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Archive for the 'E-Commerce' Category

02
May

Online Customer Service

Posted by josh

We’ve all been there. It’s late at night. Heck, it doesn’t even have to be late. It could be any time of the day, and you’re just too lazy or don’t have the energy to leave your home to pick up something to eat, and you certainly don’t want to make something at home. So what do you do? You call for delivery. Pizza places take advantage of our laziness and implore the convenience of delivery. Grocery stores also do it. Now, medical marijuana dispensaries are in on the practice, and if you operate a collective it is certainly something you should consider as well.

Calling for delivery is somewhat outdated now that seemingly every person has a smart phone, tablet, or mobile device. Most companies that deliver now utilize a customer service platform via their website. 420 Web Pros can implement a platform to broaden your collective’s outreach to a new patient base.

Some patients will always prefer to see a budtender pick their desired strain out of a Mason jar, just like how some people prefer to see their sandwich made in front of them at a sub shop. It can be a chore, however, for patients with debilitating diseases to make it to a collective’s brick and mortar location, which is where the online customer service aspect can significantly boost patient outreach.

There are already several medical marijuana websites that feature medicine menu’s for each collective, so it’s quite easy to utilize a menu and cart feature on your own website where patients can order their medicine and make their donations. The online ordering and delivery service is also appealing to patients who have safety concerns about traveling with their medicine.

As a collective, if you’re not quite ready to make that jump into providing an online ordering system then another online customer service option is to provide a form for patient online verification.

Waiting in line is something that very few people enjoy. Sometimes it feels like you’re just moving from one line to the other as you go from place to place, whether it’s in traffic, at the grocery store, and maybe even in your own house to use the shower in the morning. To eliminate the waiting process in at least one aspect of your patient’s lives try offering an online verification process to new patients.

420 Web Pros can create a designated area on your collective’s website for prospective members. The same membership application that new patients would fill out in person could also be provided on the website. The patient could then e-mail or fax a completed copy of the application, along with their doctor’s referral, and identification card. Before the patient arrives to the collective’s location, the information provided on the documents could be verified. Once the patient arrives all they have to do is show their identification card, as long as their documents were verified, and their wait time to enter the showroom is cut down significantly.

Quality customer service is what keeps patients returning, and 420 Web Pros can make your site as friendly as possible for that outcome.

 

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16
Apr

Merry 4/20

Posted by josh

Every culture, religion, country, ethnicity, club, or organization has a special holiday that means something special for the people who call themselves a member. Christians celebrate Christmas on December 25. American’s celebrate Independence Day on July 4. Football fans celebrate the Super Bowl on the first Sunday in February. OK, that last one may not be a real holiday, but you get the point.

In the medicinal marijuana field, April 20, aka 4/20 is THE holiday for the community. We at 420 Web Pros obviously take the holiday seriously considering the number is in the title of our company. With that in mind, if you own a collective we hope you have also put proper preparation into the holiday?

4/20 is likely to be the busiest day of the year for your collective, but it will also be the busiest day of the year for all collectives. There are more discretionary donations to be made on 4/20 than on any other day of the year. The retail industry has Black Friday where more discretionary income is spent on that day than on any other day in the year. That is a holiday for the retail industry, and retail businesses acknowledge that. Target competes with Best Buy, which competes with Wal-Mart, which competes with Macy’s, which competes with other large chain stores. They all may not be selling the same products, but they’re all competing for the same dollars. That is precisely why they all try to top one another with special deals on Black Friday. The medicinal marijuana field on 4/20 is infinitely more competitive on its holiday, because it’s a holiday specific to the needs of one group.

Every collective will be trying to set it apart from other collectives by offering specials on 4/20 like free gifts with a minimum donation and perhaps free food when you enter the showroom. That is good and all, but if you really want to provide a memorable experience for your patients then try thinking outside the box.

Here are a few unique ideas to make 4/20 the most rewarding day of the year for your collective and for your patients.

