Before You Fix Loyalty, Check Your Positioning

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In my first newsletter to you, I mentioned how I thought that market research was underused.

If your loyalty program isn’t performing, it’s usually not about the platform or the points. The real problem often shows up much earlier, at what’s commonly known as the positioning level.

A lot of dispensaries skip market research because they assume it’s either too complex or not worth the time. But without it, everything downstream—loyalty, promos, email, SMS—ends up disconnected.

If you don’t know where you sit in the market, you can’t build programs that resonate. You can’t stand out.

And then what happens? You end up competing on price by default.

What I see most often:

• No structured competitor analysis (menus =/= strategy)
• No customer behaviour tracking beyond surface-level metrics
• Promotions that react to market noise, not real data

Look. I get it. Competitive analysis feels overwhelming.

Fixing loyalty starts with understanding your market and where you fit in it.

Let me know YOUR biggest gripes or grievances when it comes to market research. Just reply to this email. I promise, I read every single response that comes in.

So tell me. What’s on your mind?

~ Steph