your reputation and customer loyalty by providing social proof, feedback, and engagement. Social proof is the phenomenon where people tend to follow the behavior and opinions of others, especially when they are uncertain or unfamiliar with something. Reviews provide social proof for your business, as they show that other customers have tried and liked your products and services, and that you are a trustworthy and reliable provider.
Reviews can also help you increase your prices and your business, as they show the value and quality of your products and services, and justify your pricing strategy.
According to a study by Womply, businesses that claim their free listings on at least four review sites earn 58% more revenue than average, and businesses that reply to their reviews at least 25% of the time earn 35% more revenue than average. Moreover, businesses that have an average rating of 4.5 stars earn 28% more revenue than average, and businesses that have more than the average number of reviews earn 54% more revenue than average.
>> Click here to get your free dispensary site audit
Automating the Review Process
As you can see, reviews are vital for your dispensary marketing, but they are not easy to get. Most customers don’t leave reviews unless they are asked or reminded, and asking for reviews can be time-consuming and awkward. That’s why you need to automate your review process, which is simpler than you think.
Automating your review process means using a software or a platform that can automatically send review requests to your customers via email, text, or other channels, and direct them to the review sites of your choice. For example, you can use a platform like Green Dispensary Marketing, which is designed specifically for cannabis businesses and offers a simple and effective solution for automating reviews.
One of our clients, a dispensary in Colorado, used our platform to automate their review process and achieved amazing results. They increased their review rate from 0.5% to 5%, which means that they got 10 times more reviews than before. The average rating increased from 4.2 to 4.8 stars, which means that they improved their customer satisfaction and loyalty. They also increased their organic traffic from Google by 25%, which means that they boosted their SEO and visibility.
>> Click here to get your free dispensary site audit
Defending Against Bad Reviews
Automating your review process can help you get more reviews, but it can also expose you to the risk of getting bad reviews. Bad reviews are inevitable, as you can’t please everyone, and some customers may have unrealistic expectations or unfair complaints. However, you can minimize the impact of bad reviews by implementing a defense system that can redirect unhappy customers and prevent them from leaving negative feedback online.
A defense system is a feature that allows you to filter your customers based on their level of satisfaction and direct them to different destinations. For example, you can use a platform like Green Dispensary Marketing, which offers a defense system that works like this:
- When a customer receives a review request, they are asked to rate their experience with your business on a scale of 1 to 5 stars.
- If they click on 4 or 5 stars, they are directed to the review sites of your choice, where they can leave a positive review for your business.
- If they click on 1, 2, or 3 stars, they are directed to a feedback form, where they can leave a private comment for your business, without affecting your online reputation.
This way, you can collect positive reviews from happy customers and negative feedback from unhappy customers, without exposing your business to bad reviews. You can also use the feedback form to follow up with unhappy customers and try to resolve their issues and turn them into loyal customers.
>> Click here to get your free dispensary site audit
QR Code and SMS Campaigns
Another way to automate your review process and get more reviews is to use QR codes and SMS campaigns. QR codes are square-shaped barcodes that can be scanned by smartphones and link to a website or an app. SMS campaigns are text messages that can be sent to your customers’ phones and contain a link or a call-to-action.
How to Use QR Codes & SMS for Reviews
You can use QR codes and SMS campaigns to generate reviews by placing them on your receipts, invoices, flyers, posters, stickers, or any other material that you give to your customers. For example, you can use a platform like Green Dispensary Marketing, which offers QR codes and SMS campaigns that work like this:
- When a customer scans a QR code or clicks on a link in an SMS, they are taken to a landing page that asks them to rate their experience with your business on a scale of 1 to 5 stars.
- Depending on their rating, they are either directed to the review sites of your choice or to a feedback form, as explained in the previous section.
This way, you can make it easy and convenient for your customers to leave reviews for your business, without having to wait for an email or a text. You can also increase your response rate and your review rate, as QR codes and SMS campaigns have a higher open rate and a higher click-through rate than emails.
QR codes and SMS campaigns are not only useful for generating reviews, but also for other purposes, such as promoting your products, services, offers, events, or loyalty programs. You can use them to drive more traffic to your website, store, or social media, and to increase your sales and conversions. Stay tuned for more content on how to use QR codes and SMS campaigns for your dispensary marketing.
>> Click here to get your free dispensary site audit
Choosing the Right Platform
As you can see, automating your review process can help you get more reviews, improve your SEO, enhance your reputation, and increase your customer loyalty. However, to automate your review process effectively, you need to choose the right platform that can suit your needs and goals.
There are many platforms that offer review automation services, but not all of them are created equal. Some of them may be too expensive, too complicated, too generic, or too limited for your business needs. You need to find a platform that is affordable, easy to use, customized for cannabis businesses, and integrated with your sales process.
That’s why I recommend you to use Green Dispensary Marketing, which is the best platform for automating dispensary reviews. Green Dispensary Marketing is a platform that offers:
- A simple and user-friendly interface that allows you to set up and manage your review campaigns in minutes.
- A customized and optimized solution that targets the most relevant and popular review sites for cannabis businesses, such as Google My Business, Weedmaps, Leafly, etc.
- A seamless and automated integration that connects with your point-of-sale system, CRM, or email list, and sends review requests to your customers at the right time and frequency.
- A comprehensive and detailed dashboard that tracks and analyzes your review performance, such as your review rate, average rating, number of reviews, etc.
- A dedicated and professional support team that helps you with any questions or issues that you may have.
With Green Dispensary Marketing, you can automate your review process and get more reviews, improve your SEO, enhance your reputation, and increase your customer loyalty, without spending a lot of time, money, or effort.
>> Click here to get your free dispensary site audit
Need Some Help Automating Your Cannabis Dispensary Reviews?
If you are interested in automating your dispensary reviews and growing your business, I have a special offer for you. You can get a free dispensary site audit from me, where I will review your current reviews and strategy, and give you some tips and recommendations on how to improve them.
This is a no-pressure offer. I’m just here to help you succeed in the cannabis industry and achieve your goals. All you have to do is click on the link below and fill out a short form, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
