Your cannabis website is a vital tool for your business. Not only is it your digital storefront, but it also functions to help you reach and attract more customers. However, not everyone who comes across your website may be old enough to purchase the products you offer.
That’s where having an age verification popup — also known as an age gate — on your website comes in. Just as you would verify the age of customers entering your retail store, this popup ensures that anyone looking to view and potentially purchase your products is old enough to do so. Here’s what you need to know.
The Purpose of an Age Verification Popup
Similar to alcohol and tobacco, cannabis is an age-restricted product. It’s illegal for minors to purchase and use it. An age verification popup provides a layer of protection, working to keep underage individuals from accessing your website and the products or services you offer. Those old enough can enter, while those who aren’t may get redirected or get a message informing them that they must meet the age requirement to proceed.
Protecting children is only one function of age verification on your website. It also serves to protect your cannabis business. Collecting any information from minors — even something as basic as an email address — is illegal under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and violations can be costly. Directing underage visitors away from your site helps keep you and your cannabis business safe.
There’s a third benefit of implementing an age verification popup on your website — brand reputation protection. Using such a tool shows that you care about keeping minors safe and that you take legal compliance seriously.
Do All Cannabis Websites Verify Age?
Despite its importance, not all cannabis businesses use age verification online. In a recent study, researchers looked at several attributes of 80 dispensary websites, including whether or not they checked the ages of their visitors either upon arrival or during the checkout process. They found that nearly 19% of dispensaries had no measures in place.
What’s more, although two-thirds of the dispensaries involved in the study listed policies regarding cannabis sales to minors, 24% didn’t have an age verification popup to enter their websites, and 24% didn’t ask to verify age to purchase or receive products.
How to Add Age Verification to Your Website
Fortunately, adding an age verification popup to your cannabis website is fairly simple. There are plenty of tools and plugins available that can help you set one up quickly. No matter which one you choose, you should make sure it’s unblockable by popup blockers and mobile-friendly. Alternatively, you can work with expert cannabis website designers who can take care of the task for you.
Can You Customize Your Age Verification Popup?
Your website is your online presence. Everything about it should reflect your cannabis business — that includes your age verification popup. Depending on the tools you choose, you may be able to customize your popup so that it more closely aligns with the image you want to convey. Or, for a truly custom age verification popup that perfectly matches your brand, cannabis website designers like the ones at Highopes can help.
Keep Your Cannabis Website Compliant With Highopes
Are you looking to create a cannabis website that’s both unique and compliant with all cannabis rules and regulations? At Highopes, we can help you do just that. We’ll work with you to develop a one-of-a-kind cannabis website, complete with age verification popup, that perfectly conveys the core elements of your brand, enabling you to tell your story, attract more customers, and drive more sales. Contact us today to get started!
