TL;DR:
Alpine IQ and Springbig both help dispensaries run loyalty and customer messaging, but they take different approaches. Springbig is a solid pick if you want a simpler loyalty-and-promos system that’s easy to roll out across locations, plus add-ons like referrals and an optional app experience. Alpine IQ is the better long-term pick if you want deeper targeting based on buying behavior, stronger automation, and clearer reporting, so you can grow repeat visits without leaning on nonstop discounts. If you have a clear owner for retention and plan to optimize week after week, Alpine IQ tends to deliver more upside; if you need fast adoption with fewer moving parts, Springbig can be the smoother start. In practice, results on either platform depend heavily on data quality, internal ownership, and whether someone is responsible for ongoing optimization beyond initial setup.
Alpine IQ and Springbig are two of the most common platforms dispensaries compare for loyalty and SMS. Both can enroll customers, send compliant messages, and run promotions across one or many stores. The differences show up in daily operations. Rewards have to work at the register. Customer data has to stay clean across locations. Messages have to keep performing over time. And you need reporting you can trust.
Table of Contents:
- Alpine IQ vs Springbig at a glance
- Loyalty programs: points, tiers, and profit protection
- SMS deliverability and compliance: what drives results
- Multi-location CRM and segmentation: depth vs simplicity
- Integrations and rollout: where projects win or die
- Pricing, contracts, and implementation reality
- What Alpine IQ says about Alpine IQ
- What Springbig says about Springbig
- FAQs
- Get more from Alpine IQ with Heady
Alpine IQ vs Springbig at a glance
Both platforms are built for cannabis retail retention. They overlap on core needs like customer profiles, loyalty membership, and campaign tools. The real difference is what happens after week one.
Do you get enough control to target the right shoppers?
Can you keep offers consistent across stores?
Can you prove what worked?
Springbig often wins on simplicity and consistency. Alpine IQ often wins on depth and optimization. That matters more as you add stores, segments, and goals.
Loyalty programs: points, tiers, and profit protection
Loyalty only works if it drives repeat visits and protects margin. Points and tiers are useful, but register behavior is the dealbreaker. If redemption is slow or confusing, staff will avoid it and customers will stop caring. In real-world deployments, loyalty success is often limited less by features and more by register behavior, staff training, and POS execution. Even strong loyalty programs will underperform if redemption steps aren’t fast and consistent during peak hours.
Where Springbig is strong
Springbig focuses on loyalty that is easy to run across locations. That usually means points, rewards, and tier-style programs that feel the same at every store.
Where Springbig shines:
- Consistent earn-and-redeem across locations
- Clear tier programs shoppers understand fast
- Simple execution for lean teams
Where Alpine IQ is strong
Alpine IQ is strongest when you want loyalty tied to customer behavior. It’s easier to treat VIPs, lapsing shoppers, and deal-only shoppers differently. That helps you protect margin while still driving repeat visits.
Where Alpine IQ shines:
- Behavior-based segments built from purchase history
- Loyalty tied to flows like second-visit nudges and winbacks
- More control to avoid blanket discounting
These advantages show up most clearly when a team actively manages segments and flows over time, rather than treating loyalty as a set-and-forget program.
The loyalty questions that decide ROI
Ask both vendors these questions and push for clear demos.
- How do exclusions and stacking work at the register?
- Can customers earn and redeem in any store, including online or delivery?
- What breaks during a rush, and how is it handled?
- Can you report on frequency and churn, not just signups?
SMS deliverability and compliance: what drives results
In cannabis, SMS is powerful, but it’s also fragile. Filtering, opt-in quality, and list fatigue can tank performance. Both Alpine IQ and Springbig talk about compliance and consent. That’s required. The bigger issue is whether the platform helps you stay relevant, so engagement stays high.
If SMS results drop, the fix is usually basics:
- Improve opt-in capture and consent hygiene
- Send to tighter segments, not everyone
- Set a steady cadence and avoid panic blasts
- Suppress people who never engage
- Match offers to real buying patterns
Where Alpine IQ tends to win
Alpine IQ tends to win when your plan depends on behavior-based targeting. Better targeting usually means fewer sends, higher engagement, and fewer unsubscribes.This typically requires more active list management, suppression, and cadence control to maintain performance over time.
Where Springbig tends to fit
Springbig can be a strong fit if you want steady promo execution with fewer moving parts. It also makes sense if referrals or an app experience are big parts of your plan. Its simpler execution can reduce the risk of over-sending or mis-targeting for teams with limited time or retention ownership.
