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A digital menu is a menu that deploys instantly across all of your customer touchpoints, integrates with online ordering and POS systems, and adds a multimedia experience to your buying experience. It may seem like a small thing, but it’s actually a powerful tool for dispensaries. Here are five reasons why every dispensary needs a modern digital menu system.
One of the biggest benefits of a digital dispensary menu that is often overlooked by smaller stores is the power of customer feedback. Simply tracking reviews from customers and indicating which items get the best reviews (along with tagging best sellers and discounts) on your menus lessens the perceived risk for customers of spending their hard-earned cash on your products. The result of providing simple data to your customers on your menu is lessened friction in the buying process. What that means for your store is higher transaction rates per person, shortened wait times, and less stress on front end staff. The effect per transaction is small but can result in large long-term gains per store over the course of the year.
In-Store - With a product as varied as cannabis customers are often unaware of all of the options available to them. Most customers in dispensaries who shop for a specific reason (pain, insomnia, stress, etc.) tend to gravitate to what’s worked for them in the past. Showing them which products are similar to others and which products other customers are using encourages them to branch out and try new products that may be a better fit for their needs.
Online – Up to date online menus are an absolute necessity these days. The ability for customers to browse data rich menus online is a game changer for many customers. Online ordering features in digital menus have exploded in use since 2020 and are now seen as requirement by many customers. Micro-targeted local SEO strategies are incredibly powerful in capturing high value local search traffic and boosting online ordering rates.
Customers have gotten used to a lot of information at their fingertips thanks to online shopping behemoths like Amazon, Alibaba, Etsy and other online marketplaces where it’s easy to determine fair pricing, see reviews, and do quick research before making a purchase. They expect the same out of their retail shopping experience. Success in today’s market relies on recreating the in-store experience online and imitating elements of the online shopping experience in-store. The easiest and least expensive way to achieve this is using a digital menu solution that provides a branded in-store experience that matches your online presence. Providing data that customers value across all of your customer touchpoints is critical for this to work.
Disposable menus are expected by many customers after COVID-19 and recommended by the CDC to prevent virus transmission. We’ve even beefed up our print menu features in budboard recently to accommodate customers who’ve shifted to frequently printed in-store menus. However, I’ve encountered many businesses that rely too heavily on print menus in an attempt to save money not realizing that out of date print menus and printing costs are hurting their bottom line erasing the financial benefit of using a print only solution. Apothecary style dispensaries that have no digital menu options often print menus constantly, racking up costs incrementally and losing out on customers who only purchase after making sure an item is in stock by checking a website.
Others will have a daily or weekly printed menu in the waiting room. When items sell out, front end staff will often update these menus with a pen or marker. The result is a menu that looks like a 4th grade student’s graded homework rather than a professional menu that should be representing your business. A custom designed digital menu system with a print option represents your business much better. Better yet, you’ll save on printing costs and still have the option to print physical menus that are automatically updated for customers who need them.
Between checking in customers, answering questions, checking out customers, re-stocking and other tasks. Your front-end staff likely gets overwhelmed at peak traffic times. Budtenders are most frequently asked by customers for recommendations, specials and prices. Moving all of this information to your digital menu system not only makes it easier for your staff to keep track it allows your customers to get quick answers before engaging with your budtenders. It may seem trivial, but online menus that provide more information can save a minute or two per customer by providing the right product information. Over the course of a week, this adds up to hours of increased productivity, happier budtenders and happier customers.
budboard was founded in 2016 to improve cannabis data applications for consumers in medicinal cannabis dispensaries. Since then, we have expanded to serve all dispensaries medical and recreational and have launched the most advanced in-store menu system for multi-state dispensary networks including in-store menus, online menus, print menus and a suite of data services.
