TreezPay - Designing a Stoner-Friendly Cannabis Rewards Experience🍀💳

A case study on cannabis purchases with smooth payments, loyalty points, and dispensary check-ins.

This is a capstone project challenge from Treez.Inc — which was part of my 10kdesigners cohort🚀

Why I considered Treez?

Cannabis is still illegal in India — but that made me even more curious to explore how legalized cannabis works in the U.S.

This project gave me the chance to deep dive into a completely different product ecosystem, understand its constraints, and imagine a digital wallet tailored for dispensaries.

The problem ⬇️

So what am I trying to solve here?

• In cannabis retail, payment flows are broken — card networks don’t work, ATMs are clunky, and consumers have no real reason to care how they pay.
• TreezPay wants to shift this: Create a rewards-driven payment experience that nudges users to choose TreezPay for purchases, helps them track and redeem points across dispensaries, and unlocks deeper brand loyalty and repeat behavior.

What are the Existing products of Treezpay ?

• In-store displays
• E-commerce Widgets
• Embedded SDKs( Software Development Kits)
• Treezpay has 4 payment solutions(Multiple payment providers) — Integrated Debit, Credit, ACH(Bank transfer), CATM(Tap to pay)

Cannabis industry in USA⬇️

Before diving into rewards and loyalty stuff, I took a step back to really understand how the cannabis scene works in the US overall. This really helped me get a clearer picture of the struggles both businesses and users face in this space.

Present cannabis industry in USA

Consumer / user Pain Points ☹️

User research

To ground my research in real user behavior, I reached out to 2 cannabis consumers based in California and asked them about their payment habits and how a reward system might influence those habits. Their insights helped shape the foundation for the following empathy mapping.

Persona empathy mapping

Turns out — rewards and loyalty programs really do work and users actually care about them (freebies? who doesn’t love that!). Plus, a smooth check-in experience is super important — nobody likes awkward ID moments at the door. And of course, seamless payments? An absolute must.

With these insights in hand, I started looking into competitors in the cannabis space who are already using (or missing out on) these key features — just to see where TreezPay could stand out.

Competitors ⬇️

So who has Reward driven payment experience in cannabis industry?

Competitors

1. Spendr
2. Canpay
3. High rewards

What they “have” ?

Platforms like CanPay, Spendr, and HighRewards mainly focus on enabling cashless payments through direct bank transfers (ACH). Some of them also offer basic reward programs like cashback or loyalty points, and a few allow users to earn gift cards or discounts after repeated purchases.

What they “don’t have” ?

Most of these platforms don’t offer features like store check-ins, dispensary discovery, or fun ways to earn points. There’s no sense of play or brand engagement — it’s just “pay and go.”

Let’s talk design

Crafting a reward experience people want to use (not have to use)

Based on all the research, insights, and gaps in the market, I set out to design a rewards-driven, fun, and frictionless experience tailored for cannabis users in the U.S.

My goal? Make TreezPay feel more like a perk than a payment method. One that dispensaries love to offer and users actually enjoy using.

What I Chose to Build (and Why)

Smoother onboarding experience

Why? ⬇️

I gave importance to onboarding because it plays a crucial role in educating new users, showing the app’s value, boosting engagement and retention, reducing frustration/support requests, and even improving app store ratings.

The real purpose of onboarding here is to drive activation and get users started quickly, not just explain what the app does.

What does Dashed and Solid line indicates in the Flow below ?

You can watch below video for Onboarding flow in action⬇️

[embed]Onboarding

Check -in

Why? ⬇️

A quick digital check-in via QR or ID verification right in the app, saving time for users and budtenders while making entry effortless.

Reward system

Why? ⬇️

A clear savings tracker that shows how much they’ve earned and saved through rewards, discounts, and offers — making TreezPay feel like a perk, not just a payment method.

Dispensary overview

Why? ⬇️

Home screen — different states

Why I Focused on Home Screen States⬇️

The home screen is the anchor of TreezPay. It’s the first touchpoint every time a user opens the app, and if it doesn’t adapt to their context, the experience quickly feels generic and disconnected.

The Goal Behind These Choices

By designing adaptive states, I ensured that:

• Users always see what’s most relevant at that moment.
• Onboarding and education happen naturally through the home screen itself.
• Engagement increases because the app feels alive, not static.
• TreezPay isn’t just a payment tool — it becomes a daily-use companion for dispensary visits.

How payments and rewards work ?

How and why ?⬇️

You can watch below video for how payment and reward integration has been done ⬇️

[embed]

State Considerations ⬇️

What I Learnt

1. Payment Behavior: India vs. USA

India: UPI dominates — instant, free, and extremely habit-forming. Users expect 1-tap seamlessness. Rewards are secondary, convenience is primary.

USA: ACH payments are slower, multi-step, and require trust-building (bank linking, identity verification). Incentives (discounts, rewards, balance usage) are essential to motivate adoption.

Learning: A designer must balance friction and trust — where India prioritizes speed, US designs must emphasize transparency, incentives, and security cues.

2. Regulatory Landscape: Cannabis in the USA

• Cannabis is federally illegal but legal at the state level, creating compliance complexity.
• Banks and card networks (Visa, Mastercard) often avoid cannabis transactions → making ACH + closed-loop payments critical.
• Learning: Product design must work within legal grey zones, ensuring compliance while keeping user experience smooth. This requires extra microcopy clarity to build user trust.

As a Product Designer: My Key Takeaways

• Big Picture Thinking: Payments + rewards aren’t just screens, they’re like ecosystems. Miss one piece and the whole Jenga tower wobbles.
• Behavior Hacks: Free points, shiny trackers, and surprise discounts? That’s not fluff. That’s how you turn “meh” users into “loyal stoners.”
• Trust Design: When external handoffs (Stronghold, Aeropay) are involved, microcopy, visual reassurance, and progress indicators matter as much as the backend logic.
• Localization Awareness: Payment habits, regulatory environments, and user trust vary drastically across geographies → one-size-fits-all design won’t work.

Thanks for sticking around till the end!🤗

This was my first deep dive into designing for a real-world industry.

Gratitude time 💚 This project wouldn’t have been possible without Hrisikesh Medhi from Treez — huge respect and thanks to him for all the guidance and support. And of course, a massive shoutout to 10kdesigners — without the cohort, I wouldn’t have crossed paths with such amazing people and opportunities.

Thank you❣️

Got feedback, ideas, or just want to geek out about design? I’d love to hear from you. You can always find me on **LinkedIn, X. **And hey, if this project made you smile, think, or go “huh, that’s cool” — your clap would mean a lot👏.

I’m also open to new opportunities as a Product Designer / Product Design Intern. If you’re building something exciting, let’s connect — I’d love to contribute.