Author: Christina Pierotti

The main purpose of HotSpots is to find locations for which to submit ratings. When you find a place near you that you would like to rate, there are multiple categories you can provide ratings for to form an overall or “composite” rating. HotSpots’ rating categories set the app apart from competitors, as you can rate on various aspects of the selected location, including price, product, service, cleanliness, dining crowd and more. This helps you and other users see exactly what a place is being rated on, rather than a generalized rating. 

To select a grade for each rating category, simply use the sliding ball to choose a higher or lower number rating. Once you have chosen a rating for each category, an overall rating will be generated. This rating will be used to formulate the average category ratings and composite score rating of a location submitted by all users. To see how ratings are distributed, click on the “composite” score you see on the left hand side of list view for a location. 

Not only does submitting ratings benefit other users, but you as well by receiving more mojo points! Every rating you submit will grant you more mojo points and in turn put you higher on the leaderboard. Download HotSpots today to start submitting ratings for locations around you!

As part of submitting ratings on HotSpots, you can support your score with text, audio tracks, or even videos. This can allow you to better explain and justify your rating.  Your comments can help serve as a guide for other users that view them. 

For example, if you give a restaurant a bad rating because of an unsatisfactory meal, you may want to include a picture of your meal as a reference point. If you attended a concert at a place shown on HotSpots, you might want to include an audio track or video to show how well you could hear and see the show. These added formats to our rating comments help to support the individual ratings as well as the composite score.

Once your comment for a rating has been submitted, it is immediately viewable by any other user. Users then have the ability to up-vote or down-vote the comment, which acts as a way for other users to know if that comment was accurate and/or helpful. 

Download HotSpots today and submit your ratings and comments with the new multimedia formats!

The main use of PotSpots is the ability to find and rate cannabis locations around you. You can sort ratings by rating, name or distance. Once you select a spot, you are able to rate it in multiple categories.

The categories you are able to rate on are selection, strain quality, edible quality, oils quality, product, price, service, cleanliness, COVID19 safety and crowd size. Once completing these ratings, an overall rating is formed. You may also include with your rating a text, image, audio or video comment. This will further support your rating and allow you the option for other users to visualize the product or service offered.

Ratings for spots in your area will show up at the top of your screen when sorting from highest to lowest rating.Wondering what the average ratings are for each category for a location? Simply hold down the score you see on List View to see average category ratings and the composite score. You are also able to edit ratings after submitting them. For example, if you go to a cannabis store a second time after first attending and rating it and feel it is not as good an experience as the first time, you may rate it again according to your visit.

Download PotSpots today and start using our rating system!

While using HotSpots, users are able to gain mojo points in multiple ways. Mojo Points can be gained after submitting ratings, referring a friend to use the app, and creating your own map place. These points are included in the leaderboard and also

to be redeemed for merchant special offers. Your ranking on the leaderboard will be higher the more points you have. If you are a competitive person, mojo points can be a fun challenge for you to try seeing how high your ranking can get on the leaderboard.

Submitting ratings is the main purpose of HotSpots and easy to do. Simply attend a venue, find it on HotSpots, and use our rating system to rate it. You will receive mojo points for each rating you leave. Referring a friend is also easy to do. Simply enter the email address of the friend you would like to refer and get mojo points once they submit their first score! Lastly, add your own place to the map through my places and receive mojo points.

Mojo Points are another way to make your use of HotSpots more enjoyable and fun. Download HotSpots today to start receiving Mojo Points!

PotSpots is a useful new app developed by TrampleZone, LLC that allows you to find, rate, and receive special offers from cannabis stores, marijuana dispensaries, or smoke shops that sell related paraphernalia. You can rate spots on several categories, and view other user’s ratings of the same spot. Any one of legal age who uses marijuana, especially recreational marijuana users and medical marijuana users, can benefit from PotSpots. Along with this, PotSpots is also beneficial for cannabis stores owners for users being able to find them on the map and rate them for other users to see. For this to be possible, merchants must first add themselves to the map.

