Canna River is a CBD & THC business specializing in high-quality, lower-cost CBD and THC products.
Canna River needed a way to better serve their repeat customers – who drive over 70% of their business.
With email as their primary retention channel and SMS regulations limiting their options, they turned to MobiLoud to create a new customer touchpoint. A mobile app.
With MobiLoud’s help, they launched an app that now serves as a key engagement tool for their brand. All with minimal development work and overhead.
Snapshot
Vertical: CBD & THC products
Platform: Shopify
Key Metrics:
- Over 70% repeat purchase rate across the business
- 85% higher conversion rate from their intro quiz in the app vs the website
- App-exclusive promotions driving meaningful spike in purchases per campaign
Business Impact:
- Launched a new, owned touchpoint and sales channel in a highly regulated industry
- Drive strong and ongoing engagement with app-exclusive promotions
- Easily integrated their existing stack, including Yotpo for loyalty and Digioh for engagement funnels
- Avoided double work. All updates automatically sync from website to app
“It's just a pretty seamless out of the box solution, and that has made it really easy for a team like us that doesn't have a ton of members to dedicate towards managing an app. It's made it easier to have a high quality app, without having to be so hands on.” - Myracle McCoy, Lifecycle Marketing Manager
The Roadblock
As any brand in the Cannabis industry knows, maintaining consistent customer touchpoints in such a highly regulated industry can be a major challenge.
That’s what Canna River found. Repeat customers drive their business: over 70% of customers buy again.
Yet it was a struggle. With strong regulations limiting what they could do with SMS, email was their only reliable touchpoint.
They were looking for a mobile-first solution to keep their customers engaged, as well as giving their valuable repeat customers an easier way to interact with the brand and express their loyalty.
“The main thing was having more contact points with our customers, because our main retention channel was pretty much just email, given that we have all the regulations with SMS. It was also giving some of our higher value customers more of a home base to redeem their loyalty points and manage their subscriptions, and those sorts of things.”
Why They Chose MobiLoud
Canna River didn’t have the time, energy or budget to manage a fully custom app. They recognized that it could be a major engagement driver. But their main focus is merchandising, not tech.
MobiLoud gave Canna River exactly what they needed. A simple, out-of-the-box solution that didn't require extensive specialization or management overhead.
Our ability to automatically sync with their website was crucial for their small team, eliminating the need to manage separate platforms or worry about inconsistent experiences.
A specific factor was being able to integrate their on-site quiz in the app. The quiz drives strong conversions on the web, and we were able to ensure this key feature worked seamlessly in the app as well.
Launch & Results
The app launch exceeded expectations, with Canna River seeing immediate engagement and strong adoption rates.
They’ve seen a steady rate of downloads, and the app maintains a 4.9/5 rating on the Apple App Store. As of now, 70/72 reviews have been 5-star reviews.
And even though regulations have prevented their app from being listed on the Google Play Store, we helped them set up a direct APK download for Android users, which has resulted in roughly the same download rate we usually see from Play Store-listed apps.
App engagement is strong. It’s already driving clear results, with quiz users converting 85% higher in the app than on the website.
From a marketing angle, they’ve been using the app to drive regular promotions, such as “double points in app” and app-exclusive promos.
“Those app specific promotions are very popular and they've been driving a solid amount of downloads. And people are staying engaged post promotion. It's not like they're just downloading it for the one thing and then never using it again, they’re staying active on the app.”
They’re seeing a meaningful spike in sales each time they run one of these promotions. Best of all, it’s translating to long-term and sustained app adoption.
The Takeaway
For businesses like Canna River with high repeat purchase rates, a mobile app provides the perfect way to continue nurture customer relationships.
This is especially important in strictly regulated industries, where traditional acquisition channels are often unavailable. Strong customer retention is the only way to survive.
Our approach, and dedicated support, helps brands like Canna River, with lean technical teams, launch and maintain a mobile app that boosts loyalty and LTV, without the overhead that traditionally comes with apps.
“I enjoy having the Slack channel. It's just easy to get in contact with you guys, which is nice. All of the requests that we had were handled in a timely fashion, and everything works.”
Ready to create stronger customer touchpoints, without the headaches of maintaining a separate platform?
Get a free preview of your app with MobiLoud and see how we can help you replicate Canna River's success for your own brand.
Canna River is a CBD & THC business specializing in high-quality, lower-cost CBD and THC products.
