With legalization spreading like wildfire, cannabis marketing is quickly evolving. We recently saw Twitter become the first major social media platform to allow cannabis brands to advertise their products with the appropriate licensing. Needless to say, laws will only get looser from here.

One effective way to spread the word about your brand, products, and services is email marketing. Our industry is becoming increasingly crowded, and it’s more important than ever for companies to stand out among the bunch. A strong email marketing campaign can help you do just that.

Below, we’ve included tips on the following:

• Building an effective email list for cannabis marketing
• How to create personalized campaigns for cannabis consumers
• Using email analytics to improve campaigns
• Mistakes to avoid in email marketing

First things first, in order to create email marketing campaigns for cannabis brands, you need a list of people to send them to. Here are some ways to build an email list for cannabis marketing:

Create Easy-To-See Sign-Up Forms On Your Website: One of the easiest ways to build your email list is to have an easy-to-see sign-up form on your website. This encourages consumers to drop their emails for exclusive content and information about your brand, products, and services. If they like what you have to offer, chances are, they’ll like hearing from you about your latest offerings via email.

Encourage Followers On Social Media To Sign Up: Post stories, pictures, tweets, or other content on social media that encourages followers to sign up for your emails. Make it fun by encouraging followers that your emails contain exclusive content and information about your brand, new product offerings, and needed services.

Incentivise Why Consumers Should Sign Up: If social media isn’t working, try it again with an incentive. This could be offering a discount on products for those who’ve signed up for your emails or access to never-before-seen content that’s not shared anywhere else.

After you’ve built an email list, it’s time to create campaigns! But not just any campaigns. Your email marketing should be compelling, personalized, and persuasive. Here are some tips to help you out:

Create Attention-Grabbing Subject Lines: The purpose of your subject line is to get readers to click on the email and read more. Hire a copywriter or use tools like AI to generate ideas for attention-grabbing subject lines that briefly promote what’s included in your email. Say it’s a 420 sale. You could write a subject line along the lines of “Here’s How To Get A Bang For Your Buck This 420.”

Make Emails Personal: For every email you send out, you can personalize it by addressing each recipient by their first name. This makes content feel more personable and human-like, prompting consumers to read more.

Always Include A Call To Action (CTA): Call To Actions, also known as CTAs, are short blocks of text that prompt the reader to take action on what you’re offering. If talking about a new product, a CTA block could read “Shop Now” or “Learn More.” The idea is to write two or three words that prompt the consumer to learn more about what you’re offering and potentially make a purchase. You could make CTAs unique and personal, like “Peep The Pipes” or “See The Strains.”

Ensure Your Designs And Visual Content Are High Quality: People love looking at images or visuals that are pleasing to the eye. High-quality curated content within your cannabis email marketing campaigns gives your brand an elevated look. This helps consumers see the value in what you have to offer.

Cannabis companies use email marketing campaigns to easily track the success of each campaign.

While social media marketing is a bit harder for the cannabis industry, considering you can’t promote products or services, email marketing lets you promote everything your brand has to offer while tracking which campaigns performed the best.

Here are some ways to use email analytics for cannabis marketing:

Data Is Your Biggest Advantage: Tracking the success of your campaigns helps you see what’s working and what isn’t. For campaigns that didn’t perform as well, analyze them and see what went wrong. On the other hand, double down on what’s working and run with it.

See How Many People Are Opening Your Emails: By tracking your open rates, which is the percentage of readers who are actually clicking on and opening your emails, you’ll have a clear idea of what subject lines are working and which ones aren’t. Besides a click-worthy subject line, sending emails during certain times of the day can also affect their open rate.

Track Click-Through Rates: Another huge advantage of email marketing for cannabis companies is tracking your click-through rates, which is the percentage of readers who click on a CTA within your email. If you notice certain CTAs aren’t getting the love you had hoped for, try switching things up, placing them in different locations, or changing the design to make them more visually appealing.

Like all marketing campaigns, there are several mistakes to avoid when creating cannabis marketing email campaigns. Some of these mistakes include the following:

Annoying Readers With Too Many Emails: There’s nothing worse than a crowded inbox. Chances are, you’re not the only company sending email campaigns to your recipients. If the reader finds too many of your emails in their inbox, they’ll feel more inclined to unsubscribe. Limit emails to 1-3 a week (3 is still pushing it).

Lacking Designs For Mobile Devices: Unless your readers are working on their computer when they receive your email, they will likely be on a mobile device. It’s vital that your email designs work with both computers and mobile devices. If it lacks one or the other, readers will see it as messy and click unsubscribe.

Ignoring Email Marketing Rules And Regulations: There are a few basic regulations that all companies must follow when sending email marketing campaigns. This includes a clear way for the reader to unsubscribe, adding your company’s headquarters address in the email, and never using false or misleading information to generate traffic.

The cannabis industry must find unique ways to market brands, products, and services. Yes, it’s a crowded industry, but standing out isn’t the only reason to create an email cannabis marketing campaign.

It’s one of the only ways to legally promote your cannabis brand, products, and services without running into legal hurdles through social media. It also helps you get a better idea of your audience to tailor your campaigns toward your target demographic.