  • Extend your collective’s hours. You remember what it was like to be a kid on Christmas morning. You couldn’t wait to open presents and pull your stockings off the chimney. That was the one-day during the year that you woke up before the sun and you probably even woke up your parents from bed to get the day’s festivities started. Patients start celebrating the holiday early, which means you should too.
  • Offer unannounced promotions. Most collectives have taken the time to place ads on the Internet and in magazines about what free gifts will be offered. Surprises, however, often have a long lasting positive impact on the likelihood that a patient will return, in the off chance of getting another unannounced gift. One example for 4/20 would be to give a special gift to the fourth, twentieth, and if you’re really lucky, the four hundred twentieth patient of the day.
  • Don’t forget about 4/19 and 4/21. Christmas has Christmas Eve. In the Mexican culture, All Saints Day is celebrated the day after Halloween. For 4/20, why not offer some specials on 4/19 and/or 4/21?

 

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02
Apr

Do You Know Your Target Market?

Posted by josh

In between timeouts of your favorite athletic event I’m sure you’ve noticed those TV commercials for erectile dysfunction pills. If you’re a guy, don’t pretend like you haven’t considered asking your doctor about them. I’m also quite certain you’ve seen free perfume samples in between the folds of magazines like Glamour and In Style. If you’re a lady, perhaps you have even ripped out the page and rubbed it on your wrists and neck to help out those guys with ED. Those companies that advertise via those outlets know where their audience lies and they advertise toward their target market. The effectiveness of those products marketing strategies would be diminished if placed in opposite arenas, since men don’t use perfume and women don’t use erectile dysfunction medication.

If you own and operate collective it is just as important to have a feel for who your patients are, so that you can tailor your website toward their needs. One factor to consider is the location of where you are based. Since locals are most likely going to be the majority of your patients, are you located in an area with a heavy population that is above 50 years old or under 50 years old? That type of knowledge should affect how you disseminate information on your website. Seniors don’t frequent websites as often as younger individuals. But when they do, information should be easily accessible, since they do not spend as much time on the Internet and probably are not as accustomed to navigating a busy website.

The way information is distributed should also be considered. Younger people will be more apt to click on a video, read a blog, listen to a podcast, or be stimulated by a picture. They will also be more likely to utilize social media like Twitter and Facebook, so your collective should have a presence on those platforms, which link to your website.

Knowing your loyal market is important, but as a business owner you likely continually want to tap into untapped markets. That is especially true of the medical marijuana field, since it is ever growing with new patients, but it is important not to exclude your loyal market.

One factor that can exclude your loyal market is the language you use while trying to pursue a new market. If your loyal market is people later on in life it would not be a good idea to start using slang and jargon tailored toward garnering a younger audience. Your loyal market could be turned off by a perceived new direction that you are heading in, which could cause them to search for a collective that better speaks their language.

420 Web Pros is well versed in tailoring content toward specific markets because you certainly don’t want to place an erectile dysfunction ad in Women’s magazines or advertise perfume in the middle of an athletic event. We can also help diagnose your loyal market, along with coming up with some web strategies to garner new markets without excluding who is loyal to you already.

 

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14
Mar

What Can a Content Management System Do for You?

Posted by josh
Imagine if Best Buy or Target only updated its website once a year. As a patron of those businesses you would think that’s ridiculous, considering their inventory and company is ever changing. The same thought process should be taken into consideration for your medical marijuana collective.

One of the biggest misconceptions about having a website is that it is simply enough just to have one. The only problem is that just like Best Buy and Target, your business is ever changing. Information that you provided on your website during its initial launch can become outdated over time as you change hours of operation, offer new services and products, or even move locations. Having an outdated website can be just as detrimental to your business as not even having a website.

For example, say your website provides a link to a MySpace page, but doesn’t provide a link to a Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube page. That link to an old MySpace page may tell visitors to your website that you don’t update your web presence with the creation of newer forms of social media. That lack of a web presence can have a direct effect on foot traffic to your collective.