In order to add your business to the PotSpots map, you must add it to OpenStreetMap so users will be able to find and rate your business. Navigating to onosm.org will help you get your business on the map in just a few easy steps. First, you will enter the address of your business and once found by OpenStreetMap, you are able to move the given marker to pinpoint your exact location on the map. Then, you are able to add more information about your business such as a phone number, website, hours and more.

After all of this is complete, users will be able to view and rate your business on the PotSpots map. By being viewable on the map, you will gain more customers and reviews for your business. Contact marketing@sizzlescene.com for more information!

Have you been looking for an easy way to find cannabis retailers in your area? PotSpots is our new app created just for this!  PotSpots provides a way for you to find, rate, and gain access to special offers from participating cannabis retailers in your surrounding area. While at local retailers, you may report what you see through PotSpots’ rating system.

You are able to search for specific marijuana retailers and see them on the list view or map view. The map view is beneficial to you as it allows you to not only see the exact location of the marijuana retailer, but also the area that surrounds it. The map also pins similar cannabis stores surrounding the searched spot if you would like to explore other places in the area. Currently, with the large growth in the market, there may be a delay in some locations being displayed because they are not yet registered in the map database. We encourage you to have your local cannabis stores to register with OpenStreetMap with the tag shop:cannabis!

Once a marijuana retailer is selected, you have the ability to rate the sPot. PotSpots’ rating categories set the app apart from competitors, as you can rate on various aspects such as Price, Selection of Strains, Selection of Edibles/Oils, Customer Service, Amenities, and Crowd. You can also upload text, images, videos, and audio of the location if you wish. Rating is a crucial aspect of the app, as it allows you to gain a better feel of the selected location before arriving at the scene.

Since the safety and wellbeing of staff is more important than ever, we have created a new COVID-19 safety rating category. With this new safety rating category, you can see and rate the safety level of a spot. For example, this will allow you to know if masks are required or if there is a crowd at a certain location.

While looking at a selected location, you are able to call the place of interest, visit the place’s website, view special offers and receive directions to the selected location directly through the app. This provides the utmost convenience for you as any information needed of the place of interest is made available through the PotSpots app.

PotSpots also has features, such as Favorites and Messages of the Day. When viewing places, you are able to favorite the location by selecting the heart icon which is then saved in one tab for easy future access. Messages of the Day are updates sharing the local special offers for each day, which helps you select the place you want to explore.

PotSpots includes several interactive features as well, such as Refer a Friend, Friends, and Leaderboard. Refer a Friend allows you to include a friend’s email inviting the friend to download and use PotSpots. When the friend submits their first score, the PotSpots user will receive bonus Mojo Points as an added benefit. Lastly, the Leaderboard shows the top scores of your friends, places, and areas.

Download PotSpots at https://sizzlescene.com/potspotsclient/dist or from Apple or Google app stores and start using all these great features today!

Our clean rating feature can be used to measure a wide variety of cleanliness aspects of a location. There are multiple ways that a location can be considered clean depending on your preference and the type of location it is. Rate the cleanliness of restaurants, retail stores, gyms and more with our clean rating feature.

When rating the cleanliness of a restaurant, you may want to consider their plates and silverware. It may be important to you to know that the service items on which your food is being provided are up to your standards and makes your dining experience comfortable and enjoyable. When attending a retail store, you may be concerned about how often the surfaces you touch are being cleaned. For example, when at a checkout counter, is the counter being cleaned between each customer, or every half hour of customer use? Gyms can also be a place of concern for how much they are being cleaned specifically, the equipment used by yourself and others.

Restrooms at any public location could also be something to rate the cleanliness of. Does the restroom appear clean to you or is the establishment informing you of how often it is being cleaned? How serious employees at any business are about taking cleanliness precautions is also another factor to consider. Is the staff washing their hands or wearing gloves before handling food or areas you touch?

