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Dispensary Reputation Management: How to Get More Reviews & Keep a 4.7+ Rating

Your dispensary's star rating is one of the first things a new customer sees, and in a competitive market it can be the deciding factor between them choosing you or your competitor. This webinar covers the strategy for getting more reviews consistently and maintaining an average above 4.7.You'll learn how to systematically generate positive reviews, how to handle negative feedback in a way that strengthens your reputation, and what operational habits keep customers motivated to share their experiences. If your review count has stalled or your rating has slipped, this session shows you how to get both back on track.

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Key Insights

Cannabis dispensary star rating directly affects local search ranking because Google's local algorithm weighs both the quantity and recency of reviews as signals of an active, credible, customer-validated business, meaning that a 4.7-plus rating is not just a vanity metric but a competitive SEO asset.
The most effective way to generate more dispensary reviews is to ask at the moment of highest customer satisfaction, which is typically at the end of a positive in-store experience, rather than through mass email campaigns sent days after the visit when the emotional peak of the experience has faded.
Dispensaries that respond to every review, positive and negative, demonstrate attentiveness and accountability that builds trust with prospective customers reading the review profile, because thoughtful responses signal that the business is actively engaged with its customer community.
Review velocity, meaning the rate at which new reviews arrive, matters to local search algorithms as much as aggregate rating, so a dispensary with a 4.8 rating that has received no new reviews in several months may rank lower than a competitor with a 4.6 rating that is actively generating new customer feedback.
The most common reason cannabis dispensary customers do not leave reviews despite positive experiences is simply that they were never asked, making staff training on review request timing and phrasing a higher-leverage reputation management investment than any technology or automation solution alone.

Expert Answers

[{How do cannabis dispensaries get more Google reviews?}

Cannabis dispensaries generate more Google reviews by training budtenders and frontline staff to ask satisfied customers directly for a review at the end of a positive interaction, providing a simple and immediate mechanism such as a QR code on a receipt or at the point of sale that takes the customer directly to the Google review page, and following up with post-visit SMS or email that includes a direct review link for customers who opted into communications. The most important factor in review generation is the timing and directness of the ask: customers are most likely to leave a review when asked by a real person immediately after a good experience, rather than through an automated campaign sent days later.

{What star rating do cannabis dispensaries need for local SEO?}

Cannabis dispensaries should target a 4.7-star rating or higher across primary review platforms to be competitive in local search visibility. Google's local ranking algorithm considers both rating quality and review quantity, so a dispensary needs both a high aggregate rating and a consistent stream of new reviews to maintain strong local search positioning. Ratings below 4.0 are likely to reduce click-through rates significantly as prospective customers skip lower-rated options in favor of nearby competitors, while ratings between 4.7 and 5.0 with high review volume represent the strongest local SEO and conversion combination available to dispensary operators.

{How should cannabis dispensaries respond to negative reviews?}

Cannabis dispensaries should respond to negative reviews promptly, professionally, and without defensiveness, acknowledging the customer's experience, taking responsibility for what the dispensary can control, and offering to resolve the issue offline with a direct contact method. The response is written as much for prospective customers reading the review profile as for the reviewer themselves, so the goal is to demonstrate that the business is accountable, attentive, and genuinely committed to customer experience. Never argue with a reviewer, dismiss their complaint, or make excuses. A well-crafted response to a negative review can actually improve perception of the dispensary more than the negative review itself damages it.

{Can cannabis dispensaries incentivize customers to leave reviews?}

Cannabis dispensaries cannot legally or ethically incentivize customers with discounts, points, or prizes in exchange for leaving a positive review, as this violates Google's policies and the FTC's guidelines on consumer reviews and can result in review removal, platform penalties, or legal exposure. Dispensaries can and should encourage reviews by asking customers directly, making the review process easy through QR codes and direct links, and building a review-friendly culture through genuine service quality. The goal is to earn reviews through experience rather than purchasing them through incentives.

{What tools help cannabis dispensaries monitor their online reputation?}

Cannabis dispensaries can monitor their online reputation using Google Business Profile's native notification system for new reviews, review management platforms that aggregate reviews across multiple platforms into a single dashboard, and manual monitoring of cannabis-specific review sites like Weedmaps and Leafly. Setting up Google Alerts for the dispensary name captures mentions across the web outside of formal review platforms. The most important operational practice is responding to every review within 24 to 48 hours of its posting, which requires either a dedicated monitoring workflow or platform tooling that sends real-time alerts when new reviews appear.]