Multi-location CRM and segmentation: depth vs simplicity
Multi-location retention fails when identity is messy. Duplicates, shared numbers, and store-to-store overlap can break targeting. Once targeting breaks, discounting rises.
Most multi-location issues come from identity drift: duplicate profiles, shared phone numbers, inconsistent consent states, and delayed POS syncs. If these aren’t actively monitored, even well-designed campaigns will degrade quickly.
Springbig’s multi-location strengths
Springbig leans into a unified loyalty experience and centralized execution. This can reduce store-to-store variance.
What to confirm:
- One customer record across stores
- Company-wide segments with local flexibility
- Store-level reporting that rolls up cleanly
Alpine IQ’s multi-location strengths
Alpine IQ leans into deeper segmentation and stronger automation. This tends to help when stores have different menus, shoppers, and promo needs.
How to choose: If you want simpler daily ops, Springbig may feel easier. If you want retention to improve over time, Alpine IQ is usually the better bet.
Integrations and rollout: where projects win or die
Most problems come from data and process, not features. If data is late or messy, automations are late. If redemption is clunky, staff stops using it. If nobody owns the program, it becomes discount blasts.
The demo checklist (use this every time)
Ask each vendor to show these live:
- Is POS and eCom data real-time or batch, and what’s the delay?
- How do you handle duplicates and merges across stores?
- What fields sync, including consent and loyalty status?
- What does redemption look like at the register?
- Can you show results by store, segment, and time window?
A rollout plan that sticks
Start with a simple baseline, then scale.
- One loyalty structure staff can explain
- One welcome flow that drives a second visit
- One winback flow for lapsed shoppers
- One VIP approach that protects margin
Pricing, contracts, and implementation reality
Total cost includes setup, training, data cleanup, and messaging volume. Ask about contract terms, onboarding scope, and support. Also ask what “success” looks like at week two, week eight, and month six. A platform that looks cheaper can cost more if your team can’t run it well.
In practice, simpler platforms can become expensive if they rely on constant blanket discounting, while more powerful platforms can underperform if no one owns segmentation, testing, and optimization. Platform choice should match team capacity, not just feature depth.
What Alpine IQ says about Alpine IQ
Alpine IQ says its advantage is deeper customer data and behavior-based retention.
What Alpine IQ emphasizes:
- Audiences built from purchase behavior and loyalty activity
- Automations tied to actions and visit patterns
- Reporting by segment and store
- More control for multi-location teams
How to evaluate it: In the demo, have them build a lapsed high-value segment and a second-visit flow. Then ask for store-level reporting over 30 days.
What Springbig says about Springbig
Springbig says its advantage is a simpler, cannabis-first engagement platform built for multi-location rollouts.
What Springbig emphasizes:
- SMS, email, and push in one platform
- Loyalty programs that support tiers and repeat visits
- Centralized CRM execution across stores
- Add-ons like referrals and an optional app experience
How to evaluate it: Ask for an earn-and-redeem scenario across stores. Then ask for store-level reporting tied to repeat visits.
FAQs
1) Which is better for cannabis loyalty and SMS?
Alpine IQ is usually better if you want deeper targeting and stronger automation. Springbig can be better if you want simpler ops and quick rollout.
2) What should we test in a demo?
Ask for two segments, one automation, a register redemption walkthrough, and store-level reporting. If they can’t show it, don’t assume it exists.
3) Can both support multi-location programs?
Yes. The difference is how cleanly they handle identity, segmentation, and reporting across stores.
4) Do referrals and apps change the choice?
They can. If referrals and an app are core to your plan, Springbig may fit better. If behavior-based automation is the core, Alpine IQ usually fits better.
5) How do we avoid discount addiction?
Use segments, not blanket blasts. Mix perks and access with discounts. Track margin impact, not just redemptions.
Get more from Alpine IQ or Springbig with Heady
Alpine IQ and Springbig can deliver strong ROI, but only when it’s set up and managed like a retention program. The biggest wins come from cleaner opt-ins, better segments, smarter flows, and reporting you trust. Heady helps dispensaries maximize their CRM subscription by auditing your setup, rebuilding segmentation, launching high-performing automations, and tying results to revenue and margin. Typical first wins include improving second-visit rates, rebuilding winback flows, and tightening VIP segmentation to reduce unnecessary discounting.
P.S. – For dispensaries that use Klaviyo integrated with their POS, we do Klaviyo buildouts as well!