Another common misconception is that it is difficult to maintain an informative website, but we at 420 Web Pros can design an efficient Content Management System so your website can maintain a fresh perspective. A CMS allows you to create sub-sections throughout the skeleton of your website in an easily manageable way.

An effective way to keep patrons updated while utilizing a CMS is with the use of a blog. You can provide news and updates directly from your website, rather than utilizing a blog host like Blogger or Tumblr, which will have a different look and feel than your website. Plus, having your blog directly on your website keeps all the information in one place.

420 Web Pros also understands that not everyone is web savvy, so we can design a CMS tailored toward your needs, large and small, and explain it in a user-friendly manner.

 

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03
Feb

Leave Your Campaign Woes At the Door

Posted by terence

Okay, you have a slick, well-oiled machine of a website for your medical marijuana virtual collective, maybe some steady hits of existing and potential customers, but now you need a way to rally your troops. You could, potentially, start spamming social networks with “Hey, check us out!” or you can get your e-collective to send well-HTML formatted, eye-catching newsletters and notifications via a planned email campaign. Email marketing could fill in the cracks of your virtual collective’s web presence as well as ensure your members aren’t just a nameless avatar.

Start with ditching your personal e-mail account in favor of an official, more identifiable account. For example, “notification@420webpros.com” just let your customers know about a brand new marijuana strain that helps with certain types of anxiety. They see it ping on their phones while out shopping or at the workplace with your collective’s name on it, and know right away it’s not their cousin Keith with the Phish tattoo. In other words, it gives your cannabis collective a distinct space in people’s inboxes.

420 Web Pros understands that sometimes that same cousin Keith went on a Facebook tagging spree, so now your synched e-mail account is flooded with Facebook notifications. Where is your “notification@420webpros.com” e-mail? Buried? Like any notable publication, your newsletters and notifications should be on time and expected in a regular fashion. We can make your virtual collective’s e-mails look and feel like daily, weekly, or quarterly-released publications as if they were thrown right onto their doorstep by the paperboy (also, sadly, cousin Keith).

Tips: Keep a well-balanced list of e-mails that you regularly send to. Any dead e-mails from unresponsive clients needs to be deleted in order to not be considered spam.

Include sign-up forms on your virtual collective’s website so customers can be aware of your regular notifications instead of scrolling by a random “@420webpros.com” e-mail strewn about your site.

Include incentives for signing up to the newsletter such as give-aways, prizes, or coupons redeemable at your medical marijuana collective.

Your product deserves a regular, consistently updated web service that keeps customers interested and potential customers curious about what your virtual collective has to offer. With a reliable and well-designed email campaign, you can let your members know they’re part of what you’ve built.

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30
Sep

Online Ordering is the Key to Safety and Security for any Medical Marijuana Delivery Service

Posted by Dan
Secure Online Ordering

Online Ordering is the best way for a collective or delivery service to ensure the privacy and discretion of it's members!

When  you buy  a bottle of wine the clerk puts it in a paper bag, if you’re buying an adult magazine it comes in a black plastic bag. When you add or remove something from your safe deposit box you are escorted into a secure room with no windows or cameras and left alone to do your business. Catholics make confessions in a small, secluded box hidden away from the congregation and contracts are negotiated in board rooms behind closed doors. In our every day life we take lots of measures to ensure privacy and safety when going about our business, but for some reason the status quo of acquiring medicine is to wait in a line with a bunch of strangers, listening to every word spoken between patient and caregiver and watching anxiously as the entire transaction takes place. It seems backwards that something so private should be such public spectacle but this is simply the way medicine has functioned in the US for decades and the medical marijuana community seems to follow largely the same behavior. But where pharmacies and hospitals would still have you wait in line, spouting your ails and treatments aloud for any passerby to overhear, the medical marijuana community and medical marijuana delivery service can provide a safe and discreet alternative that traditional medicine cannot: online ordering.