Webinar Highlights

00:00 - Why Dispensary Reputation Directly Affects Revenue and Search

The session opens by establishing the business case for active reputation management, showing how star rating affects both local SEO ranking and consumer click-through behavior, and why a 4.7-plus rating threshold functions as a meaningful competitive differentiator in cannabis local search.

08:00 - How to Generate More Cannabis Dispensary Reviews Ethically

This section covers the staff training approach and in-store process design that produces consistent review generation, including the timing, phrasing, and mechanism that produce the highest conversion from satisfied customer to review writer without violating platform guidelines or incentivizing reviews inappropriately.

18:00 - Building a Post-Visit Review Request System

The webinar covers how to integrate review requests into post-visit SMS and email communication for customers who opted into dispensary messaging, including message timing, subject line and copy approaches, and the direct link design that removes friction from the review process.

26:00 - Responding to Negative Reviews as a Reputation Asset

This section reframes negative review response as a public trust-building exercise, covering the response framework that demonstrates accountability without defensiveness, the specific language and structure that turns a visible complaint into evidence of a customer-first business culture.

34:00 - Reputation Monitoring as an Ongoing Operational Practice

The session closes with the operational workflow for ongoing reputation monitoring across Google, Weedmaps, Leafly, and other platforms, including the tools and alert systems that keep dispensary teams aware of new reviews in real time and the response cadence that signals active engagement to both customers and local search algorithms.

Frequently Asked Questions

[ {How many Google reviews does a cannabis dispensary need?}

There is no single minimum number of Google reviews a cannabis dispensary needs, but review quantity affects local search ranking, and the relevant benchmark is competitive rather than absolute. A dispensary should have at least as many reviews as its primary local competitors, and ideally more, combined with a rating of 4.7 or higher. Dispensaries with fewer than 50 reviews are at a meaningful disadvantage in most markets compared to established competitors with hundreds of reviews. The goal should be continuous and consistent review generation rather than reaching a fixed number, because review velocity, the rate of incoming new reviews, is an ongoing ranking signal.

{What is the best time to ask a cannabis customer for a review?}

The best time to ask a cannabis customer for a review is at the end of a positive in-store interaction, before the customer leaves the dispensary. This is the moment of peak satisfaction when the customer has just received knowledgeable help, found the product they were looking for, or had a genuinely good dispensary experience. Asking at this moment is significantly more effective than post-visit email or SMS requests because the emotional context of the experience is immediate and vivid. Budtenders should be trained on a natural, non-pressuring phrasing that makes the ask feel like a genuine appreciation request rather than a scripted obligation.

{Should cannabis dispensaries respond to positive reviews?}

Yes, cannabis dispensaries should respond to positive reviews as well as negative ones. Responding to positive reviews demonstrates that the business values customer feedback and is actively engaged with its customer community, which is a trust signal for prospective customers reading the review profile. Positive review responses can be shorter than negative review responses and should feel genuine and personalized rather than templated. A simple, warm acknowledgment that references something specific from the review, when possible, signals attentiveness. Responding to all reviews also improves the total engagement signals on the Google Business Profile, which may influence local ranking.

{How do cannabis dispensaries recover from a period of low review ratings?}

Cannabis dispensaries recover from a period of low review ratings primarily by generating a high volume of new positive reviews from genuinely satisfied customers, which raises the aggregate rating over time and improves the recency distribution of the rating profile. The recovery process also requires addressing the operational issues that produced the negative reviews in the first place, since continuing to generate new negative reviews while trying to raise the aggregate rating is an unsustainable cycle. Operational fixes, combined with systematic new review generation from the improved customer experience, is the most reliable recovery path. Some platforms allow businesses to flag reviews that violate guidelines for removal, but legitimate negative reviews cannot be deleted.

{What platforms should cannabis dispensaries monitor for reviews?}

Cannabis dispensaries should monitor Google Business Profile as the highest priority because Google reviews have the most direct impact on local search visibility and are the most widely seen by prospective customers. Weedmaps and Leafly are the cannabis-specific platforms most likely to be consulted by existing cannabis consumers researching dispensary options. Yelp remains relevant in some markets and should be monitored. Facebook reviews matter in markets where the dispensary has an active social following. Dispensaries operating in states where cannabis is recently legalized should also monitor emerging local or state-specific cannabis review platforms that may be gaining traction in their market. ]

