The Real Cost of Hardware Failure Isn’t the Recall, It’s Customer Loyalty

In cannabis vape hardware, customer loyalty is the true hidden cost of hardware failure. Once a customer has a bad experience with a product, it’s often difficult to get their business back.

“Even if one of your friends has a better experience, you still have that poor experience in your background,” says George Oram, VP of Atomisation and Integration at Greentank. “It takes a lot of push for people to give the product another try.”

Cannabis vape companies have a critical opportunity to gain a loyal customer: the first puff can make or break the perception of the brand.

That’s why getting that first experience right is essential.

The Less Visible Ways Hardware Failure Impacts a Brand

Consistency is essential to building a loyal customer base. Every can of Coca-Cola, for instance, should look and taste the same. Customers expect the same caffeine hit and sensation with every first sip. Cannabis vape hardware follows a similar principle.

“It’s slightly more complicated for us because we’ve got complex oils and a ceramic core,” Oram explains. “It’s difficult to get puff-to-puff consistency.”

This is especially important when a customer takes between three and 10 puffs in a single session. Throughout the life of a cartridge, changes in vapor production, cloud output, and flavor can affect the consistency of the user experience.

“You might also see tighter drawer restriction, popping, or clogging,” he adds. “Those things are easier to pick up because they’re more user-centric.”

Most of these issues are caught in the testing phase.

Performing Adequate Testing

Greentank tests across a wide range of puff volumes to account for the different ways customers may use a product.

“People might use it at different points of the day depending on what kind of session they’re looking for,” Oram says. “You’ve also got a variety of puff volumes and puff durations.”

Greentank specifically tests products under cold-storage and elevated-temperature conditions to simulate winter and summer environments.

Testing tells Greentank whether a product is ready to go to market, but it’s not just an internal process.

The company conducts a Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (DFMEA), which looks for potential failure modes that could result from extreme use cases. Greentank aims to mitigate as many of those as possible within the product itself.

Once the parameters have been checked and the DFMEA has been conducted, the company does a user sensory trial. It sends products out to customers as well as internal testers, and gets reports back from them.

Testers rate various factors on a scale from 0–10, including aerosol generation, flavor, temperature, and consistency. The sensory trial also evaluates burnt taste and nasal and throat irritation, which can occur in cannabis vaping.

“We try to cover everything from a puff perspective, what we think a user would consume, and a user sensory perspective,” he says. “Is this product similar or better than something that’s out on the market currently?”

From there, the company improves the product based on feedback.

Building Feedback Loops

Greentank works proactively with its customers during the development process.

“Every time we do a round of development hardware, we’ll send those samples to our customers and get internal feedback as well,” Oram says. “We check everything against our metrics.”

Initially, the company conducts a Color, Material and Finish (CMF) analysis with customers to ensure the product aligns with their expectations. This test evaluates the appearance, tactile feel, and surface texture of the product. A CMF analysis can identify issues early in the process when they are easier to rectify. As product development progresses, those changes become increasingly difficult to make.

“We go through an engineering development process, and we do stage reviews at the end of each of those cycles to analyze that data and challenge our own assumptions about a product,” he says. “We structure the feedback loop around that.”

At the end of each development stage, Greentank provides the customer with a full report detailing product performance, test results, and data analysis. Then, the company explains the next stage of product development and the challenges it plans to address directly.

Putting Communication First

But even with rigorous testing, issues can still reach customers post-launch.

If a problem arises, communication dictates what happens next. Greentank first works to understand the scope and impact of the product defect or issue.

“Is it a specific batch? Is it the product? Is it the oil?” Oram asks. “First, let’s understand how many products were affected and where they are so we can get them frozen and recalled.”

Greentank then conducts an internal review to understand how the failure occurred, develop a corrective action plan, and implement it with the contract manufacturer.

“We communicate, understand, and resolve while making sure we cover as many bases as possible,” he adds. “Keeping the customer informed and making sure everyone is on the same thought train is key to resolving the issue.”

A brand only gets one shot at that first puff. Greentank’s testing, feedback loops, and post-launch response are all designed to protect that single moment.

“Greentank is synonymous with safe, reliable, and consistently performing hardware,” Oram says. “The customer should have the same experience every time.”

Building a cannabis vape brand starts with reliable hardware. Connect with Greentank to find the right hardware solution for your brand.