Ask any marketing manager or brand manager what one of the biggest challenges in marketing is, and a respectable number of times you’ll get a response related to customer segmentation.
This is true in every market, irrespective of age or of the nature of the products or services integral to the model.
Before you can sell a bill of goods, you must understand the person to whom you’re trying to sell it. That is a precept that will never age or fail to be applicable.
So how does cannabis customer segmentation work, and how can it help cannabis retailers or others in the cannabis industry answer important strategic decisions?
How Does Cannabis Customer Segmentation Work?
Generalizing can be a good thing, and for the purpose of cannabis marketing, we’ve developed a 6-buyer-persona model which accounts for demographic, psychographic, attitudinal and occasion-based factors.
Based on our findings, which we’ve aggregated from extensive first hand research, cannabis consumers can be generally categorized into one of six buyer personas as follows:
- Everyday enhancers: Everyday enhancers tend to be experienced, knowledgeable, and consume to enhance everyday life; everything from work to studying.
- Escape artists: Escape artists, like everyday enhancers, consume to get a buzz, but they tend to do so to unwind at the end of a day, and with their friends.
- Trendy tokers: Trendy tokers tend to be less experienced than everyday enhancers and escape artists, but are willing and eager to try new things.
- Self care seekers: Self care seekers tend to consume alone and as part of their self care rituals.
- Practical partakers: Practical partakers tend to consume alone and for the practices of stress management.
- Mature medicators: Mature medicators are highly deferential to authority and typically consume as an alternative to traditional medications for pain, inflammation relief, and more.
We arrived at this cannabis consumer segementation model by accounting primarily for lifestyle, usage occasions, experience with cannabis, relationship with the law, comfort with shopping for cannabis products, whether users partake in company or alone, and whether users seek additive or subtractive benefits.
For more information on the cannabis consumer insights you can glean from this cannabis customer segmentation, please visit the previous link.
Do All Cannabis Users Consume for the Same Reasons?
No, not all cannabis consumers consume for the same reasons, which was briefly outlined above. But cannabis consumer segmentation and target market research can offer additional insights into consumer usage habits, beyond what generic categorizations can tell a cannabis business.
For instance, our CANNApinion Poll focusing on cannabis and professionals offered some interesting information.
Noticeably, a large number of cannabis users consume cannabis for relaxation, or to manage anxiety or control stress.
But the same figures also showed that a significant number of users (62%) use consume cannabis to have fun, and that 45% of users consume to stay away.
Not what you might expect, but that sort of information should impact how you position your cannabis products, whether they’re infused edibles or pre-rolls.
What Sorts of Data Do ISA Corp Panels (Like the Green Time Poll) Collect?
The cannabis market research panels ISA Corp administers through its Green Time and CANNApinion Polls are instrumental in collecting data on a wide number of metrics, including the following:
- Usage habits according to age groups (such as comparing the differences between the preferences of Gen Z users and Baby Boomers).
- Preferences in consumption/type of products (for instance, edibles vs. flower vs. topical uses)
- Preferences and tastes in styles and flavors of edibles and other consumables.
- How much users typically spend in a given portion of time.
- How much the dispensary experience influences consumer buying behavior.
- How branding/uniforms/labeling influence purchasing decisions.
- The reasons that consumers use cannabis products, and why and when they consume.
- And much more.
How Much Money Do Cannabis Users Typically Spend?
There is no single answer to how much users typically spend, as purchasing habits, volume and frequency are all affected by other user metrics.
However, a cannabis market research poll or panel can help businesses glean insight into average consumer spending habits, including trends and fluctuations.
Are There Opportunities for Expanding into New Markets?
There are always opportunities for expansion; however, what and where those are is subject to location in the country, usage preferences and behavior, whether or not the state has legalized cannabis for recreational use, and the sorts of products a dispensary offers.
Cannabis market research can help dispensaries make strategic decisions about whether or not it is worthwhile to invest resources into opening new locations, stocking unique products, or shifting targeting to take advantage of opportunities in new market segments.
Should I Open a Cannabis Bar or Lounge?
In some areas of the country, it might be practical to consider the possibility of opening a cannabis bar or lounge.
For instance, we determined in one of our CANNApinion Polls that a substantial portion of cannabis users might be interested in the experience of visiting a cannabis bar or lounge. In one poll, 81% of respondents to one poll indicated interest.
That may or may not be the case in your market, but the only way to find out for sure is to conduct research or gather data through the help of a partner like ISA Corp.
What About Delivery Services?
As more and more online and local businesses determine ways to offer delivery services – even free delivery services – this may have become something of a focus topic for select dispensaries.
But the million dollar question to each dispensary is if they should offer them.
Again, it depends on the local market. But a CANNApinion Poll indicated that 30% of respondents only had not used cannabis delivery services simply because they were unavailable in their area.
So the opportunity might be there. Research can help you look into it.
Ready to Learn More?
Cannabis customer segmentation and research can help furnish your dispensary and your strategic team with some of the answers to these questions.
To learn more about the services and research products we offer, visit the previous link or get in touch with us directly at Hello@ISACorp.com.