Any collective operating a medical marijuana delivery service or dispensary knows that patients appreciate discretion and the more steps an organization takes to protect it’s member’s privacy, the more likely that group is to have a strong and loyal membership. The need for privacy and safe, secure transactions is something that our clients have expressed to us again and again and was ultimately the need that drove us to create our Virtual Online Collective complete with online ordering. This solution provides collectives with the next generation in safety and security for it’s members, allowing for a level of privacy and discretion unsurpassed in the medical and caregiving industries. When members have the convenience to log in to a secure website and place their orders over an encrypted data stream directly to the collective, and have it delivered discreetly to them at home they know that they are being taken care of and that their privacy is as important to the collective as it is to the them. This is what sets great organizations apart from your run of the mill collectives; paying attention to the details that ensure the privacy and security of your members is protected as much as possible.

In a community that is overrun with opportunistic groups simply trying to find a way to make money and scam the system, the strength of a collective is directly tied to the confidence and trust of it’s members. A healthy and prosperous collective is one that goes to great lengths to assure it’s members that it is serious about privacy and the service it can provide. This is represented in a number of ways such as the quality of the dispensary, the medicine it offers and the solutions it provides to it’s members. Additionally, one of the most important ways that a collective can promote confidence among it’s patients and project an air of legitimacy is to create a cohesive branding strategy and carry it across every aspect of the collective. The labeling should match the logo, the signage should match the labeling, the decor should compliment the signage and it should all tie together with a crisp, modern website that keeps members informed and up to date with everything happening at the collective. If the collective is operating a delivery service to capitalize on the convenience and discretion afforded by taking the medicine directly to the patients, they should absolutely give their members the ability to discreetly place their orders online and leverage the unmatched safety and security of the internet. With cell phone hacking, the Patriot Act and a number of other major ways in which phones are no longer safe, an encrypted data stream sent directly from the patient’s computer to the collective is the 21st century solution to the privacy concerns of compassionate caregivers and patients alike.

As the medical marijuana community and industries continue to grow and expand, the need of medical marijuana collectives and delivery services to reassure their members and protect their privacy grows on a daily basis. There are countless reasons why patients would want to have their personal and medical information kept secure and until now collectives didn’t have a great deal of options when it came to providing discretion for members. Thankfully, the days of having no other choice but to walk in to a brightly colored building and wait in line with a bunch of other patients while acquiring medicine have come to an end. Secure online ordering gives collectives and delivery services the strength and confidence to guarantee their patient’s discretion and give them an advantage over their competition. The internet has made possible a new level of privacy and convenience never before realized among the medical marijuana community and those rushing to adopt these new technologies are the ones who will ensure the prosperity of their organization for years to come!

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21
Mar

420 Web Pros builds the Ultimate Online Medical Marijuana Store!

Posted by Dan
Online Medical Marijuana Store

An Online Medical Marijuana Store is exactly what your organization needs to be prosperous in 2011.

An Online Medical Marijuana Store can mean a lot of things, it could be Marijuana Software, Medical Marijuana E-Commerce, Medical Marijuana Merchant Services or a Medical Marijuana Online Dispensary . . . but regardless of what it means to you, 420 web pros has got you covered.  2010 was one of the most exciting years on record for the Medical Marijuana community, and it saw a greatly expanded list of offerings from 420 Web Pros.  In 2010 we expanded our business throughout the rocky mountain states making friends and doing business in Colorado, Oregon, Montana and Washington.  The introduction of our Virtual Online Collective software has revolutionized the Medical Marijuana Dispensary model, and combined with the Merchant Services we offer the Online Medical Marijuana Dispensary is becoming the hottest new practice in the entire MM industry.  All things considered it was a landmark year, but nothing compared to what we are brining to the masses in 2011!

Social networking is the most talked about thing in the world right now and the measure of a business’ prowess and forward thinking ability is it’s integration into the quickly evolving world of social networking. If your dispensary, collective or growing operation isn’t fully taking advantage of the enormous benefits of social networking and the modern web, you’re practically trying to fall behind. It is no longer sufficient to print bumper stickers and send out a monthly email blast as a model for informing new consumers about your products or organization, a well thought out and fully integrated online strategy is key to the success of any Medical Marijuana business or group. For many, an Online Medical Marijuana Store is the key to keeping up with the fervor of content pouring on to the internet every day.  Online Medical Marijuana Store is a pretty broad term, so allow us to break it down a bit for you as it would apply to some of the more prominent roles within the Medical Marijuana Industry.

