Budtenders Letting You Down? Meet The Weed Bot That Actually Knows What You Want
Have you ever walked into a dispensary, asked a budtender for advice and left wondering if they had any idea what you were talking about or needed? In an exclusive interview with Benzinga Cannabis, Martez Knox, founder and CEO of BakedBot AI, shared info on AI-driven bots are changing customer experiences and B2B transactions by making sure you get the right product every time.
BakedBot AI launched in January 2023, but Knox’s journey with AI began earlier when he worked in marketing automation and lead generation.
Frustration with the budtender’s lack of knowledge sparked the idea to leverage AI for more personalized cannabis recommendations.
“The idea hit me when I realized that the budtender had no clue what would work best for me as a customer,” Knox said. With advanced AI tools, his systems are boosting efficiency, sales and customer retention for dispensaries.
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Solving Dispensary Pain Points With AI
Knox identified several pain points in the cannabis industry, particularly the challenge of reaching customers through marketing channels.
“Bigger carriers like Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) often block messages containing certain words, making it difficult for dispensaries to connect with customers,” Martez noted, adding that BakedBot AI addresses that issue. How? By using AI-powered autonomous agents that streamline customer engagement while improving outreach without relying on expensive marketing agencies.
One of BakedBot’s flagship products, Smokey, the AI budtender, plays a crucial role in personalizing customer experience.
Smokey uses customers’ purchase histories and other data points to recommend strains based on individual preferences, from terpene profiles to personal preferences.
“We’re keeping their customers happy, lowering acquisition costs, and increasing lifetime value (LTV),” Knox explained, …