These are just a few of the places that can be given a clean rating on HotSpots. To support your rating, you are also able to submit a photo, video or audio clip. For example, if the plates and silverware you are using appear to be dirty, you may want to take a picture of them to post with your rating to alert other HotSpots users. What are some of the items you consider when rating the cleanliness of a location? Let us know in the comments below!

The HotSpots Merchant Service Program provides business owners with the opportunity to more effectively promote their products or services. Merchants create highly engaging special offers and feedback invitations using text, images, audio tracks, and videos for a monthly fee. Consumers are then able to view and use the special offers at the selected location. This will provide incentive for Consumers to visit businesses more often and increase business for Merchants with more engaged and loyal customers. 

These promotions created by Merchants will be available for users to view when on the app. As part of the Merchant Service subscription, businesses can post an unlimited number of promotional messages. For example, a barista at a coffee shop could record a video showing a new drink they have made for customers. This will not only help give attention to the barista but also increase brand loyalty between the customer and Merchant. 

A promotional message created by Merchants could be “Most Popular Today”. This would be a notification on items that are most popular at a Merchant’s location to encourage customers to visit and see what the rave is about for these items. An image created by Merchants could be “Today’s Special” with the special offer displayed on it. This is a great way to advertise a deal for consumers to take part in. An audio message could be a “Mystery Special Offer” where only those who listen receive the special offer by Merchants. This would encourage users to check up on the messages in the app directed towards them in order to not miss out on an offer. This in turn benefits both HotSpots and the Merchants. These are just a few examples of great ways that Merchants can attract loyal customers through our Merchant Service Program. 

An important future feature is the ability for users to give feedback to Merchants on the business in general or specific items or promotions. Merchants will be able to respond and engage with consumers through the app. Such interactions can be anonymous without having to share identities. This can keep the focus on building a strong affinity for the business and a way for Merchants to improve their products or services and promotions thereof. Consumers will know that they can rely on the Merchant for their needs and concerns and the Merchant will know that the customer cares about their product or service. 

Our Merchant Service Program is very accommodating to Merchants and their needs. We will address any Merchant issues by solving problems with our service in a timely and eager manner. Merchant success is the highest priority of the Merchant Service Program.

Interested in participating in our Merchant Service Program? Contact us at merchants@sizzlescene.com for more information!

User Studies are a great tool to conduct in order to uncover any opportunities in your product to improve or market upon. They involve a moderator asking participants to perform certain tasks with a product or service in order to gain insight on the performance of it. While the participants are completing these tasks, the moderator will be observing their behavior and listening for feedback.

The goals of a user study are to identify problems, uncover opportunities, and learn about the target users behaviors and preferences while using the product or service. It can be hard to learn about how well your product or service is functioning without the consumer actually using it and forming opinions about it for you. This is where the user study comes in. 

The elements of a user study are the moderator, the tasks and the participants. The moderator guides the participants through the user study process, gives instructions, answers participant’s questions and asks follow up questions. They also ensure results are high quality and the data is valid by not influencing participant’s behaviors. 

Tasks should be realistic activities that the participants may actually perform in real life and be specific or open ended depending on the information you are trying to receive. For example, if your product is an app, you may want participants to go through the features on the app as their tasks. Something to be aware of while tasks are being completed is if the task is working. This is when there are small errors in how a task is phrased causing participants to misunderstand what they are supposed to do and influence how they perform the task. It is important that instructions are read aloud by the participants to help them understand what to do and avoid task working.

Participants should be people in your target market that would actually use your product or service. Social posts, emails or word of mouth are all great ways to seek out participants for a user study. During the user study, they are asked to think out loud for moderators while performing tasks in order to give feedback to the moderators. Once all tasks are completed, a survey may be distributed in order for moderators to fully understand what elements need to be improved or marketed upon. 

A user study is best to be conducted shortly after a product or service launch so you receive immediate feedback and can utilize it while the product or service is still new. However, anytime one is conducted is extremely valuable for you and your company. User studies are not necessary, but can be a great way to uncover hidden information about your product or service you would not have known about before.