If you are a grower, an Online Medical Marijuana Store is going to be an opportunity for you to spread awareness of your brand and products.  Your needs are going to be different from that of a dispensary or collective.  Any grower that has cultivated a particularly popular and successful strain will want to capitalize on the success of that product.  You would definitely want to engage in Medical Marijuana Branding, and design a Medical Marijuana Logo for your strain, something that is appropriate for the industry, the product and the nature of your operation.  Knowing how to identify the characteristics of your operation and deploy a web presence that takes advantage of them is what 420 Web Pros does best.  Marijuana Software that would best service a grower is a content management platform that would compliment your medical marijuana web design and allow fans of your product to purchase supplemental offerings.  If your “Purple Ape Gong”  kush is extremely popular and featured at dispensaries all over the state, you should be selling “Purple Ape Gong” bumper stickers, t-shirts and hats directly from your site.  A proper content management platform customized and implemented for your by 420 Web Pros will allow you to do these things while keeping your dispensaries and collectives up to date on the day to day progress and offerings of your grow operation.  Imagine posting on your website an announcement of a new strain that has just become available, and receiving orders literally within hours or minutes from dispensary and collective managers that are subscribed to your updates.  Imagine supplementing your income by allowing fans of your product to show their appreciation by purchasing merchandise directly from you via your website!  Think of how this could increase your business and personal security, and once you factor in the ability to share content from your website with the entire social networking world, you brand suddenly has access to as much public exposure as Apple or Nike.  That’s what Online Medical Marijuana Store means to growers.

If you are a dispensary or collective, Online Medical Marijuana Store can be even more revolutionary.  Dispensaries have realized the amazing virtues of the Virtual Online Collective tool that 420 Web Pros rolled out last year, and have taken advantage of it!  But that ability to have your members securely place orders and have them delivered to their door is just the beginning, once you integrate the ordering and delivery features of the Virtual Online Collective with our Medical Marijuana Merchant Services, you have a fully integrated and paperless process for receiving, delivery and accepting donations that will set your dispensary apart from every other in terms of convenience, discretion, safety and security. It is a true revolution in the medical marijuana industry. But an Online Medical Marijuana Store is more than just a tool for dispensaries. For a collective, it is the opportunity to create an active community that encourages members to interact with each-other and the collective in a way that was impossible until now. In 2011, 420 Web Pros will introduce to the world the first Medical Marijuana Social Networking software suite specifically designed for businesses and organizations within the medical marijuana industry. Collectives will have the ability to assign their members with a username and profile, and a member will be able to login to the collective’s website and participate like never before. Members will be able to communicate with other members, chat about offerings at the collective, rate particular strains for enjoyment and effectiveness, comment on favorite menu items, participate in forum discussions, communicate directly with the collective, place orders online for in-person pickup and much, much more. All of the functions and features of the in-person experience that a collective member has access to when they walk through the door will be offered online, and members will have the freedom to interact with each-other building friendships and relationships with individuals they might never run in to at the collective. Medical Marijuana Networking at it’s best, taking the ability to share thoughts, insight and information with every member of the collective. Online Medical Marijuana Store functions combined with Medical Marijuana Social Networking, another revolution brought to you by 420 Web Pros!

