A Partner Beyond Hardware: How Greentank Builds Brand Loyalty Through Reliability

The cannabis market has matured drastically over the last 10 years. In the early days, brands wanted to get into the market as fast as they possibly could through any means possible. Now, though, companies are much more focused on delivering a good product.

“Hardware vendors like Greentank have stepped up to the plate to offer reliability, quality, and performance delivery,” says Derek Champoux, VP of Marketing for Greentank. “As demand grew, we evolved so we could rise to the occasion.”

That shift shows up most clearly in the hardware itself.

There are two components to a cannabis vape device: the oil and the hardware. While both are important, vape hardware is ultimately a representation of the brand. One poor experience can do serious damage to a brand’s reputation. That’s what makes product reliability essential to the relationship between brand and consumer.

Reputation Management

If the hardware doesn’t perform at a standard that customers expect, the price is costly.

“Brands really utilize hardware to bolster their brand’s representation in the market,” Champoux says. “If your vape device has a lot of reliability issues, there’s leaking or clogging, or it doesn’t perform the best, your customers will let you know.”

A large part of this, he says, is due to the industry’s young age; legal cannabis is no more than 15 years old. With so many customers trying cannabis vape products for the first time, their first impression of the product determines whether they buy again.

And if a consumer has an extremely positive experience, they are much more likely to stay loyal to the brand.

Instilling Brand Loyalty

First impressions cut both ways. “When you have virtually no expectations when you try a device for the first time and it doesn’t work or is unsatisfactory, it quickly sours you,” Champoux explains. “On the flip end, if you try a device that has great flavor, great vapor, and great effects, you’re much less likely to try a different brand.”

How much a single good or bad experience shapes long-term loyalty is central to one of Greentank’s core philosophies: strength of service. The company’s tagline, “A Partner Beyond Hardware,” reflects a view that every customer is a vape partner, and that their success is Greentank’s success.

“You’re purchasing hardware, but you’re not just purchasing hardware from us,” he explains. “If you’re a Greentank customer, you have access to our entire suite of all our expertise. You have access to our Marketing, Sales, R&D, Supply Chain, Finance, and Design teams.”

Being willing and able to help with all their customers’ business needs is a major advantage for Greentank. But first, it needed to understand what its customers were actually looking for.

Putting Customer Needs First

Since its inception in 2016, Greentank has been an R&D-heavy organization. It doesn’t build products for the sake of building products—it’s meticulously tested and directly addresses a customer’s wants or needs.

“We have a full R&D device lab at our headquarters in Toronto,” Champoux says. “We have dozens of engineers, material scientists, and product designers with equipment that is set up to perfectly optimize vape hardware with different extract formulations.”

In other words, the company isn’t guessing at what its customers might want. It’s doing the work, research, and development from a technology standpoint, material standpoint, airflow design, and heating element designs.

“It’s a well-rounded approach for technology design,” he says. “We’re constantly trying to develop, improve, and optimize.”

As new formulations continue to enter the market, Greentank makes a dedicated effort to stay ahead of them. When a cannabis brand comes to the company with a new formulation, it does all in its power to recommend the device spec best suited to succeed in the market.

That entails keeping up with customer trends across North America.

Providing the Right Hardware Solution, Anywhere

Champoux recalls two instances in the U.S. and Canada where Greentank kept up with evolving customer demands.

In the U.S., Greentank has seen a significant shift towards specialty extracts like resin, rosin, and solventless extract formulations. As a result, it can’t create devices that are one-size-fits-all—it works directly with a cannabis brand’s lab teams to find the right chemical composition for the right vape hardware. This is also known as “oil to coil” matching.

In Canada, a formulation called Liquid Diamonds is quickly gaining popularity. Over the last 12-18 months, Greentank has specifically specced its hardware to handle all the different Liquid Diamond formulations.

The common thread between both countries is the maturing consumer base. Rather than settling for status-quo products, consumers are starting to demand different effects, better flavor profiles, and more complex products from the cannabis industry.

“Greentank is always working inside of trends that we’re seeing geographically and state by state,” he explains. “Due to our R&D focus, we’re able to adapt really quickly based on what we’re seeing and what we’re hearing in the market.”

That’s what being a partner beyond hardware actually means: showing up with the right solution before the brand even has to ask.

Ready to Build Loyalty Through Better Hardware?

Partner with Greentank to develop reliable vape hardware optimized for your formulations, your consumers and your brand’s long-term success. Talk to a Hardware Expert.