Webinar Full Transcript

[ {Full Transcript}

good morning everybody good afternoon if you're joining us from the East Coast we're going to be getting underway here with our webinar shortly we'll allow a couple more seconds for other attendees to join the webinar and we were right back with you e wonderful we'll be getting underway now with our webinar today's webinar is on star power so we're going to be talking about how to get more reviews and keep a high average of 4.7 plus rating for your business really important um for any business out there but especially in a consumer facing business such as cannabis dispensaries today's webinar is really really exciting so I'm really um excited to get started now with us um so let's talk about how to get more people talking about your dispensaries in our agenda for today we will be covering why reputation management is crucial for sales how to maintain that 4.7 plus star rating and why you should three proven ways to get more reviews a lot of great content here for today my name is Ed wardo Silva I will be your host for today's webinar a little bit about myself around 18 to 20 years in marketing Communications and sales experience really really excited to be part of this fast growing industry as well as to be your host for today a little bit about foot traffic foot traffic we are a digital advertising and marketing agency solely focused in the Cannabis space we've done so for over five years now consecutively with a really solid track record for our clients before we get underway with our webinar a few housekeeping items just to set the stage first and foremost we love those mobile phones as a matter of fact us marketers we we live and die by them however for the content that we're be going to be covering here today we do recommend that you either silence those phones and or put them face down on your desk so that you uh allow for no distractions we're going to be covering quite a lot of content today and as uh we normally do we move quite fast familiarize yourself with the zoom interface if you are attending us live via the webinar Zoom uh there is a Q&A button on the top of the webinar so if you actually navigate to the top you should see a little panel there or E that panel could also be on the bottom so look for the Q&A button we do have panelists here today live that can answer any questions for you as we're going through this content and then finally make sure to stick around we do have a special offer for those who are attending the webinar today and we'll be sharing that with you at the end of the webinar once again thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to join us so let's get underway what people say about your dispensary online can help score you even more customers but you need to be part of making that conversation happen and ensuring that it's going in the right direction right now 82% of customers Check reviews for local businesses that's four out of every five customers how many stars people give you what the reviews say and how you respond can all Impact whether those customers order from you or go to your competition so why do reviews matter so much well reviews provide potential customers with social proof essentially they help to legitimize your business by showing that you are who you say you are and they also clue you into to potential customers into what they can expect from you do you offer good deals are your butt tenders helpful is your dispensary welcoming reviews can answer all of these questions for potential customers when people are first seeking out a new dispensary they want to minimize the risk and find a spot they can trust your reviews help make that easier for them as long as you're actively asking for them monitoring them and responding to them this is all part of reputation management so let's talk about that reputation management is the process of staying on top of what people are saying about your business reviews have become such an integral part of a consumer behavior that dispensaries need to allocate time and resources to monitoring and responding to reviews you also need to create an experience that customers want to ride about those stars do matter what actually we actually recommend maintaining a 4.7 star rating we have found this to be the sweet spot for getting more sales yes of course five stars is the ideal but it's practically impossible to keep everyone happy we all know this you need to have a four star rating at minimum just 53% of people would consider using a business with fewer than four stars if your current rating is low you need not to worry that just means that there's room for improvement and according to a study by location three improving your review score uh about 1.5 Stars could equal to 13,000 more leads that's a lot more sales now to get started with reputation management make sure that you've claimed your dispensary listings including your Google my business profile your yel profile and your other dispensary listings this is something that can and will actually do uh for you here at foot traffic so if you haven't done so already we also create and optimize profiles for you and post it one a most relevant listings so that you can actually gain The credibility and the links needed to improve upon your uh reputation now your Google my business profile is especially crucial because when someone searches for your dispensary it will always show up and so are your reviews it's also one of the leading places people actually clict so Google uses Google my business as a local SEO signal and takes into account your reviews when providing searches with actual results so if you want to show up as part of that local pack in SEO when someone is looking for a dispensary near them you need to maintain good reviews with Google my business now there are three parts to reputation management first you need to create a positive experience that people want to talk about we're going to dive into this in a moment next you need to implement systems that encourage and make it easy for people to leave your reviews and lastly you need to respond and manage your reviews these are three components and they're all connected and if you want to benefit from your star power you need to keep all three in check here's how you can do this first you need to train your butt tenders as well they aren't just sales associates they are valuable resources for your customers and they are the face of your business these are the people that your customers will interact with the most so training your bud tenders starts with the hiring process looking for qualified individuals who are eager to learn even if they don't have a background in the industry they should be interested in cannabis and want to learn more once you have your team you should engage in regular training your team should know about the different canabo and tpen they should also be able to talk about consumption methods and THC CBD ratios plus they should know all about the