How Cannabis Brands Can Win Women’s Trust

As competition for consumers heats up and margins continue to erode, it’s never been more important for brands to understand their consumers. No longer a niche market, female consumers control trillions of dollars in purchasing power. Defining gender and age group is only the beginning; this is particularly true for adults born after 1981, because they view purchasing cannabis the same way they view buying any other consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) product.

There’s good reason to know your female consumers, because the distaff market represents a huge growth opportunity. According to Jointly, 55 percent of those who embrace cannabis for health or recreation are female. Use by women aged nineteen to thirty outpaces use by men of the same age.

Women are driving cannabis growth — here’s what brands need to know  

“A brand can never be too trusted,” is something I tell our clients, and nowhere is this truer than for cannabis brands. Female consumers are less likely than men to buy the plant and plant-based products on the gray market. Women gravitate toward the legal market in large part because they trust dispensaries and the regulations that guide them.

Aggressive, price-driven sales tactics aren’t appealing to women. Female consumers want to be seen and understood, not sold. What’s more, they feel more loyal to brands who see them as complete participants in society: as friends, as sisters, as mothers, as aunts, as career professionals, as pet owners. Women want cannabis to fit into those places in their lives as opposed to defining themselves through cannabis culture.

Being overwhelmed by choice is a real problem for all consumers. According to research published in the scientific journal Nature, “women rely heavily on product ratings and reviews when making purchasing decisions. High star ratings and a large number of reviews increase trust and willingness to pay, even for more expensive items.”

Trust matters more than price in women’s buying decisions

Whereas men may be more price-driven when making choices, women are more likely to research brands and products using trusted sources including peers, magazines, and reviews, according to Nielson. This is especially true for luxury items. Blunt tactics like heavy-handed sales aren’t appealing to women, which is why brands that want to attract female consumers must aim to create relationships with female consumers.

Values-driven brands win with female consumers

Overall, female consumers are directly influenced by organizations with values and ethics. In particular, adult women born after 1981 compose the generations (millennials and Gen Z) that have completely normalized cannabis use. While there is much growth potential in female consumers older than 45, millennials and zoomers already accept and feel educated about the plant.

Younger women are most attuned to the larger brand ideals of the products they purchase. Sustainability is a big concern for female consumers, who increasingly are aware of their own impact on the environment. Yet, younger females are sensitive to “greenwashing” and need to feel authentically connected to a brand to experience a sense of loyalty. This means brands need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

Brands that aim to connect with women need to focus on what’s important to them with empathy, lest their efforts feel hollow to the very consumers they’re trying to reach. What’s on the mind of the cannabis industry, no matter how well-intentioned, isn’t necessarily top of mind for consumers.

Movements like “Cali sober” and “cannamoms” are driven by women who perceive cannabis as a better choice than alcohol. It’s important to understand women may not actively identify with the movements even though they participate in the lifestyle choices in growing numbers. I have twelve nieces and nephews in the Gen Z and millennial cohorts and many of them are Cali sober, but they had never heard the term until I recently mentioned it.

Cali sober, cannamoms, and other similar movements reflect self-care, but in a personal way rather than as social activism. Consumers may identify with the reasoning behind the movements more than the movements themselves. In other words, positioning a product or brand within a particular movement or issue is a self-limiting strategy. Understanding the “why” behind lifestyle choices allows brands to connect with women more authentically.

Women also are expanding their definition of self-care. The 4B movement, a radical ideology that advocates women not date, marry, or have sex or children with men, made its way from its native Korea to American shores via TikTok. While it hasn’t become a trend in the United States, the essence of the movement strikes a chord with young women who see limiting or removing themselves from romantic relationships, even for a short period, as a form of self-care. Rather than focusing on the movement itself, what’s important is understanding the motivational drive behind the behavior.

The future of female cannabis consumers: what’s next?

Brands that cater to women are changing the dialog around buying and using cannabis. For example, new California edibles brand CaliLily is connecting with women by making “sorry” a dirty word. The company actively engages women who are embracing their own definitions of success by featuring their insights on the CaliLily blog and profiling female budtenders in a series right here in mg Magazine. With this campaign, CaliLily signals acceptance of a wide range of life choices by celebrating empowerment, connection, and creativity, demonstrating the essence of the company’s assertion its products are “for any reason or no reason at all.”

It’s also important to understand women see self-care as fluid. Young women see nothing strange about moving into and out of self-care choices. It’s not unusual to see a woman go from being a vegetarian for a long time to embracing an omnivorous diet. Young women, in particular, feel very in touch with their own needs and won’t hesitate to make choices they feel are consistent with those needs. The challenge for brands is to be there with motivational purpose so their female consumers take the brands on whatever self-care journey the women are on at the time.

Cannabis brands, like all other CPG brands, need to understand the entire experience of their customers and where the brand fits into the lives of female consumers. Instead of preachy, blunt tactics, embrace the multiple hats women wear and you’ll find many opportunities to meet women where they are.

And that’s how brands should be connecting with women.

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