Do you Know How to Identify a Legitimate Hemp Brand?
When it comes to finding a hemp product, the brand matters. There may be thousands of brands on the market, but they are not all created equal.
Being able to identify a legitimate hemp brand is something everyone who uses hemp products should be able to do.
Reviews Don't Lie
When searching for a new hemp product, it is advisable to see what others who tried the product have to say. Reviews are an important part of the product purchasing process. And thankfully, there are several ways that we can find reviews.
Reviews can be found in many different places online. One of the first places to check is the company website or anywhere where the products are sold online. Previous customers will typically leave reviews about what they liked and didn’t like about a certain product, giving future shoppers firsthand accounts before they buy.
Reviews can also be found via blogs, articles, and videos. Brands that value transparency want people to know about their products and will often work with influencers and professional reviewers to help provide realistic expectations about their products.
And, of course, there is also social media. Everyone has their favorite platform where they share their unfiltered opinions, no matter the topic. Shoppers can often find reviews of products, including the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Transparency Matters
Transparency is one of the most important things a hemp brand can possess. It shows their customers why their products are worth buying. Shoppers want to buy products that they can trust, and by promoting transparency from start to finish, brands can become ones that their customers can rely on.
This can come in various ways. Educational content is one of the biggest ways brands can help provide transparency for their customers. This includes blogs, videos, infographics, and seminars about their products, how to use them, and general information about the hemp plant itself.
Certifications also are a great way that brands can provide transparency. Oftentimes this includes certifications for quality, safety, and compliance. For example, CBD American Shaman carries a US Hemp Authority Certification as a way to help provide and promote a standard of excellence in their products.
And of course, by providing detailed testing results from a third party laboratory.
Testing Results Offer Insight
While you are looking at hemp products, checking out the testing results should be part of narrowing down your choices. Certificates of Analysis, or COA for short, are mandatory for all hemp products to ensure they fall within federal and state guidelines.
A COA also provides a wealth of information for consumers. Some of the information that can be found include:
- THC potency
- Cannabinoid presence and potency
- Terpene profiles
- The presence of any pesticides, herbicides, or heavy metals
- The date the product was tested
There is additional information that can vary between laboratories, but brands that promote transparency will oftentimes opt for more information over less. COAs for all products should be accessible for shoppers, typically found on a company website.
The Bottom Line
Choosing a hemp product is more than just choosing potency and flavor. Customers need to choose a hemp product from a brand that they can trust. Thankfully, there are ways to identify trustworthy brands from the thousands of brands on the market.
Reviews are a great way to see what fellow shoppers think about a brand’s products. They can be found in a number of places and can provide information that marketing materials cannot.
Transparency is another great way brands can show their quality. There are a lot of ways this can be accomplished, and customers should take advantage of what it can offer.
And finally, testing can provide in-depth information about a product and its quality. Testing shows a wide range of information can help a shopper narrow in on the best product for their needs.
Keeping an eye out for these items can help any shopper, no matter the experience with hemp products, find a hemp brand they can feel confident about. There may be thousands of options out there, but now shoppers can feel a little less like they are hunting for a needle in a haystack.