products you carry now you can't expect them to learn all of this stuff on their own during your own boarding process your bug tender should be trained on the essentials in addition you should also be trained training on your new products as they come in your butt tenders must also be trained in customer service customers are diverse and your butt tenders must know how to assist everyone that walks through your doors help your butt tenders understand your mission and give them the tools they need to work with so that they can serve your customers you should also make asking for reviews a part of the butt tender's job creating a simple script such as thanks for shopping with us if you appreciate our service make sure to leave us a review if you want people to vouch for you you need to create a memorable experience in addition to friendly and helpful staff you should store your store should be clean and attractive your decor and music should appeal to your target market your waiting area should be comfortable and you should do whatever you can to reduce the wait times that may mean having ordering kiosks or iPads in the waiting area along with products information uh and other resources pricing and product selection can play a huge role in keeping customers happy make sure that you are stocked with the types of products your target audience wants to use and they're also offering exciting deals and loyalty programs that people want to use not only do you want customer customers to leave with a positive uh experience but also to leave you a positive review and you want them to come back time and time again and this will help you achieve it you want to ask for reviews frequently it's crucial that you have fresh reviews customers find those to be the most relevant plus they are the first ones that pop up when someone is looking for your business not only should your butt tenders mention it but you can also have a sign at your checkout or a postcard you can actually slip into your customer bag put a QR code on on them and make it super easy for your customers to leave your dispensary a review I promise this is not a waste of time because 76% of all customers that are ask to leave a review go on to write one so ask ask and then ask again it's very important so how often should you be checking your new reviews to be truly on top of your reputation management you need to have a system in place to consistently check for new reviews depending on the size of your dispensary that could be the store manager's responsibility or larger part of someone else's role like your customer experience manager or social media manager msos should check their reviews daily while smaller one store operations can probably check every other day you can also use a digital marketing agency like us foot traffic to handle this process for you we offer different levels of reputation management so you can actually select what works best for your business once you have people talking about your business it's time to engage with them and M maintain your star rating or improve upon it you should always respond to reviews bright local says that amongst customers that re that read reviews 97% read businesses response to reviews plus people expect a response this helps actually show that you care about what people have to say and that you value their feedback they took the time out of their day to say something about your dispensary and you should take the time to thank them for it you want to respond to both negative as well as positive reviews for positive reviews State the person in your own brand voice something like glad you had a great experience come back soon or so happy that you love Gorilla Glue it's one of our favorites as well make sure to switch it up to different reviews and personalize it as well so your responses don't come up as can or you know just too robotic let's talk about negative reviews I'm not going to lie they are quite a a big suck of time as well as energy but they also present your store with an opportunity to take someone's negative experience and turn it around and if you can't do that you can still learn from the feedback when you respond to a negative review you can often make the situation better if the problem is handled well many reviewers will change their reviews to a positive or even delete it as part of the original negative review it's not all about the negative poster though other people will read that review and see how you handled it because it shows up it shows actually who you are as a business customers want a transparent personal relationship with the companies they Trust responding to a negative review shows that your business cares is responsive and is willing to engage with customers a negative review can actually get you riled up so don't respond immediately look at the problem from the customer's perspective you have the opportunity to turn the situation around with what you say apologize to the customer for the experience and share your contact information to take the conversation offline keep it short and simple but be kind for example hi Mary I'm sorry you weren't happy with the service you received during your last visit please contact me at email dispensary.in a review and letting us know what we can do better now you're probably wondering whether you can just delete negative reviews unfortunately this is not as easy as it sounds Google will generally delete reviews if they contain profanity also if someone or that person who is leaving the review has left multiple negative reviews this is considered spam and Google will take action reviews posted by competing businesses fake or relevant reviews or reviews by disgruntled former employees are all in violation of Google's terms of service so you can request that they be take down just so you know though this isn't an instant process it takes Google time to check over everything and to be quite honest they don't always delete every review that they should so you should still take time to respond to a negative review even if you request that it be deleted so that people who see it in the meantime won't be put off we know this is uh a lot to take on board but to be honest it's all part of running a reputable business in the major social media and the internet you have to control the narrative the reputation management is all about amplifying the positive aspects of your business while taking on board any feedback and criticism to make your dispensary even better now you may be thinking I have enough reviews I'm all set but that's just not how it works people want to see new reviews according to Bright locals local consumer review service 48 people 48% of consumers only pay attention to reviews written within the past two weeks you need a constant stream of fresh reviews to maintain your rating and relevancy plus consumers like to read about 10 reviews on average before trusting a business so how can you encourage those individuals who are happy with your shop to