By now most of you already know that 420 Web Pros is the Medical Marijuana Industry’s #1 provider of Medical Marijuana Web Design, Medical Marijuana Logo Design and a integral partner in bringing you some of the largest Medical Marijuana Event in the world (Hempcon, INTCHE, Hempire Expo, Kush Expo, Pacific Cannabis Expo, Super Grow Show, ect.) In 2010 you learned that 420 Web Pros is the leading innovator in solutions for Medical Marijuana Delivery Services. In 2011 you will continue to see a barage of websites showcasing our industry leading prowess in Medical Marijuana Web Design and Logo Design, but also see the introduction of Medical Marijuana Social Networking, establishing 420 Web Pros as the most technically capable and forwarding thinking Online Medical Marijuana Store development company excelling at Medical Marijuana Software development that is custom tailored to the individual needs of each one of our clients. If 2010 was the year that 420 Web Pros set ourselves apart from the rest, then 2011 is the year we re-write the book on the entire industry!

Please contact us if you have any questions about how 420 Web Pros can help your business or organization get ahead in the Medical Marijuana Industry, and come visit us at our booth at Hempcon Los Angeles, April 1st-3rd at the Los Angeles Convention Center!

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27
May

420 WEB PROS LAUNCHES A ONE-STOP MEDICAL MARIJUANA SHOP ONLINE FOR PATIENTS AND CAREGIVERS

Posted by Dan

Medical marijuana patients and caregivers now have a comprehensive and secure turn-key solution, thanks to medical cannabis Internet specialist 420 Web Pros. Today, the launch of the innovative website marks the birth of a new “virtual marketplace” system that connects patients and cannabis suppliers in a way that’s safe, responsible and convenient.

“Our marketplace system gives medical marijuana patients the power to order directly online from an extensive product catalog,” says Dan Rocha, CEO of 420 Web Pros. “But just as important as the system’s convenience is the value we place on privacy and security.” 420 Web Pros specializes in leveraging the power of the Internet to help the medical marijuana industry thrive in the digital age, while also helping caregivers and the patients they serve stay compliant with local state laws.

420 Web Pros’ new site for recent client Norcanna.com allows medical marijuana patients to order in a secure and discreet manner with a simple but effective s­­hopping cart interface. A powerful suite of tools also allows cannabis patients to track the status of their orders and see their order history — even get precise information about delivery times and the name of the caregiver arriving at their door (optional).

But the 420 Web Pros cannabis e-store solution is just as powerful for vendors — whether they are seed banks, delivery services, farms or cannabis collectives. Once registered as administrators, suppliers can customize their pages with ease. This gives them the ability to tailor prices, minimum and maximum orders, and other variables to suit individual customers.

“Administrators have access to a set of built-in tools for enhanced security and discretion,” adds Rocha. “For instance, medical marijuana suppliers can pre-verify patients, and choose to hide product menus from the general public. We understand how important discretion is, and these tools enhance the privacy and security we’ve built into our virtual marketplace solution for the marijuana industry. At 420 Web Pros, we place utmost value on representing the medical cannabis industry responsibly.”

The 420 Web Pros online cannabis store system also:

- Accepts all major credit cards such as Visa, MasterCard, Discovery and American Express and PayPal

- Features a convenient cash-on-delivery option

- Allows the Administrator to set minimum and maximum order amounts on a per-patient basis

- Allows suppliers to make changes to their sites with just a few simple clicks

- Gives suppliers unlimited customization tools to add new products or categories at any time

- Tracks product inventory in real time, and automatically alerts vendors when a particular item is almost out of stock

- Sells other items such as medical marijuana accessories, stickers, T-shirts and other cannabis-related products

About Norcanna.com: Norcanna.com is the world’s most comprehensive online shop for medical marijuana patients and suppliers. With an emphasis on security, privacy and convenience, Norcannna.com features the first online product catalog that allows cannabis patients to order directly online from medical marijuana caregivers.

About 420 Web Pros: Dedicated to serving the fast-growing medical marijuana industry, 420 Web Pros designs innovative websites, crafts media campaigns and creates marketing solutions. Whether it’s collectives, seed banks, events, doctors, lawyers, publications or any other industry-related business, Los Angeles-based 420 Web Pros offers an array of services to the burgeoning medical cannabis market all over the entire world.

For media interviews: Contact press@420webpros.com or call (323) 419-4205.

# end

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