UberEats or Shopify for weed.
There's an ongoing refinement of user experiences on all online shopping platforms. The continuous improvement of UX design has boosted online shopping experiences. Consumers can more or less experience shopping in the real world without leaving the comfort of their homes. It's all thanks to the talented UX designers working day and night to improve the user experience across all platforms.
Cannabis companies are in on the scoop. The majority have hired UX designers to work their magic on the shopping platforms to increase sales. Businesses across all industries now work to make sure the sales and purchase process is seamless for employees and customers. Many companies now hire based on the applicant's chances of fitting into the company's innovative culture of design crafting.
Cannabis online shopping
Gone are the days when consumers had to visit stores in real life to purchase an item. Or the days when you couldn't purchase cannabis without visiting a street corner or alleyway. Now, you can stay in the comfort of your home to purchase your favorite cannabis products. Online cannabis stores are all the rage right now.
Cannabis companies are increasingly relying on user experience (UX) design to guarantee that online clients have a pleasant and effortless time shopping and ordering items through their websites. The CEO of Santa Cruz, Socrates Rosenfeld, said that cannabis shopping should be a fun activity. Santa Cruz is a California-based cannabis technology platform that uses Jane technologies. Rosenfeld added that shopping on their platform isn't anything close to doing taxes.
Many businesses have attempted to strengthen their internet presence (if they haven't done so previously).
To circumvent COVID-19, more cannabis customers opted for online buying and delivery, making user experience design an increasingly crucial factor in attracting and retaining clients.
Marijuana users used to shop in brick-and-mortar establishments, but that changed during the coronavirus outbreak.
Meredith Mahoney, Lantern CEO, believes that all e-commerce businesses in a predominantly brick-and-mortar industry must provide an experience that is much better than coming into a store. Lantern is a Boston-based cannabis delivery platform.
UX designers hold the key to brand success
A good UX design can personalize the customer's contact, resulting in a better future experience and, ultimately, more sales for the company.
For years, forward-thinking cannabis business executives have turned to UX design experts to ensure that customers enjoy a frictionless, or effort-free, experience when interacting with their firm and its goods online.
According to Sam Harris, a co-founder and head of product for Springbig, all cannabis clients and consumers are far more tech-savvy than their counterparts in other industries. Springbig is a cannabis marketing and loyalty software company based in Florida. Cannabis online shoppers tend to be more critical of the UX as well as the other features of the platforms. Cannabis clients and users are more likely to tell the difference between a good UX and a bad UX.
Many cannabis companies have no choice but to take the UX designs seriously and make them a big part of what contributes to the business's growth. Andreas Neumann, who is the current director of the Florida-based multistate operator, Jushi Holdings, said that UX is rising to be the most important brand. Without a good UX, clients and customers will have no experience with or positive review of the store.
Jushi Holdings contracted Neumann based on his rich background in UX design thinking. He is currently on board to improve the store's user experience (UX).
Neumann's goal is to make procedures "frictionless" for both consumers and employees. He wants customers to go to Jushi's website as soon as possible and, for example, find the floral goods. The consumer is uninterested in becoming educated. He says he wants to go to the flower. When the consumer clicks on the product, the user is educated. Neumann underlined the necessity of focusing on UX for both customers and staff.
He talked about how technologies like Slack and Monday.com can help reduce "friction" inside a team by making online collaboration even easier. Jushi enlisted the help of software architects to optimize their retail software and point-of-sale systems. The entire company now operates under that principle, and people are hired based on how well they will fit into the design-thinking company culture.
Neumann and the team of UX designers can watch a user's activity and IP address after they've shopped on Jushi's site and offer them other things or upsell them. The organization observes, then creates a funnel that is tailored to the needs of the people. You must include user experience (UX) for your employees as well. Please provide them with simple systems and programs to use.
Everyone wants the same experience as Uber Eats
Mahoney mentioned that UX is a crucial part of all consumer-facing cannabis companies. She stated that all businesses should have a huge focus on UX. According to Mahoney, companies need to understand their clients and customers. They need to know what they want, need, and all the challenges they might experience when using the online platforms.
Delivery e-commerce applications like DoorDash are now inline with mainstream culture. Consumers on these apps are used to opening their apps and placing their orders within a minute.
Many of the UX designers employed by cannabis companies were poached from related tech industries. Moloney added that interested UX designers must have consumer-facing experience—at least, that is how Lantern operates.
Bottom line
When it comes to UX, companies are more interested in delighting users than making money. What matters is creating an experience that feels good for both the users and the brand.
At Jane Technologies, they tried to view it from Square, a renowned e-commerce company that uses complex backend infrastructure. UX designers working on popular cannabis platforms try to take inspiration from other e-commerce platforms like Yelp. With the best UX designs, there would be less need for consumers and clients to consult menus all the time, because they would know what they want and how to get it.