leave a review I have three more important strategies to share with you but first I want to mention those sites that promise your positive reviews review Mills are a bad idea illegitimate reviews can get your business kicked off a review site and most customers can spot phony reviews they're a waste of money and they aren't worth the risk go about getting your reviews in a legitimate way so if reviews are so crucial how can your dispensary go about getting more of them the first method for getting more reviews is to use SMS automation this is primarily for individuals who have opted in to receive text messages from you they're individuals who are in your loyalty program and they likely enjoy shopping with you already by creating an SMS automation you can make it easy to touch base with them after they visit your shop write up an eye-catching text thanking them for stopping by and ask them to share their experience you can have this text trigger in a variety of ways one thing we like to do is have SMS sent after a certain number of visits that way you know the customers they fan of your shop since they keep coming back to buy from you you can also have it sent after a large purchase or even after every visit it's entirely up to you using a review gate can also help increase your reviews while maintaining that 4.7 star average a review gate helps you monitor who will be leaving reviews for your business by sorting out those who have had a positive experience with your dispensary and those who did not you can get feedback from unhappy customers and help troubleshoot their issues while sending happy campers to review sites to share how great your store was this is a great tool to combine with your SMS because it makes it simple for people to both leave reviews and have their complaints heard and addressed this can help make you more responsive as well you will know when people are taking the time to leave reviews or feedback so you can quickly respond another way to get more reviews is to use email automation many dispensaries are relying on online ordering because of the pandemic this means that customers generally have to offer their email addresses in order to use them with your menu or receive updates on their orders if people are opting in to your emails during the process you are signing up for the email list to get your deals there's a good chance they enjoy shopping with you already to make sure they leave you a review consider creating an automation that's sends a short email after someone visits your store thank them for stopping by and let them know that you'd love to hear back how their experience was provide a link directly to your Google reviews so they can easily leave one for you the goal with all of these methods to make it easy remove the barriers and make it simple for people to leave you a review now at foot traffic we've helped dispensaries manage their reputation for a year years we help our clients create SEO friendly Google my business profiles and can help with both getting reviews and responding to reviews ultimately reputation management is a important part of any SEO strategy and according to MZ reviews account for up to 15% of Google's local pack ranking factors reviews help legitimize your business with both potential customers and Google itself the better your reputation the more likely your store will show up higher in the local search results this isn't just about placement though we know that the higher up you are on the organic search results the more clicks your website will get this is vital traffic these individuals are interested in cannabis they're interested in dispensaries This is highly re relevant web traffic which means they're more likely to purchase from you most of the online Revenue that our customers get is from organic traffic so you cannot take this lightly so as promis we are offering a deal for today to get you started with reputation management get 20% off your first month of SEO with review management built in now we're going to transition over to questions now uh once again you can submit your questions on the Q&A function here uh on the webinar or even via chat entirely up to you we do have some questions here that were already asked during the webinar so we'll take it from from here but uh by all means please feel free to ask any questions what's the most important review site to focus on great question now Google because it's also responsible for the most searches and he used uh reviews as a local SEO Factor so Google if you're going to focus on any review platform please focus on Google this will certainly help you in many different factors okay great question another great question here can the same people keep leaving reviews no only one review can be posted per Google account and if someone is actually using multiple Google accounts to leave reviews for the same company this will likely get flagged by Google itself as spam so great question there another question coming up here oh can my employees review my business oh this is a tricky one um so the answer to this question is Google does not allow for current or former employees to leave reviews why is that it's considered a conflict of interest and also um those aren't very reliable or valuable reviews right so they could actually end up sounding a little can or in disingenuous and what that ultimately is going to do is going to actually probably uh lead customers to sense that that they're not necessarily organic reviews so it could actually hurt you right so be worried about that great question so far all right so here's another question this one I'm sure is uh a burning question for most of us how long does it take to get a negative review taken down uh we've seen anywhere from a couple days to several weeks but the reality is that uh Google doesn't always comply with taking down reviews right because you got to read through a lot of the terms of services and that could be kind of a a lot of gray lines there right so if there is a a very clear infringement uh to the terms of services then it could be a little faster but if it's not I wouldn't necessarily um you know count on it again you should still respond to any negative review in the meantime because if you do have perspective customers which you will absolutely have perspective customers looking through your reviews you not want this big red flag sitting there right so respond respond respond great questions there I want to thank everybody for taking the time to join us here today and also for sticking with us you've qualified for a free Yeti tumbler a foot traffic Yeti Tumblr um what I would like to do is how have everybody um also uh click on the link here to schedule a call with us now so we can go ahead and get your shipping confirmation and get this process quickly uh scheduled for you so if you have any other questions we are always uh very much open to addressing those offline uh thank you so much for your time have a wonderful rest of your day ]